- Taylor-Crossdale (14', 44', 56')
- Dyer (18')
- John (84')
Manager Tony Pennock was pleased with his team’s overall performance as Haverfordwest County recorded a 5-0 victory over Colwyn Bay at the Ogi Bridge Meadow on JD Cymru Premier MD15.
A hat-trick from Martell Taylor-Crossdale – his first in senior football – along with maiden Bluebirds goals for Rio Dyer and Dan John gave County a convincing success in front of their home fans.
The result made it four consecutive victories at home in all competitions, and ensures that the momentum continues to build as we head into the final seven games of Phase One.
Here’s what the manager had to say in full after the game:
On the performance
“It was a good performance. Really good performance from start to finish. There’s a few things in there that we know we need to work at and be better at, but we take a clean sheet and three points and move on.”
On scoring the first goal
“It’s been a big part of our season, scoring the first goal. When we’ve conceded the first goal this year, our heads have dropped because we’ve been low on confidence, which happens being the young team that we are, but we got the first goal today. Colwyn Bay did start better than us. They had bright attacks, a few opportunities from set pieces, but once Martell took that first goal our confidence grew and then we scored another one quite quick after it. It was key in getting that second goal so quick.”
On winning so convincingly
“People look at the league table, look at Colwyn Bay and think it’s a game that we should win, but we want to win every home game we have, and we’re getting stronger. Colwyn Bay are a good footballing side. 5-0 flattered us a bit today, I’ll be honest. They had plenty of chances but Zac made the saves, so the scoreline doesn’t reflect the game for me.”
On Martell and his fellow forwards finding the net
“We want our strikers to score goals. I feel for Dan Hawkins. Dan does a lot of work, he’s had a lot of assists this year, but he just hasn’t had that tap in from six yards that he needs at the minute. But Rio getting on the score sheet, he’s in and around the box when the keeper’s made a save, so he’s done his job well there. And Martell, we know Martell scores goals. He has done all of his career, and it’s just a case of getting them out of him at the moment. He scored three today and hopefully that’s a run now. His performances have been better. He’s working a lot harder, and when he works hard, he puts himself in positions to score goals, and he’s certainly done that today. So I’m really pleased for Martell, and for Rio to get his goal and then young Dan John coming on, fantastic for another one of the academy kids getting on the pitch and scoring his first goal for the club – it was a fantastic finish as well.”
On Zac’s performance in goal
“Zac’s had a busy afternoon. That’s why I say the scoreline flattered us a bit. It could have been a few goals for Colwyn Bay if not for Zac’s good goalkeeping. But clean sheets are important to us. We need to get a run of clean sheets. We always say, keep a clean sheet and you’ve got a chance of winning a game of football, and that’s something we’ll keep trying to work on.”
On improving the goal difference
“Goal difference is key, never mind the rest of this phase, for the next phase as well. So that’s helped us today. Keeping clean sheets helps to give you a positive goal difference over the course of the season, but when we take our chances as we have done today, it’s something that we need to be better at and we’ve certainly done that today.”
On momentum and our home form
“Our home form has picked up. I think that’s four wins on the bounce at home now. We were very good last season at home. It’s nice when you do win in front of your home fans, and we get more of them here again today. Momentum is massive. We got it second half of last season. We had a good November last year that got us out of trouble. We’re in a better position than we were this time last year, and if we can get boys fitter and get boys back from injury, then we’ll be a strong team.
“The youngsters have been fantastic for us again. The academy keeps producing us players, and without the academy and the players they produce, I’d have been in a lot of trouble for the last 14 months.”
On Dan John’s first senior goal
“It’s not only good for Dan, I’m pleased he’s got his goal. He has scored in lots of the 19’s games, which gives him the confidence to take the opportunity he took today. But Jacob [Owen] coming on, I know Iori’s not a development player anymore, but young Harri [John] started again. We’ve got a lot of good, talented kids from the area, and long may that continue.”
On enjoying the end of the game
“[They can do that] when they do the basics well, which is something I bang on to them about all the time. We compete with most teams, and we’ve done that today. Like I said, there’s a few areas that we need to be better at. We know that. But all in all, the boys have put in a really good performance today, and they should enjoy themselves, but we know how tough next week’s going to be.”
