By Hywel Fuller
UNIVERSITY of South Wales were left to contemplate a late penalty failure as they fell to a 0-1 defeat against Hartpury at the Sport Park.
It looked as though the hosts would snatch a draw when they were given the decision after a foul by the Hartpury goalkeeper.
But Harry Kidd saw his effort saved, and so USW ended up with nothing.
The match started with Hartpury on the front foot and the USW defence under strain. For the first five minutes it looked as if USW could not cope with the high press from their opponents.
However, as the first half progressed USW were able to get more of a foothold in the game and had a couple of decent breaks on the counter-attack, but they were not able to create any concrete scoring opportunities.
The first real scoring opportunity of the match fell to Kian Oshan who would have surely scored if he had managed to get anything on a good cross from wide.
The first chance of the game for Hartbury fell to Josh Timbrill whose long-range effort flew just wide.
The first half finished all-square with both sides having squandered good chances to take the lead.
The second half started brightly for Hartpury with a penalty in the opening minutes due to a needless foul by USW defender Ajay Sriram. Hartpury forward Archie Barker made no mistake from the spot.
Pic: Marcus Williams
USW tried to get straight back into the game but could never really forge any clear-cut chances to score and nothing that would trouble the goalkeeper.
The end of the second half fizzled out with no real action taking place apart a few half chances for Hartpury but again not having the finishing touch to finish the game off.
With the game now edging towards a conclusion USW were given a lifeline and a chance to salvage a draw with a penalty, awarded after a foul committed by Hartpury goalkeeper Seth Locke.
But Harry Kidd’s poor effort from 12 yards was comfortably saved by Locke, who also managed to parry the ball away from any rebound.
The penalty would not be the last action of the game with Hartpury having a good effort turned against the underside of the bar.
With that final chance the final whistle blew and it will be USW who are disappointed not to have snatched a draw from the game despite the control that Hartpury showed.