A break from league action saw a visit just 15 minutes away to division 2 rivals UWIC for this first round cup game , another sunny Saturday afternoon on a decent pitch was the order of the day .
Selection wise it was the usual Llanwern nightmare with only 14 players available and once again the ever "youthful" player/manager filling in between the sticks !!
Matt Currie , Steve Perszewski ? and Mike Binning were unavailable due to work commitments , Mike Vaux not risked due to a hamstring problem and the AWOL James Cairns still serving a suspension.
Matt Pimm and Dnny Penn both came in for their first starts of the season and Matt Smith also came in to the starting line up , Denis Spiteri back from a one game ban , Mike Aviss and Ashley Sully made up the bench.
From the kick off a long ball over the top of Smith and a dangerous cross could have cost the Steelmen dearly but the students striker couldnt get on the end of the ball luckily for Smith.!
Owen was untroubled all half in the Llanwern goal only having to come out of his box to clear balls over the top and it was Llanwern who looked dangerous throughout with their usual passing game and pace , despite ths superior possesion Llanwern rarely troubled he UWIC keeper. Shier and Golledge picked up yellow cards for late tackles

HT 0-0

The Students had their best spell of the game for the first 15 minutes but again without troubling the Llanwern goal as the Steelmen defended stoutly . Marcus Power should have scored the games opener on 59 minutes when put through but his one on one was saved by the heeper , he made amends on 62 minutes though when he cut in from the left and struck a shot from 25 yards out that the keeper failed to deal with and the ball spun into the net for
1-0. Llanwern were very much dominating now and a few half chances were created , it was a screamer from wide man Nick Aherne that nearly made it 2 on 68 minutes when he beat two players and unleashed a thunderbolt from an acute angle that smashed against the underside of the bar and bounced out to the on coming Luke Fernquest whos header went wide when he probaby could have done better. Sully replaced Smith with 30 minutes to go.
Neat touches by Penn and Power brought the tireless midfield unit of Hooper and Shire throughout the game . Fernquest was replaced by Spiteri on 70 minutes .
The game could have changed on 71 minutes when Golledge recieved his second yellow card and his marching orders but Penn was sacrificed for Aviss who filled in at centre half nd steadied the ship. The Students themselves were down to 10 men with 10 minutes to go when a bad challenge on Sully saw a straight red .
The Steelmen played out the game and deservedly took the win .

FT UWIC 0-1 Llanwern

The performance was a credit to all involved especially with the absentees and having to play the second game on the spin without a recognised goalkeeper, unfortunately Golledge will be suspended for next saturdays game and Power will be missing due to work commitments but its heads down and get on with it for the squad as it seems the departure of a few people has galvanised the squad and had a positive effect on all at the club !!