Carmarthen Town slip to another defeat

Afan Lido 1 Carmarthen Town 0
A contentious 15th minute goal by Liam McCreesh proved to be the difference between these two sides in a dour affair at The Marston Stadium, Aberavon.
A long ball was played into the Town box and appeared to be collected by goalkeeper Michael Lewis but under a challenge from McCreesh the ball fell loose as was slotted into the back of the net by the home player.
Town had started the game with a few changes to their line up. Cledan Davies moved to left back instead of the injured Kyle Graves while Geraint Passmore took the place of Kieran Howard in midfield. Both sides were desperate for points from this fixture as both were near the bottom of the Welsh Premier League.
The E H Factors and Clothing sponsored Carmarthen Town side began quite confidently with Passmore and Nicky Palmer being prominent in midfield.
They looked to free Nick Harrhy and Steffan Williams down the wings and to feed Jack Christopher down the middle.
Lido also looked to break quickly as McCreesh harried and hassled at every opportunity while Leon Jeanne was pitting his wiles against Lewis Jones down the left hand side for the home side.
With neither side creating any clear cut chances the opening, and what proved to the decisive goal, came as a surprise.
Town Manager Tomi Morgan was perplexed by the decision to allow the goal to stand.
“Nine times out 10 the goal would have been disallowed by the referee but this evening the decision went against us.”
Lewis was forced into some other good saves in the first half as the home side looked to increase their advantage but Town did start to create some chances. A superb cross from the right hand side by Williams, eluded all the Town attackers just before the break probably being the nearest they came to scoring.
Town dominated most of the possession in the second half but the home defence marshalled by former Town player Liam Hancock were able to withstand most of the pressure.
Morgan introduced Corey Thomas and Howard as substitutes and they were involved in the second debatable decision of the evening.
Howard skilfully released Jones down the right hand side and his cross into the middle was headed goal wards by Thomas only to be denied by a fine one handed save by Chris Curtis in the home goal.
The ball fell loose and was put into the back of the net by Christopher. Unfortunately for the away fans their celebrations were cut short by the assistant’s flag.
Town continued to pressurise the home defenders but as they pushed forward the away side were left short at the back on occasions as the home side looked for the goal to make the game safe. But with Curtis dealing deftly with the poor final ball from the Old Gold it was the home side who were left to celebrate the three points at the end of the game.
“It is a very thin line between winning and losing and we are falling the wrong side of this line at present,” was Morgan’s reaction after the game which left the Town joint bottom of the league.
Team v Afan Lido: Lewis, Jones, Hughes, Bevan, Davies (Berry), Hicks ©, Palmer, Passmore (Howard), Williams, Christopher, Harrhy (Thomas). Subs not used: Dalling, Wilson (gk).
Cramarthen Town’s next game is at home next Saturday against Airbus UK Broughton in another bottom of the table clash. Kick off 2.30pm.