Haverfordwest County - 22.08.2025 - Match Report

After drawing their first two games of the season, Cardiff Met travelled to West Wales to face a Haverfordwest side who had only played one match, a 1-0 defeat at home to Penybont. 

A disjointed opening period saw both sides struggle to retain possession and create any chances of note however that changed with 12 minutes on the clock, Hawkins crossing to Ben Ahmun for the Bluebirds striker to open his 25/26 account from close range at the far post. 

Things went from bad to worse for the visitors eight minutes later, Ahmun turning provider for Corey Shephard who made no mistake with a low drive past Absalom to give the Archers a mountain to climb.

With Met struggling to create much in attack, Lewis Rees saw his 30 yard free-kick saved comfortably by Luc Rees before the Archers striker tried his luck from the halfway line following a defensive mix-up only to see his speculative effort drop wide of the post much to the relief of Havvy goalkeeper Rees.

Just before half-time Shephard almost put the result beyond doubt but was unable to keep his shot down and punish the visitors further after good work from Ahmun. 

Half-time couldn't come soon enough for the Archers and whatever was said during the interval certainly had the desired effect as Met halved the arrears within a minute of the restart, Jasper Payne drilling a low shot past Rees to give the visitors renewed hope.

Hope soon turned to belief as incredibly, less than a minute later Met restored parity, Sam Jones chasing down a seemingly lost cause before squaring the ball to Ryan Reynolds who placed his shot into the far corner of the net to score his second goal of the season.

With the scores level, the home side looked to retake the lead and went close through Shephard from a free-kick before Ahmun turned in the area only to see his shot go just wide of the far post. 

With both sides looking for a winner, tensions boiled over late on with former Archer Dylan Rees given a straight red card for throwing the ball at Met captain CJ Craven and after the final whistle Haverfordwest manager was also shown a red card by referee Ieuan Lewis. 

For the Archers it was another game of two halves with a 2-2 draw and Met now look forward to a bank holiday Monday derby against a Barry Town side who suffered their first loss of the season last time out, a last minute 3-2 defeat against Penybont.