Cwmbran not disgraced

Cwmbran Town suffered another 3-0 defeat at the hands of Maccabi Haifa in Izmir last night but again there was no disgrace in defeat.

Brian Coyne's side suffered a 6-0 overall aggregate defeat in this UEFA Cup qualifying match, but the part-time Welsh side more than matched their full-time opposition for most of this match.

It took nearly 40 minutes for the Israeli side to break down a resilient Cwmbran defence and even then it needed a touch of class to break the deadlock.

Up until that point it was hard to tell who the full-time side where as Cwmbran Town passed the ball and kept possession for long spells of the first half.

The Crows were happy to soak up pressure and counter attack on the break and while they never really threatened to score in the first leg of this tie, they could have been 1-0 up inside two minutes of the return.

Great wing play by Chris Summers resulted in Shaun Mainwaring missing his near post cross by inches.

It was a sign of the game as Cwmbran were happy to soak up pressure before counter attacking in numbers. As a result they reduced the "home side" to half chances.

Haifa midfielder Jorge Brittas came close with an audacious chip while the ever impressive Marty Ellacott did well to save Yaniv Katan's header.

Minutes later Giovanni Rosso had another shot well saved by Ellacott as Haifa started to turn the screw.

On 20 minutes Dante Lopez then missed another golden opportunity to take the lead sending Giovanni Rosso's saved shot wide of an open goal.

After half-an-hour Lopez was only prevented a clear goal scoring opportunity courtesy of Chris Summers' last ditch tackle.

The signs were ominous for Cwmbran and finally the Israeli hosts took the lead in this second leg.

Yaniv Katan scored it, sending a superb 25-yard strike past Ellacott, low to his right, as Cwmbran finally succumbed to the pressure.

And just before the break it was two.

Rosso's brilliant strike from a tight angle beat Ellacott after Jorge Brites had turned in a decent cross under pressure from NeilSmothers.

So like the first leg the Crows took a 2-0 deficit into the break, but any suggestion that Brian Coyne's side would lie down and let their Israeli opposition walk all over them in the second half were blown out of the water with a superb second half performance.

The Crows reduced Haifa to only half chances and it took until the hour for the third goal to be scored.

A mix-up in the Cwmbran box between Ellacott and his defence resulted in Michael Zandberg tapping into an empty net for 3-0.

That only spurred Cwmbran into action and with the effortless running of Kevin Wallace and Adam Moore in midfield the Crows went in search of a deserved goal.

And it almost came through second half substitute Mattie Davies.

Davies latched onto a long ball from Rhodri Jones and after brilliantly controlling the ball he then lobbed the Haifa 'keeper from fully 35-yards.

It was an audacious effort which needed some athletic 'keeping from Nir Davidovitch to prevent a goal.

Late on Elyaniv Barda had a chance to make it 4-0, but his close header was straight at who saved comfortably from the second half substitute.

It was the final action of a match that despite the scoreline Cwmbran could say they more than made a contributed.

Maccabi Haifa: N Davidovitch, A Harazi, A Benado, A Keise, A Zano, V Badeer (M Zandberg 55), I Tal (E Azaria 62), G Rosso, J Britez, D Lopez, Y Katan (E Barda 65). Replacements: T Al-Madon, E Azaria, E Barda, M Zandberg, E Levy, D Keman, O Buksenbaum. Bookings: Y Katan 36, E Barda 88 Scorers: Y Katan 36 G Rosso 45 M Zandberg 61

Cwmbran Town: M Ellacot, R Carter, Neil Smothers, G Warton, R David, R Jones, T Green ( K Mohamed 67) A Moore, S Mainwaring, (M Davies 72), K Wallace, C Summers, J Edwards (R Hurlin 63) Replacements: T Dickerson, T Green, M Dunn, K Mohamed, M Davis, R Hurlin.