Nelson Cavaliers AFC

Recap

The Cavs picked up a hard fought point in an entertaining mid week encounter at Aberfan.  It was Nelson who started the brighter of the two teams for the opening 10 minutes and just as they started to look to take control, some sloppy defending allowed Aberfan’s striker to fire home.  Panic mode set in and it was only a matter of minutes before their hosts doubled the lead.  Two good finishes from the hosts.  The home side we were on top for the majority of the half without really creating too many chances.  The Cavs looked a threat on the break but it was the home team who were the strongest throughout.  2-0 HT
The 2nd half started with Aberfan putting Nelson under some early pressure and after forcing a save from Matthew Farr in the Nelson goa,l they kept the pressure on forcing a number of corners, with only some confident keeping from Farr and some resilient defending keeping the home side from extending their lead.  The Cavs started to take control of the game as the half went on, playing some good football with Liam Dellanna and Mike Zajac a threat on the flanks.  A Nelson goal looked inevitable, and it came on the hour mark as Dellanna went through 1 on 1 and finished past the home keeper.  It looked as though Zajac had equalised when he connected sweetly with a volley forcing the home keeper into a great save.  Just as the pressure was mounting it looked as though the equaliser wouldn’t come, with the Cavs only creating some half chances.  That was until Ben Lintern was fouled in the box on the 75 minute mark and Dan Falconer fired the resulting penalty into the top corner.  More half chances came and went for the Cavs with Aberfan a threat on the counter, and it looked like it was the Cavs, if anyone, would go onto pick up the three points.  That was until a red card for Cameron Szpadt left the Cavs with 10 men for the remaining 10 minutes.  The home side using the extra man wisely, created a few half chances before missing a glorious chance for the winner right at the death. 
A fair point on the balance of the game against a good side, Nelson would have been the more pleased of the two sides after coming from two goals down.

MOM – Tom Woods who took the game by the scruff of the neck in the second half and was a big reason for us getting back into the game.