Division 1
Kerry 3 Aberaeron 7
Aberaeron new signing Ifan Burrell was the talk of the town on Saturday night as his four goals on his debut steered the seagulls to a superb win away at Kerry.
The former Bow Street striker was joined by new keeper Neil Evans and they both played a major part in an all round team showing that brought its just rewards.
Aberaeron set themselves up in a 3-5-2 formation that saw them create a number of excellent moves and some decent chances early on. The black and ambers nevertheless took some time to settle into this new system but they managed to take the lead from a corner when an attempted clearance saw Burrell volley the ball powerfully off the cross bar and post and into the net for a debut goal.
The visitors took complete control after this and created some great chances with the home keeper having a brilliant game and saving his team on several occasions.
One fine example of this was when midway through the half Burrell took on the home defence and his pace saw him fly past two defenders and tee up Matty Davies but his shot was superbly saved by the custodian. Aberaeron dominated proceedings for long periods and they pulled further ahead when an attempted clearance by Kerry saw the ball land at the feet of Burrell and he drove the ball past the hapless Kerry keeper for two nil.
https://i1.wp.com/sportsline.wales/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/New_1_aberaeron.jpg?resize=150%2C150 150w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" class="auxiliary" style="margin: 0.5em auto 1.15em; clear: both; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65098);">The hosts came storming back and created some decent chances which were dealt with well by Aeron keeper Neil Evans but a goal eventually came when a free kick was floated deep in to the penalty area where the dominant Dan Bourne mis-timed his volley to see the ball fly into his own net.
Typically, Aberaeron responded and created a couple of good openings and from a great move front runner Davies played a lovely through ball for Burrell to run on to and comfortably score to make it a two goal advantage at half time.
Following a couple of tactical interventions Aberaeron managed to nullify some of the dangerous runs down the flank from the Kerry wing backs but the home side pulled another goal back when a speculative shot from Luke Mumford saw the ball bounce wickedly in front of the Aberaeron goalkeeper and creep in for a score of 3-2.
Once again Aberaeron created chances and a great run by Davies saw him go beyond the defence and pull back a simple chance for Burrell to score his fourth of the day. This should have finished the game, but Kerry created one more opportunity, catching the visiting defence square and running through for their third via Max McLaughlin.
This gave the home team hope, but a Burrell through ball saw Matty Davies make a great run and score from an acute angle and soon afterwards the hard working Dan James crowned a very good performance with a well worked goal with an excellent finish.
Aberaeron then rubbed further salt into the wounds when Gareth Severs, who deserved something for his endeavour, floated a delightful chip over the keeper for a final score of 7-3 and a superb win which was fully deserved.
Elsewhere there was little joy for Bow Street as they slumped to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Llanfair and there were wins also for Berriew who fired nine past Knighton and Caersws who bagged six against Llandrindod.
Pics supplied by Aberaeron FC.