Haverfordwest County 0 Llanelli Town 2

JD Welsh Cup

HAVERFORDWEST County are out of the JD Welsh Cup at the fourth round stage after suffering a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Llanelli Town AFC at the LHP Stadium on Friday evening.

The Bluebirds paid the price for squandering several good opportunities as a goal in either half by Ethan Cann secured the victory for the Reds.

They did ride their luck a bit with the woodwork coming to their rescue more than once.

Manager Tony Pennock made two changes from last week’s defeat to league leaders Penybont, with Rhys Abbruzzese replacing Alaric Jones and Ricky Watts coming into the midfield for Dan Hawkins.

The hosts made a bright start with Lee Jenkins heading an early effort over the bar following a long throw-in by Jacob Owen whilst Cann at the other end also failed to keep his header on target.

Corey Shephard and Jenkins went close to breaking the deadlock for County following dangerous set pieces by Abbruzzese but it was the visitors who took the lead on the stroke of half time, Cann forcing the ball in from close range after the hosts failed to deal with a corner.

Stung into action, the Bluebirds came out in determined fashion after the break and cursed their luck when captain Dylan Rees’ driven 15-yarder crashed against the post.

Kyle McCarthy’s cross then found Ben Fawcett in a bit of space in the area but his header struck the bar, the rebound falling to Watts whose ball across the area was cleared by Llanelli skipper Joe Hopkins.

The hosts continued to press for an equaliser and went close again when Shephard’s deep ball into the area was brought down by Jenkins to Fawcett, who took a touch before seeing his strike well saved by Llanelli keeper Scott Coughlin, who was becoming more busy as the contest progressed.

CARMARTHEN, WALES - 13 DECEMBER 2024: Llanelli's Taylor Jones during the 2024/25 JD FAW Welsh Cup round 4 fixture between Haverfordwest County AFC & llanelli Town AFC at LHP Stadium, Carmarthen, Wales. (Pic by John Smith/FAW)
Llanelli's Taylor Jones celebrates with the crowd (Photo: John Smith/FAW) ( )

He was forced into action to parry a free-kick attempt from Shephard, with the rebound falling to Kyle Kenniford who drilled a low ball across the six-yard box to Fawcett, with the forward striking over the bar.

But it was the JD Cymru South outfit who tightened their grip on proceedings with 10 minutes remaining when a loose pass by Shephard was intercepted in midfield and played through to Cann.

The forward beat his marker to create a one-on-one with home keeper Zac Jones and there was only one winner.

Throwing caution to the wind, Haverfordwest pushed forward and late chances fell to Kenniford with a long range effort which cleared the bar and Jenkins who headed straight at Coughlin as a frustrating evening for the Bluebrids fizzled out and they exited the fourth round of the cup for the second time in two seasons.