Another glorious sunny Sunday morning saw Dafen welcoming visitors Ammanford to their new fortress, Pond Twyn. The last time these two teams met was at the Finals day in Stebonheath, where after a superb game, Dafen emerged victorious with a 3-2 win. Ammanford were sure to be aiming to avenge that defeat and the Dafen team were going to have to be on top form to stop them from doing so.  

1st Quarter:

Dafen lined up for the start with Tom in goal, Ryan and Kieran in defence, Morgan, Lloyd and Tyler in midfield with Daniel playing at centre forward. Ammanford made a good fast start to the game with an attack coming very early. Kieran was alert to it and broke it up to start Dafen moving forward, he played a nice ball inside to Lloyd who quickly passed it to Tyler on the left. Tyler took the shot on, but it went just wide and out for a goal kick. From the kick Morgan Cutler intercepted the pass, with Swiss precision, he advanced toward the Ammanford net. With the keeper and defenders all closing in on him, convinced he was going to shoot, Morgan looked up and spotted Daniel Johnson arriving at the far post in space. Morgan played a beautifully weighted pass through the crowd of Ammanford defenders for Daniel to calmly tap the ball into the net for the first goal of the game. Ammanford responded well and were playing some really good football of their own, their biggest problem was how to get past Ryan and Kieran in defence who were both quick to stop anything that looked remotely threatening. Ammanford's one big chance came, they finally managed to get through Dafen's stubborn resistance with a break at pace, unfortunately for them though, they were met this time by an excellent piece of, coming off your line, goal keeping from Tom who saved excellently. The game was really flowing but the next piece of Dafen play and how it ended was the difference between these sides, clinical finishing. Ryan played a superb pass up the line to Morgan who turned and set off with real purpose toward the Ammanford goal. Once again the defenders were all drawn towards him and once again Daniel was making his way into the space in front of goal that the defenders had left. Morgan delivered the ball into the space and Daniel made no mistake in netting his second. A beautifully worked goal with both Morgan and Daniel knowing exactly what each other was doing and combining well together.

1st Quarter score: Dafen 2  Ammanford 0  

2nd Quarter:

Dafen made changes with Adam on for Ryan, Taylor on for Tyler and Nathan on for Daniel. Some great play from Dafen saw a lively start to the second quarter with Lloyd forcing a good save out of the Ammanford keeper. Dafen were now really going for it and the pressure started to mount as Taylor played a lovely ball through to Nathan whose shot was smothered by the keeper. It was all one way traffic now and on the rare occasions that Ammanford got out of their half they were swiftly forced back by Adam and Kieran. Taylor was looking very threatening as he crossed the ball toward the danger area at every opportunity, it was from one of his glorious cross field passes that Dafen's next goal started. Taylor collected the ball just inside his own half and delivered a raking pass to Nathan who was free in the centre, Nathan took the ball forward but just got forced outside by the covering defender. Unable to get a shot off Nathan did exactly the right thing and picked out a pin point cross to Morgan in the box who rifled the ball into the back of the net for his first and Dafen's third goal of the game. The Dafen fans had been given a real treat with three superbly worked team goals that the coach was trying, (in vein), to claim all the credit for. Taylor and Nathan again combined fantastically to put Mogzy in but this time his shot flashed over. As the quarter came to an end Taylor also had a good shot well saved by the Ammanford keeper who had been extremely busy.

2nd Quarter score: Dafen 3  Ammanford 0  

3rd Quarter:

Dafen changes for this quarter were Ryan on for Kieran, Tyler on for Taylor and Daniel on for Nath. Lloyd was everywhere in midfield, breaking up the play as the quarter started evenly. Adam made a telling header away as Ammanford pressed. Another superb Dafen break with Ryan, Lloyd and Mogzy all involved, presented Daniel with his easiest chance ever to record a hat trick. The ball was driven across the face of goal, once again by Mogzy, toward Daniel arriving in the box. The Ammanford keeper tried to guess which way he would put the ball and dived early leaving the net gaping. Daniel unbelievably miss kicked and the chance had gone, what a shame, it was as if he had started celebrating his hat trick in his mind just a second too soon and forgot to kick the ball into the net. Ammanford were still determined to get something from the game and good safe hands from Tom in goal prevented another effort. Daniel was to get just one more chance at his hat trick as this time he headed another Mogzy cross agonisingly wide. Ryan and Adam were still busy in defence and doing a great job to keep the visitors from getting back into the game as the quarter came to a close.

3rd Quarter score: Dafen 3  Ammanford 0  

4th Quarter:

Dafen's changes for the final quarter were Kieran on for Ryan, Taylor on for Tyler and Nath on for Daniel. It was all out attack from Dafen straight away as Nathan and Taylor were determined to get on the score sheet. Nath put Taylor through but he shot wide. A well worked Dafen corner then saw Nathan's shot well saved. Morgan then put Taylor in on goal but this time his shot flashed over the bar. It was frantic stuff but then Ammanford managed to break out of their half to mount their own attack. Adam and Kieran who had been watching all this were suddenly under pressure but they managed to work well together and blocked a certain goal bound effort. From the block the ball bounced out to Nathan who let fly with his left trying to catch the keeper out of position. Everyone held their breath as his shot drifted just wide of the post with the Ammanford keeper scrambling across his line. Taylor nearly had the final say as Mogzy hit yet another great cross into his path and Taylor almost scored. The game came to a close with a very satisfactory performance from Dafen and for Tom in goal his second clean sheet of the season. Great work and good concentration from him and all his defensive team mates saw off what in truth was a very good, determined display from a very well organised Ammanford team.

Final Score: Dafen 3  Ammanford 0  

Match Reporter: Julian Bowen.