Report by Ian Parfitt
Ammanford secured a crucial victory away to Llantwit Major thanks to a Dan John hat trick.
Seeking three points to ensure the race for a top three finish remained in their own hands Ammanford started very brightly and after 5 minutes Adam John sent a free kick from the left just over the bar.
Two minutes later some excellent work from Adam John set up Dan John who slotted calmly past Llantwit keeper Ryley Allen.
Ammanford doubled their lead after 11 minutes, Tom Johnston playing the ball forward to Dan John who turned and showed great skill in dribbling past a couple of Llantwit challenges before racing in on goal and finishing well past Allen.
A minute later Dan John nearly completed a dream early hat trick, again running clear on goal but this time shooting just over.
Llantwit were clearly shell shocked by this early Ammanford onslaught and their defence were struggling to deal with the pace of Dan John.
After 16 minutes Adam John was unlucky not to get his name on the scoresheet when he shot just wide.
Llantwit grew into the game and put pressure on the Ammanford defence in the period before half time but the defence held firm and Ammanford went into the break with a well deserved two goal lead.
Llantwit came out for the second clearly intent on getting back into the game and they got a goal back in the 53rd minute when Connor Goldsworthy cut in from the right hand side, got the ball onto his left foot and curled a shot past the despairing dive of keeper Luke Martin.
The second half turned into a scrappy affair on a difficult pitch which was making passing difficult, both teams struggling to create clear cut chances.
Llantwit were handed the opportunity to equalise in the 64th minute when the referee adjudged that Adam Orme had handled the ball just inside the area and pointed to the penalty spot. Jack Bevan sent Martin the wrong way from the penalty spot to draw the scores level.
At this stage Llantwit looked the most likely team to score a third but the Ammanford defence stood firm.
In the 85th minute the match turned again when substitute Matthew Fisher played the ball through to Dan John who took the ball forward and struck a low shot into the bottom left hand corner of the net to spark jubilant scenes amongst away supporters.
Ammanford managed to see the rest of the game out, including 8 minutes of injury time to record a very valuable three points which puts them two points behind third placed Caerau Ely with a game in hand.
