On a dramatic final day full of twists and turns, some bad defensive errors and lapses ultimately proved costly for Flint as they fell to a 3-2 defeat, which coupled with Aberystwyth’s win over Caernarfon by the same margin relegated them. In many ways, this game was a carbon copy of the midweek defeat by Caernarfon, as the Silkmen led twice, surrendered their lead on each occasion, and then ended up losing the match 3-2.
Okera Simmonds opened the scoring for the visitors in the 8th minute, when he raced onto a through ball from Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro and calmly slotted home from the left side of the six yard box.
However, the high defensive line being held by Flint was susceptible to the long ball over the top, and Harry Allen was having to adopt a sweeper/keeper role, racing out to clear the danger on a couple of occasions. On 25 minutes, a calamitous mix up between Allen and Brandon Diau let in Ponty for their equaliser. The ball over the top caused confusion, Diau hesitated, as Allen shouted he was coming to claim, but he had to come an awful long way, and the end result was a collision between both players with the ball squirting out into the path of Owain Jones, who accepted the gift and picked his spot from 22 yards out.
Chances for either side were then few and far between for the remainder of the half, although Ponty enjoyed the greater possession, and we reached the break all square.
The game caught fire in the 68th minute, when Ponty went close to scoring only for Flint to break down the other end and restore their lead. From a long throw, which was initially cleared before the ball was played back in, Jordan Knott smashed a volley against the crossbar for the home side. Flint then countered quickly, and Alec Mudimu did well to create some space for himself on the left, before delivering a telling cross which Rhys Kavanagh got on the end of, to stab the ball home and make it 2-1.
Things were looking rosy for Flint at this stage, as Aber were also losing 2-1 in their match.
But things turned around dramatically in the space of 4 minutes, as some awful defending let Ponty into the driving seat. First, a ball was swung in from the right, bounced on the six yard box, and Tom Davies nipped in behind a static Jordan Carroll to glance it home. Then Flint paid the price a few minutes later for switching off at a free kick, with no challenge preventing another ball being delivered onto the 6 yard box. This time, Ben Ahmun was the recipient, and swept the ball in.
To add insult to injury, Aber came from behind in their game to strike a winner in added on time, by of all people, Niall Flint !
In the final analysis, our phase 2 form just hasn’t been good enough, with just 3 wins from our 10 matches in the most crucial period of the season, and two of those came against Airbus.
So, we must now dust ourselves down, regroup and try and follow the excellent example set by Barry Town United, who following their disappointment of relegation last season, sorted themselves out and came roaring back to win their Tier 2 league this time around.
Report by Nigel Sheen
Line Ups :
Pontypridd United – G. Ratcliffe, B. Ahmun, K. Rees, J. Evans (E. Richards 77), J. Wright, O. Jones, C. Green (c) (J. Knott 46), B. Margetson, T. Davies, H. Bright (C. Jenkins 77), J. Karadogan. Unused Subs -D. Vincent, J. Bloom
Flint Town United – H. Allen, J. Carroll (B. Hughes 86), B. Diau, A. Stephens, H. Owen, D. Harrison (c), T. Garratt, A. Mudimu, R. Kavanagh, J-L Akpa-Akpro, O. Simmonds. Unused subs – D. Szczepaniak (GK), O. Ibrahim, C. Huxley, S. El Amri, M. Roberts
Flint MOM – Alec Mudimu (a controlled performance and a classy assist)
