NATHANIEL CARS
WELSH LEAGUE CUP THIRD ROUND AFC LLWYDCOED ......... 2 CWMAMAN UNITED ..... 2 AET LLWYDCOED WON 5-4 ON PENALTIES
LLWYDCOED gained a dramatic victory and moved into the quarterfinals after winning the extra-time penalty shootout.
The hero of the match was the Llwydcoed goalkeeper Andy Hargreaves saving the fifth penalty taken by United’s Jordan Vickers.
Llwydcoed were playing with 10 players and Ioan Evans played through the pain barrier with cramp, an heroic effort by the Llwydcoed 10.
Llwydcoed were forced into a late change after Adam Butler was injured in the warm-up, Luke Davies taking his place.
The match was pulsating from start to finish. Llwydcoed were pushed back on the defensive with United’s Jordan Vickers, Ryan Thomas and Aaron Richards combining, the quality of United’s play was evident as was Llwydcoed’s defence and goalkeeper. They broke out of their defensive duties breaking clear through Jonathan Mason and Ricky Carter, they won a corner and Chris Stonelake scored with a top finish from a set move involving Tom Morris and Luke Davies.
Back came United, putting the Llwydcoed defence under pressure but they rode it out with some heroic defending by Liam Jones, Gabriel Williams, Luke Davies and Scott Walters clearing shots off the line and tackling everything that moved. United had more possession than Llwydcoed who had defended for longer but had other chances through Ricky Carter and Chris Stonelake and one outstanding pass out of defence by Gabriel Williams almost gave Llwydcoed a great chance. The first half finished with United in arrears after gaining a bigger possession count.
Llwydcoed started the second half with Tom Morris finding space and linking up the play with Ioan Evans, Jay Woodford supporting him. Back came United but the Llwydcoed players dealt with the threat, the movement of the Llwydcoed players began to create openings and took full advantage. They won a free kick, expertly taken by Tom Morris finding Ricky Carter and Gabriel Williams who read the situation to score showing superb awareness. The match was intriguing to watch.
United responded and won a penalty scored by Ryan Thomas.
Back came Llwydcoed as they almost scored but back came United, their substitute Ashley Curtis creating problems and won a corner that went straight in scored by Jordan Vickers.
More chances for both teams but no more goals in normal time so the match went into extratime.
The start of extra-time proved to be a big set back for the hosts.
They had Luke Davies sent off for a foul, his second yellow card, so one player less and all substitutes used who were Callum Henry, Liam Price and Morgan Andrews. The remainder of the extra-time showed how much the Llwydcoed players played for the badge. Their attitude and commitment was outstanding seeing them through to the penalty shoot-out.
United were up first to start the dramatic shootout.
Their first four players scored as did Llwydcoed’s and them came the turning point with Andy Hargreaves diving low to his right to pull off a majestic save and start the celebrations.