Taffs Well 4 Ammanford 5

Morgan Clarke’s hat-trick ensured Ammanford recorded their first-ever victory in the Welsh Blood Service League Cup. 

The midfielder bagged three goals on a night that saw nine goals shared between the two league rivals in an entertaining affair at the Gentles Construction Ltd Stadium 

Ammanford made a blistering start to the game and found themselves two goals to the good inside the opening twelve minutes.

Callum Thomas played a beautiful ball down the left handside which fed Clarke. The marauding midfielder beat his man and his low effort nestled into the back of the net to give Ammanford the lead. 

Just a minute later, the Black and Whites doubled their lead and again it was Clarke the man on the scoresheet.

In a reverse from Monday’s opener, Lewis Reed fed in the midfielder who in an almost identical situation to what he found himself a minute earlier, buried the ball into the bottom corner. 

But any hopes of an easy night for Ammanford were dashed within five minutes as poor defending let the Wellmen back into the game. From two yards out, Ellis Sage had the simple task of tapping the ball home at the far post to halve the arrears.  

Although Ellis Williams had to be alert to prevent a dangerous counterattack, Ammanford reacted in the best way possible with two goals in quick succession.

Clarke was denied a hattrick by a superb stop but from the resulting corner, Euros Griffiths finished well from close range to restore the lead. 

Three minutes later, Ammanford were further in front. Thomas beat the offside trap and fired a venomous shot into the roof of the net.  

The hosts started the second half well and got the goal they craved with an hour gone. The visitors failed to deal with the danger from a corner allowing Harry Treharne to unleash an unstoppable strike into the back of the net. 

Taffs Well were buoyant and debutant keeper Luke Martin had to be on hand twice to keep the gap to two as he saved superbly one-on-one from goal scorer Sage before confidently stopping a long-range effort.  

Despite being under pressure for large periods of the second stanza, it was Ammanford who got the seventh goal of the evening.

Lewis Reed was brought down inside the area and unselfishly, handed the ball to Morgan who put the ball down the middle to round off his trio of goals.  

With Ammanford seemingly cruising, the resilient home side refused to lay down and made life extremely difficult with two late goals of their own.

Owain Edwards cut the deficit before Sage got his second of the night finishing neatly at the front post. 

But despite a late flurry of goals, Ammanford stayed strong at the end and saw defended well through stoppage time to earn progression in the league cup for the first time since its creation last season.