By Webmaster/Rheolwr y Wefan
April 2 2003

On 15 minutes Jon French's cross from the right was deflected over by Caersws defender Hugh Clarke, with keeper Andy Mulliner having to push over the resulting Gary Lloyd corner. Ten minutes later Bluebird Graham Evans' shot was deflected over by Lee Jarman for a corner.

Barry took the lead on 26 minutes, however, when Gary Lloyd's well struck 20-yard free kick was well saved by keeper Mulliner low down, but the rebound fell kindly to Jamie Moralee, who had the simple task of netting from 10 yards.

Saheed Akinfenwa set up Lee Phillips on 34 minutes who shot wide from 15 yards. Akinfenwa, the latest Nigerian signing for Barry Town caused problems for the Blues all the way through the first half, though he did fade away rapidly in the second. On the stroke of half time, with the pitch sodden from a heavy rain and hail storm, Caersws had an excellent opportunity of equalising when top striker Graham Evans thudded a shot against the post, the rebound falling to Andy Marfell whose shot from 10 yards was parried to safety by keeper Simon Rayner.

The second half, with the rainstorm over, saw the Bluebirds virtually set up camp in the Barry Town half, confining the Dragons to very rare breaks up field. Graham Jones had a shot well held by the Barry keeper on 52 minutes, and a minute later Kevin Scott's shot was held by Rayner at the second attempt. It was all one-way traffic at this time, with Scott releasing Geraint Lewis whose shot went wide, and Caersws sub Jamie Davies set up Scott with the resulting shot being deflected over for a corner.

Caersws keeper Mulliner was called into action for his first notable contribution to the second half when he made two superb saves from Saheed Akinfenwa in the space of a few minutes. Barry were then pushed back even further, forced to defend in numbers for the last twenty minutes, and were very fortunate not to concede an equaliser when Geraint Lewis hit the bar on 78 minutes with keeper Rayner beaten, and Sean Jehu also hitting the woodwork.

In the 84th minute, in what had up to then been an incident free game, Barry's Tom Ramasut was sent of for a second bookable offence when he brought down Kevin Scott. Rayner again came to Barry's rescue saving another Caersws effort, which was immediately followed by Alan Williams shooting narrowly over from a Kevin Scott left wing corner. In the final minute Rayner produced another good save, holding Graham Evans' shot from the right just underneath the crossbar.

This was a tremendous effort by the Bluebirds, who gave Barry Town what must have been one of their hardest League games for many a year, with the game being a credit to both sides, and a superb exhibition of how football should be played. Manager Evans must be proud of his charges efforts, and will be somewhat disappointed not to have got at least a point out of the game

Report by John Baker, taken from LOW Topica List.