Owain Jones’ stoppage time winner saw Haverfordwest County AFC defeat Caernarfon Town 2-1 at the Carling Oval on Saturday evening, as the Bluebirds maintained their 100% start to the JD Cymru Premier season.

In front of the live Sgorio cameras, Ben Ahmun’s goal had given the Bluebirds the lead inside the final 20 minutes in north Wales, before Matty Jones responded for the Canaries to set up a grandstand finish.

Having withstood spells of pressure from the home side, the Town snatched all three points right at the death as Jones netted his first league goal for the Bluebirds to spark scenes of wild celebration from the travelling Haverfordwest County AFC supporters behind the goal.

The result lifts County to the top of the standings after two rounds of action, with the Pembrokeshire Bluebirds the only side to win both of their opening encounters in the top-flight.

Team news

Manager Tony Pennock made one change to the side that defeated Connah’s Quay Nomads 1-0 in their opening game of the campaign, with striker Ben Fawcett coming in for Dan Hawkins. On the bench, meanwhile, there was a first matchday appearance of the season for defender Alaric Jones, with midfielder Kyle Kenniford named on the bench for a competitive match for the first time since joining the club earlier this summer.

Haverfordwest County: Z. Jones, Humphreys, Jenkins, Tabone, McCarthy, J. Owen, Shephard (C), Walters, H. John (A. Jones 83′), Fawcett (O. Jones 83′), Ahmun

Substitutes not used: Knott, Kenniford, Hawkins, D. John

First half

With their opening game of the season against The New Saints postponed last weekend due to the Oswestry side’s continued involvement in European competition, Caernarfon were handed a week’s break and were therefore keen to get off to a fast start in their first home game of the campaign. The first effort on goal came from the hosts when forward Zack Clarke cut onto his right foot and saw his effort from the edge of the area fly wide of the right post.

The best opportunity of the first half was created by the Bluebirds with just over 20 minutes played as Kyle McCarthy’s free-kick into the area picked out Ahmun, who headed just wide of the left post from close range, with the ball seemingly always going away from him.

McCarthy has proved to be a more than valuable addition to the club since joining from Cardiff Metropolitan a few weeks ago, with his experience and organisational skills a real addition to the defence, however he has also shown his ability in forward positions with excellent delivery from both dead ball situations and open play, and just after the half-hour mark he put another dangerous ball into the area which was headed onto Ryan Sears by Lee Jenkins and behind for a corner.

With both teams largely cancelling each other out for much of the first period, clear-cut opportunities were few and far between, however the Canaries had a presentable chance just before the interval when the ball fell kindly to wing-back Morgan Owen on the edge of the area, with his first-time strike flying wide of the left post.

Second half

After a relatively low-key start to the second half, Caernarfon had the first opportunity to try an effort on goal when striker Louis Lloyd’s free-kick from just outside the area flew past the left post.

Two minutes after the hour mark, Bluebirds goalkeeper Zac Jones had to be alert when Canaries captain Darren Thomas slipped the net and broke into the area before trying a left-footed effort, but the Kiwi stopper was equal to it to deny the midfielder at his near post.

The 700+ crowd in attendance at the Carling Oval were still waiting for the game to properly open up as the contest entered the final 20 minutes, and they were rewarded for their patience when the Town put a lovely sequence of play together to open the scoring.

After Fawcett has controlled a long ball upfield and laid it off to Iori Humphries, the wing-back put a defence-splitting through ball in for Corey Shephard, who advanced towards the byline before squaring to the unmarked Ahmun who converted from close range to make it 1-0.

Having barely had a chance to finish celebrating taking the lead, County found themselves pegged back when a ball into the area fell to the unmarked Jones, and he brought it under his spell before striking left-footed into the right side of the net from around 15 yards out.

At this point the momentum was with Richard Davies’ side, who felt as if they could kick on and find a winning goal in front of their home supporters.

There was plenty of defending for Pennock’s side to do in the closing stages, as the hosts turned up the pressure and put numerous balls into the area. The Town defence was standing tall, however, and were able to repel their attacks.

Pennock made two changes with seven minutes of normal time remaining, as the Jones pair of Alaric and Owain came on for Fawcett and Harri John.

As the game headed into stoppage time, there was still an opportunity for either side to land a sucker punch and claim all three points. Pennock had praised his side’s fitness after the victory at Nomads last Sunday, and their ability to play right till the final whistle was rewarded when Ahmun broke into the left side of the area and delayed his cross to Jones to perfection, with the forward doing very well to direct his left-footed effort into the net for what is sure to be one of the highlights of the 2024-25 campaign, ensuring the long journey south would be a jubilant one for Haverfordwest County AFC.

Attendance: 715