Cofis and Port face WPL side in Welsh Cup
THE area’s top two football clubs have both been drawn against Welsh Premier League opposition in the last 32 of the Welsh Cup.
Caernarfon Town will be home to Carmarthen Town, while Porthmadog travel to Cardiff Metropolitan.
Both third-round ties will take place during the weekend of December 2-4.
Huws Gray Alliance champions Caernarfon will fancy their chances of giving Mark Aizlewood’s Old Gold a big test at the Roberts Oval.
The Canaries had to battle extremely hard to reach the next stage last Saturday, beating Welsh Alliance battlers Llangefni Town 4-3 on penalties after a 4-4 draw following extra time.
The visitors were quickest off the mark, going 1-0 up in the third minute.
Jamie Breese found the back of the net, tapping in at the far post after debutant Kenny Hughes in Cefni’s goal could only get a hand to a pacy Cory Williams cross.
Williams thought he had doubled Town’s lead in the 20th minute when he netted at the far post following a Gareth Edwards knock on in the box, but his effort was ruled out for offside.
Cefni survived a penalty appeal from Caernarfon in the 31st minute when Williams seemed to have been bundled over in the area by Dan Thomas.
Llangefni began to impose themselves more on the tie as the first half went on, and on 38 minutes they were level.
A quick break on the left with a good interchange of passes between Iwan Jones and Sean Pritchard resulted in a cross into the area by the former, which Mathew Jones met with his head to steer into the corner of the Caernarfon goal.
Having met strong resistance for long periods after the break, the Cofis nearly regained their lead in the 70th minute when Breese hit the post.
In the 85th minute, Caernarfon finally got back in front when Tom Quinn powered his way past three defenders before placing the ball beyond Hughes and into the net.
Cofis’ delight was short-lived however, as with the match in its final seconds, Llangefni substitute Corey Sinnott finished smartly to make it 2-2 with his first touch of the game to take the tie into extra time.
Caernarfon went ahead for a third time when Williams took possession 30 yards from goal, beat his marker and struck powerfully past Hughes, the ball dipping as it reached inside the far corner of the home net.
Llangefni were far from finished and Anthony Hughes made it allsquare from a corner.
There were just six minutes remaining when Darren Thomas was felled in the penalty area and Nathan Craig put the Cofis ahead at 4-3 but, as had been the case all afternoon, with less than a minute left on the clock, Llangefni showed excellent character to come back again.
Alun Roberts was fouled in the area and Craig Evans smashed the ball into the top corner of the net to force a penalty shoot-out.
Unfortunately for the hosts, Sinnott saw his penalty saved by Keighan Jones and Craig Evans hit the woodwork, leaving Danny Sullivan to convert the winning kick.