Welsh League Division Three

Ammanford 5 Cardiff Grange Harlequins 2

Ammanford continued their surge up the Division Three table, with a scrappy 5-2 victory over Cardiff Grange Harlequins at the Recreational Ground, writes Nick Davies.

The Quins failed to capitalise on their early dominance and squandered a golden opportunity on 15 minutes when a ball across goal left the striker with the goal at his mercy, but he managed to blast it over.

And Ammanford made them pay.

Alex Squires regained possession with a sliding challenge on the right flank and found Ashley Richards whose accurate long ball released strike partner Craig Frater.

Frater, who has been in scintillating form so far this season, unleashed a thunderbolt on the half-volley from 25 yards into the corner.

Three minutes later - and against the run of play, Ammanford doubled their lead.

Matthew Fisher broke down the right wing and centred to Frater on the edge of the area. Frater played the ball wide to Brett Enoch whose shot squirmed under the keeper on 30 minutes.

The Quins continued to press and went close thanks to the exquisite passing of former Liverpool midfielder Leyton Maxwell, who managed to limit Steven Gerrard’s appearances at youth level, but Euros Griffiths blocked the effort with his head.

However, the visitors reduced the arrears before the interval with a free-kick curled beautifully into the corner.

The hosts improved after the break, and managed to get on the offensive. On 65 minutes, Ben Soal sprayed the ball out to Enoch who crossed for Mikey Morris to head across goal where Fisher was on hand to make it 3-1. Frater then nearly doubled his tally, but his effort was straight at the keeper.

Dayle Selvage headed just wide from a corner, before makeshift centre-half Lloyd Davies’ missed clearance led to the away side netting their second.

Tempers flared when the Quins’ goalkeeper squared up to Morris, and was lucky not to be sent off for what seemed a clash of heads. The visitors recovered though, and were unfortunate not to earn a penalty from Matthew Jones’ poorly timed sliding challenge.

Morris then sent Frater through, who squared for Fisher to put the game back in Ammanford’s control before Frater himself sealed the win in the final minutes when he latched onto a defensive mistake.

The win moved Ammanford up to eighth with up to seven games in hand on the rest of the league.

Ammanford would like to thank the staff of Carmarthenshire county council for their sterling work on the Rec pitch in recent weeks.

Ammanfdord next take on seventh-placed Panteg on December 20.