Haverfordwest County 1 BANGOR CITY 1 FOR the ninth time in 17 home games, the Bluebirds were held to a draw after a game in which they had most of the possession.

Bangor's young side were fast and neat in their approach work but, for 75 of the 90 minutes, it was the Bluebirds' slightly more deliberate build-up which saw them in charge.

The Citizens took the game to the home side for the first five minutes, with Carl Jones, Carl Lamb and Paul Roberts all looking quick as they darted into space.

But the FBM-sponsored Bluebirds soon got the ascendancy and were rewarded with a very good goal in the 13th minute when Chris O'Sullivan floated in a lovely deep free kick from the left, Wyn Thomas headed back across goal and his fellow central defender Rob Jones was there to hammer in from eight yards.

Jones was back in the action the next minute when he did very well with his goal-line clearance from Lamb's close range shot.

Once again though the Blues got into the driving seat, and Tim Hicks twice went close, first when Richie Adams' neat flick-on sent him through to blast a 20-yard shot just wide, and then when a fine move by Thomas and Lee Hudgell almost put him in, only for him to blast over from six yards. Nick Palmer won a good ball to set up Dean Rossiter and Deano's shot whistled over.

As the second half started the duel between Rob Jones and Bangor's Lamb hotted up a little, and for a spell of perhaps ten minutes the Citizens tended to dominate.

In the midst of this spell came an equaliser as the diminutive Carl Jones jinked his way past two defenders and cracked in a ten-yard shot which gave Lee Kendall no chance.

Bangor might in fact have gone into the lead five minutes later when ex-Swansea player Leighton Maxwell was played into space but blasted his shot wildly over.

The remaining half hour though saw a long period in which the Bluebirds pressed for a winner. Bangor's tackling by this time was getting quite keen, and, apart from the 20 free kicks they conceded in the game, they picked up three yellow cards and had Chris Priest red-carded in the 82nd minute.

O'Sullivan had a shot blocked after a fine cross from Hudgell, and from Palmer's sharp cross Hicks headed into the grasp of keeper Andy Pace.

At the other end there was just the one superb intervention from Kendall who came out of his box to thwart the City attack, and then, as the Blues laid siege, Rob Jones sent a real thunderbolt rasping just under Pace's bar for the keeper to hold on, and there were two good strikes each for subs Owain Thomas and Jack Christopher.

A draw it was to be though, a good draw against a good side, but the Blues will still be left reflecting that if half a dozen such draws this season had become wins, they could have been very high up the table indeed.

The match sponsors were Manderwood Timber Engineers, Ltd., the programme sponsor was Celtic Flowers, and the match ball sponsor was Mr Marley Davies of Victoria Bookshop.

In the league the Blues now have three away games left, against Port Talbot (on Thursday April 20th), Caresws and Cefn Druids. They play Carmarthen in the West Wales Senior Cup Final, on the Bridge Meadow, on Tuesday, April 25th.

Saturday's match ended on a happy note when the club's reserve side players were awarded the Second Division trophy after their very successful Pembrokeshire League season.

Haverfordwest County: Kendall, Brace, Hudgell, Blain (Owain Thomas, 72), Wyn Thomas, Rob Jones, O'Sullivan, Hicks, Adams (Christopher, 81), Rossiter (Catlin, 72), Palmer.