Captain Forde leads The Nomads to victory over Llanelli

Match Report written by Ray Brown:-

Despite falling behind to an early Llanelli goal, the Nomads gave an impressive display to record a comfortable 4-2 victory and keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the play-offs for a European place. Facing an uncertain future, the spirited visitors must be sick of the sight of the Nomads who have won all five fixtures between the two teams this season. 

With captain Craig Jones still suspended, the Nomads were unchanged from the midweek fixture at Aberystwyth and after playing on some awful surfaces recently, the players must have relished the prospect of playing on the home pitch which looked to be in very good condition.

With a strong wind behind them, Llanelli made a confident start and were awarded the first corner of the game.  When the Nomads defence failed to clear the corner kick, Dylan Blain took the opportunity to head in from close range in only the 4th minute.

The Nomads showed that they were keen to bounce back and almost immediately, Jamie Petrie forced the visiting keeper to push over a long range shot. Then just a few minutes later in the 9th minute, there were appeals for a penalty as Mike Hayes appeared to be fouled as he tried to go round the Llanelli keeper after he had been put through by a Rob Jones pass. However, referee Kris Hames ignored the appeal whilst at the same time judging that although Hayes had gone to ground he had not dived.

Even at this early stage the Nomads were playing an expansive passing game and it was no surprise when they equalised in the 16th minute with Mike Hayes latching on to a Ricky Evans pass and expertly lobbing the ball over the advancing keeper into the net.  Four minutes later and Hayes almost got a second as he shot on goal only to see the keeper divert the ball off his legs for a corner.

The Nomads were dominating the game and went into a 2-1 lead in the 22nd minute when a Rob Jones cross from the right eluded a Llanelli defender but was met by the Nomads captain for the day, Danny Forde who placed his half volley shot into the corner of the net.

Looking very good value for their lead, the Nomads continued to create openings but were thankful to John Rushton when he made a good save to push a long range effort from Ryan Batley round the post for a corner.

The remainder of the first half was played out with the Nomads in the ascendency and Llanelli making only occasional advances upfield.  From one of these rare excursions, Ryan Edwards came to the rescue to foil an attack by conceding a corner, but generally the Nomads’ defence looked untroubled.

The second half almost started with a third goal for the Nomads as Mike Hayes was presented with a good opportunity from a through ball after Rob Jones had won the ball in midfield, but Hayes shot narrowly wide with the keeper beaten. There was a rare scare for the home defence when a Llanelli forward was presented with a chance after Mark McGregor and John Hardiker had both failed to connect with a long up-field punt, but the Llanelli effort was hit over the bar.

The 55th minute saw a brilliant mazy run by Ricky Evans result in an excellent cross-field ball to Jamie Petrie, who ran on to hit a powerful shot which hit the crossbar.

It was vintage Nomads and the third goal which they deserved was a stunning fast flowing move from defence to attack with Jamie Petrie running through the centre into the Llanelli half, before passing on to Mike Hayes who hit a well placed shot into the top right corner of the goal.

Five minutes later, in the 66th minute, it was 4-1 when Jamie Petrie was on hand to score with a simple tap-in after another flowing move which started with a clearance from John Rushton. The Nomads were rampant now, with Ricky Evans forced the visiting keeper into yet another save and Rob Jones almost scoring, after he played a one-two with Mike Hayes before hitting a strong shot on goal which the keeper did well to save. 

Llanelli looked to be playing a damage limitation game at this stage and it was a great surprise when they managed to score a second goal in the 81st minute, when Nicky Holland latched on to a long pass and scored past John Rushton.

The rest of the game was played out with little further action of note apart from Llanelli picking up two bookings.

After the disappointment of the last home game against Bala and following a run of five games without a win, this was a very good performance by the Nomads and a demonstration of what this squad of players is capable of.    

Match Photos