By James Dow

Haverfordwest County picked up their first point of the 2025-26 JD Cymru Premier season after an entertaining 2-2 draw with Cardiff Metropolitan at the Ogi Bridge Meadow on Friday evening.

The Bluebirds raced into a two-goal lead inside the opening 20 minutes through Ben Ahmun and Corey Shephard, and created further chances throughout the first half to extend their advantage.

The Archers kept the deficit to two at half-time, then came flying out of the blocks after the restart with two goals in as many minutes to level the contest and undo the Bluebirds’ first-half efforts.

Clear-cut chances were few and far between for the rest of the encounter, with tensions boiling over at the end with the Bluebirds being reduced to ten men after Dylan Rees was given his marching orders after an incident with opposing captain CJ Craven.

The Bluebirds got their reward for their strong start in the 12^th minute when a long ball from goalkeeper Luc Rees saw the ball reach Dan Hawkins, who delivered a pinpoint cross to Ahmun who slotted the ball home at the back post.

The Town added a second 10 minutes later with goalscorer Ahmun driving down the right flank before squaring it to midfielder Shephard, who calmly placed his effort into the bottom left-hand corner past Kelland Absalom to double the lead for the Bluebirds.

Ahmun nearly added his second within a minute after a high press saw the Bluebirds midfield win the ball and play in the forward, whose effort from just outside the area glided just wide of Absalom’s post.

Ahmun kept causing the Archers problems, winning the ball back in his own half before driving at the defence and picking out his strike partner Ben Fawcett, who cut in on his right before releasing his effort straight at Absalom.

Ahmun and Shephard combined again just before the break, nearly repeating their earlier success, but the midfielder’s strike flashed narrowly past the left post.

The Archers made the perfect start to the second half, pulling one back within the opening minute as a long ball over the top found Jasper Payne, who smashed his effort past Rees into the bottom left-hand corner.

Met equalised just a minute later when Ryan Reynolds received the ball from Sam Jones in the middle of the area, with the midfielder directing the ball past Rees to score a second within minutes.

The next 25 minutes proved a more subdued spell, with neither side creating any clear-cut chances. Fawcett came closest when he controlled a Dylan Rees set-piece brilliantly to carve out space for a shot, but from a tight angle his effort could only find the side netting.

The Bluebirds’ best chance of the half fell to Ahmun 15 minutes from time, as he collected the ball in the box and used quick footwork to create space before curling a low effort just wide of Absalom’s post.

County saw out the last minute with 10 men, after captain Rees was sent off after a clash with Craven, who saw yellow.

The Town are back in action on Bank Holiday Monday when we travel to the Renewable Centre Stadium to take on Briton Ferry Llansawel (14:30).

Haverfordwest County: Luc Rees, Iori Humphreys (Owain Jones 76′), Dylan Rees (C), Ricky Watts, Kyle McCarthy (Alaric Jones 76′), Rhys Abbruzzese, Corey Shephard, Greg Walters, Dan Hawkins, Ben Fawcett, Ben Ahmun

Substitutes not used: Ifan Knott, Panashe Makwiramiti, Luc Owen, Will Hughes, Dylan McGuire.

Cardiff Metropolitan: Kelland Absalom, Matthew Chubb (Harri John 47’), Liam Walsh, Ryan Reynolds, Lewis Rees (Eliot Evans 88’), Sam Jones (Jonah Williams 73’), Gruffudd Morgan, CJ Craven, Jasper Payne, Fumpa Mwandwe, Barnaby Soady.

Substitutes not used: Sam Seager, Joel Edwards, Dixon Kabongo, Riley Lonergan.

Highlights