Hawarden Rangers v Cefn Albion
Match Details
Date: Saturday 15 October 2016
Result: 3-1 (AET) (lost)
Starting XI – Sean Jones, Darnell Prescott, Jamie Foulkes, Stuart Thornley, Nathan Williams, Dion Gibbins, Andrew Jones, Nic Jones, Lee Jones. Alex Williams, Oliver Davies (c)
Substitutes – Kien Morris, Callum Smith
Goalscorer(s):
Oliver Davies
MOM: Alex Williams
When we were drawn away to fellow WNL league and unbeaten Hawarden Rangers we knew that it would be a tough fixture but believed we had the squad to go to Gladstone and get something from this FAW Welsh Trophy tie.
Our goal keeper Nathan Aldridge unfortunately dropped out of the squad at 11:00 so player manager Sean Jones took the gloves. Despite the late squad shuffle to be fair to the lads right from the opening whistle they took the game right to the home team and asked some good early questions, most noticeably Oliver Davies who squandered a one on one to put the Albion 1-0. The lads continued to dominate the first half proceedings and were eventually rewarded for their efforts when Oliver Davies went clean through again only this time he made no mistake to slot past the oncoming home keeper. Alex Williams had another good opportunity to get another but failed to capitalise. An excellent first half display meant that the Albion went into the break with a deserved 1 nil lead.
As we all know football games are not won in 45minutes and as expected the home team come out second half and asked some questions of their own. To thier credit the lads, in particular the back four in Darnell, Nath Twin, Stu Thornley & Foulkesy, dealt with some constant home pressure and seemed to be well organised at the back. However, midway through the second half some good play down the right from the home team opened up the Cefn defence and the striker scored a good header. The game went on to end 1 each after the allotted 90 minutes. We would require extra time to settle the tie.
Early in extra time provided us with a very controversial moment, and one that would change the entire complexion of the tie. A scramble in the box lead to a strike from the Hawarden player and with the home team claiming that the ball crossed the line the Albion players were adamant it was not even close. The referee who was not best placed was surrounded by home team players appealing for the goal, he appeared to delay his decision and seemingly went with the team that shouted loudest and awarded the goal. Despite the bitter disappointment the boys tried to pick themselves up to push for an extra time equaliser but the home team struck on the break to make it 3-1 eventually putting the tie out of reach.
We can’t take anything away against the effort from the lads during today’s game, over 90 minutes the lads were more than a match for a team that are unbeaten in our division. Unfortunately some more refereeing decisions that we feel have gone against us again but we will pick ourselves up and look forward to next week’s fixture as we welcome Brickfield Rangers to the Muga.
Thank you to all our travelling supporters who were at the Gladstone.
