In a real must win game Llanwern came up short against a good , fit UWIC team who thoroughly deserved their victory .
It was the usual story for the Steelmen as the late withdrawal of Carl Baugh added to the already absentlist of Perszewski,Redman,Stinton and Taylor. This left manager Owen shuffling the pack and Power had to be deployed in a central striker role with Corey coming into replace him at Right wing back , Binning came straight back into the side after not kicking a ball in two weeks too replace Baugh .
The students opened brightly and edged the first 25 minutes and it was no surprise that on 21 minutes a crisp move down their left saw a measured cross and first time shot fly past chris Hart for 1-0 . Despite good possesion for both sides no real chances were created inside the box up until half time with neither keeper troubled .
HT Llanwern 0-1 UWIC.
The game as it did saturday against Garden Village opened in the second half with an early goal and it was Llanwern who equalised when Mike Vaux latched onto a through ball outpaced the defence and chipped the keeper superbly from 20 yards .
The game was quick and both teams tried to fizz the ball around but it was the team who train daily together UWIC who had the superior fitness and always looked like getting a second goal . The goal came in the 69th minute when the centre half was allowed a free head from 8 yards out and he made no mistake .
Credit must go to Llanwern who never dropped their heads and continued to push and probe for an equaliser sometimes leaving themselves open to the counter of which UWIC were very adept at . Wysome replaced the injured tanner and Hooper replaced the tiring Spiteri to freshen things up and twice Power and Vaux broke through only for excellent last dith tackles to save the day , Power had an effort ruled out for a debatable offside on 82 minutes to end Llanwerns hopes of keeping their unbeaten home record and suffering their first league defeat since August 19th 2007 .
Its no rest though as its Cwmbran Celtic at home this saturday a game that always provides a tough test and everyone will have to pick themselves up and raise their game for that ! Lets hope the availability of players improves greatly over the next few weeks and selection headaches for the Gaffa are due to having too many players avaialable not from having not enough !!!