An absorbing encounter between two classy footballing sides, edged by Port
Talbot but the limelight taken at the very end by Carmelo Lo Faro's crass
piece of refereeing idiocy.
The visitors arrived in town wanting all the points and put Airbus under the
cosh from the beginning. They didn't let up throughout the whole game and
the home side coped well, never panicking and dealing with the South Walian
threat admirably and with commendable composure. They only had one blip in
the first half, allowing Drew Fahiya to get goalside with the ball at his
feet on the edge of the box with a clear sight of the target; he let fly
with his left foot but his powerful shot curled a foot over and the danger
passed. At the other end Marc Lloyd-Williams wasted three chances in quick
succession. He messed the first up with a weak shot after James McIntosh had
done well to shrug off Matthew Rees and set him up; instantly he almost
atoned with a delicate chip that crept past the far post but spoilt that by
hoofing high over from good position.
Into the second half and the pattern resumed. Martin Rose almost scored for
Port with a far post effort, Kristian Rogers pulling off a back-curling
save, finished off with a header away by Mark Allen. The rest of the game
was an enjoyable affair of Port attacking, Airbus defending and an overall
draw a fair result. As time ran out, with The 'Bus comfortably fending off
all Port Talbot had to offer, with not a hint of hurry & patiently working
their own moves there was a free kick for them inside their own half. Matty
Woodward set himself up a few feet away to launch one last chance and the
brisk breeze took the ball a few inches forward. The defender obviously
couldn't legally kick the moving ball & stepped up to steady the wayward
orb. Suddenly Lo Faro set off from a sprint start, raced up to Matty and
brandished a second yellow card to the amazement of everyone. How he could
see it as time-wasting was astonishing; it wasn't even as if Airbus were
trying to ride out time anyway. Perhaps he thought Matty had blown it
forward himself to try & steal a few yards. The linesman, clearly dreaming
himself, refused to put things right, the red card went up & Woodward was
off - at least he saw the funny side of the most lunatic decision of the
season.
Airbus UK Broughton
Kristian
Rogers, Ryan Edwards, Rhys Roberts, Matty Woodward, Mark
Allen, Ashley Williams, Jack Abraham (Josh Johnson 82'),
Danny Desormeaux, James McIntosh,
Marc Lloyd-Williams (Gareth Sudlow 90'), Giovanni
Feliciello (Tom Rowlands 87')
Red Cards:
Woodward 90'
Yellow Cards:
Woodward 37'+90' McIntosh 44' Roberts 74
Attendance: 127
