HEAD coach Greg Woods feels the impact his Cross Keys youngsters made in their loss to Pontypridd last Saturday shows the future at Pandy Park is a bright one.

Keys looked to be heading for a heavy WRU National Cup semi-final defeat at Aberavon’s Talbot Athletic Ground when they trailed 39-16 with around 20 minutes left.

But three converted tries – Rhys Fitzgerald, Matthew Powell and Joe Goodchild crossed – in a crazy closing quarter saw the Gwent outfit slash Pontypridd’s advantage from 23 points to two.

Sadly for Keys, their dreams of completing a miracle turnaround were dashed by Ceri Sweeney, with the veteran fly-half nailing a late penalty to the give six-times cup winners a 42-37 victory.

However, the performances off the bench of young guns such as flanker Fitzgerald, winger Goodchild and centre Barney Nightingale gave Woods every reason to be optimistic going forward.

And with winger Powell, who scored two tries at the weekend, fly-half Josh Prosser and skipper Scott Matthews no older than 24, a good number of the squad could be around for a few more years to come.

Reflecting on the semi-final setback, Woods said: “We couldn’t live with their pace but, in all fairness, our youngsters came on in the second half and absolutely tore it up.

“We were second until about 60 minutes and then in the last 20 we started to play with a bit of confidence. Some of our rugby in the last 20 minutes was pretty scintillating.

“We’re really disappointed to lose in the semi-finals but the future at the club is bright with the youngsters bringing us that energy, and we’ve got to take heart from that.”

He added: “I think Saturday showed me that we’ve probably got to play the youngsters a little bit more.

“I thought that Joe Goodchild, Matthew Powell and Barney Nightingale were pretty scintillating, and that’s the future of our club.”

Going into further detail on the game, he said: “The two tries Pontypridd scored late in the first half killed us.

“I thought we started the game well and finished it well, it was just that middle period where we lost it.

“They were getting around the field quicker than us and were on top, and we were struggling.

“I’m just glad we made a game of it in the end and showed a bit of heart, and that we were determined to fight.

“With two points to go and four minutes left it was game on, and we certainly had a chance to win it.

“If we’d won that ball back when Scott Matthews took it up we would have walked the ball in, they were gone.

“I’m just pleased we gave a good account of ourselves – we certainly gave them a scare.”

Keys now have to switch their focus back to tier two of the Principality Premiership, which they currently lead by four points from Newport.

The next outing for Keys, who looked all but assured of a play-off place, is at the Gnoll in Neath on April 8.

“We’re massively disappointed but we’ve got to take something positive out of it because Pontypridd are a very good team and that’s why they’ve been in the final more than anyone in the last few years,” said a forlorn captain Matthews.

“We did well to get back in the game and give ourselves a fighting chance. We still had a chance to win it at the end but got turned over a couple of metres out.

“All credit to them, they played some really good rugby, and when they break the line there’s no better team in the Premiership at finishing off with tries – I wish them the best of luck in the final.”

Speaking further about the way his side fought back, he added: “There was a bit of pride in the way we got back into it at the end.

“The youngsters coming off the bench gave us a bit of energy and did step it up with their ball carrying and line breaks.

“It just hurts that bit more when it's so close – I think I’d rather lose by 50 points than be that close.”

But there was one key area where Matthews felt Keys let themselves down.

“Being brutally honest, some of our tackling just wasn’t good enough, especially from restarts,” he said. “We deserved to be two or three tries behind with tackling like that.

“When we’re good, we’re very good, but when we’re bad, we’re very bad.

“Ponty played some good rugby and we weren’t on it in defence. In all fairness to Ponty, they deserved the win. They played expansive rugby and, at times, we couldn’t handle their back three.”

He continued: “We’ve just got to regroup and get something out of tier two, we owe that to each other.

“We’re nowhere near the finished article, we’ve got plenty of work to do, and I suppose that’s why we are in tier two, because we are losing the big matches like this.”