Haverfordwest County AFC kickstarted their 2024-25 season with an impressive 5-0 victory away at Carmarthen Town in the second round of the Nathaniel MG Cup yesterday.

A brace from Dan Hawkins, followed by a wonder strike from Jacob Owen and late goals from Ricky Watts and Ben Fawcett ensured a comfortable margin of victory for the Bluebirds in the A40 Derby at LHP Stadium, as the new campaign officially got under way.

The Town had to be on their mettle to contend with an energetic start from the Old Gold, but by the time Hawkins had made it 2-0 Tony Pennock’s men were always in control and produced a professional display from then on to run out deserved winners.

The result will be a confidence boost ahead of next Sunday’s visit to Flint for our JD Cymru Premier curtain-raiser against Connah’s Quay Nomads at Essity Stadium.

Team news

Manager Tony Pennock handed full debuts to striker Ben Ahmun and defender Kyle McCarthy, while Corey Shephard wore the captain’s armband. Summer addition Owain Jones was named on the substitutes bench alongside the returning Dan John. Greg Walters, who returned to his home town club from the Old Gold this summer, missed the tie through suspension, while Pennock confirmed after the final whistle that Jack Wilson is set to miss the entire 2024-25 campaign through injury.

Haverfordwest County: Z. Jones, Humphreys, Jenkins, Tabone, McCarthy, J. Owen, Shephard (C), H. John, Hawkins (Fawcett 60′), Dyer (Watts 60′), Ahmun (O. Jones 73′)

Substitutes not used: Knott, D. John, Picton

First half

It was the hosts who created the first opening of the contest when Noah Daley broke forward and advanced to the edge of the Bluebirds area, but his effort was blocked by McCarthy who was in the right place to produce an important intervention.

Mark Aizlewood’s side certainly came at the Town in the opening exchanges as they looked to strike an early blow, but with eight minutes on the clock County opened the scoring when Owen regained possession in midfield and broke forward before playing in Ahmun, and he squared to the unmarked Hawkins who rolled the ball in from a matter of yards to open his account for the season.

Having withstood the pressure and landed an early blow, Pennock’s men began to grow in confidence and were moving the ball around nicely and showing some good patterns of play, and shortly after the half-hour mark they doubled their advantage when a ball upfield from Iori Humphreys ran on to a ball upfield from Harri John and put it on a plate for Hawkins with a perfectly weighed pass, and the forward swept home for 2-0.

With half time approaching, Rio Dyer broke into the area and saw his left-footed effort come back off the crossbar as the youngster came agonisingly close to making it 3-0 at the interval.

Second half

The Bluebirds were keen to press home their advantage after the break, and just five minutes after the restart they found themselves three goals to the good when Owen collected the ball near to the halfway line and advanced upfield before unleashing a powerful effort from 30 yards which flew into the top left-hand corner of the net, with the early Goal of the Season contender leaving everyone in attendance stunned as the youngster opened his account for the club in stunning fashion.

The Town were firmly in control of the contest at this stage, and on the hour mark Pennock took the opportunity to make two changes as Watts and Fawcett were introduced in place of Hawkins and Dyer.

With just over 20 minutes remaining, County came close to netting a fourth goal when Jacob was played in by Fawcett, but his low effort evaded the arriving Ahmun and Watts before rolling just past the right post.

Owain Jones entered the fray with just under 20 minutes to play for his first taste of competitive action in a Bluebirds shirt, and came close to setting up a goal when he combined well with Shephard down the right side, as the midfielder’s first-time effort from just outside the area was gathered by former Town goalkeeper Lee Idzi.

Harri John had turned in a very impressive 90-minute performance in the County midfield, and he came close to scoring his first senior goal for the club when his quick feet created space for him to shoot on goal from just outside the area, however Idzi got across well to make the save.

With 90 minutes on the clock, Owain Jones ensured he would make a contribution on his debut when he broke free and put a squared pass from the byline across the face of goal for Watts to tap in from point-blank range for 4-0.

There was still time for the Bluebirds to find a fifth goal and add extra gloss to the scoreline when the ball fell to Fawcett from the second phase of a corner, and the striker reacted quickly to direct his left-footed effort past Idzi and into the left side of the net to round off the scoring on what was a very encouraging afternoon for Haverfordwest County AFC.

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