JD WELSH CUP
COLWYN Bay boss Craig Hogg is hoping his side are drawn against his hometown team Caernarfon Town in the quarter-final draw of the JD Welsh Cup after they knocked out Cardiff Met.
It is the first time in 29 years the Seagulls have flown into the last eight and it was all down to a 10th-minute goal from Jack Higgins and a magnificent defensive effort.
In their 140th year, it was one of the club’s most famous cup triumphs as they knocked out the JD Cymru Premier side to join Guilsfield and Taffs Well as the only non-Premier division teams left in the tournament.
“We’ll take anyone in the next round, but my family is from Caernarfon and so to get them would be great,” said Hogg. “That would guarantee a big crowd.
“This is an unbelievable win for us. We rode our luck quite a bit, but I’m proud of all the players.
“It is a day we won’t forget for a long time. We were under pressure throughout, but we saved a penalty and dug very, very deep.
“We want to play teams like this week in, week out in the future.”
Higgins found himself unmarked at the near post as a free-kick was fired in from the left and he gleefully volleyed the ball into the net to give his side the lead.
That came four minutes after Elliot Evans had his penalty magnificently saved by Andrew Coughlin.
As much as the students tried to stretch the hosts, they simply couldn’t find a way through.
There was late drama when Adam Roscrow dived full length to try to head the ball into an empty net from two yards out in the final minute of added time, but the combined efforts of Sam Donnelly and man of the match Lewis Sirrell put him off and his attempt went over the bar.
Guilsfield struck early at Swansea University, where goals from Chris Cathrall and Andrew Ford in the opening 25 minutes gave them the upper hand. The students grabbed a consolation goal in the 89th minute from Ollie Roberts, but the North Walians progressed.
Tier 3 side Saltney Town went out in a blaze of glory as they took Premier league outfit Aberystwyth to penalties at Sandy Road. With the game ending goalless after some major heroics in the home goal by Josh Cooke, Aber eventually came out on top 5-4 in the shootout.
The visitors thought they should have had a penalty in the second minute when Steff Davies went down in the box, but the referee waved play on.
Saltney stayed strong and battled for every ball, but when Lee Batterworth blasted their first penalty over the bar it handed an advantage to Aber.
They didn’t miss and Raul Correia had the honour of burying the final spot-kick to send them through to the last eight in one of three ties decided on penalty kicks.
Cup holders The New Saints were held 0-0 at Carmarthen Town over 90 minutes despite losing Chris Marriott to a red card nine minutes from time for a challenge on Jordan Vickers that earned him a second yellow.
“Carmarthen were fantastic. They man-marked us in midfield, they were aggressive and physical and made it very difficult for us,” said TNS boss Anthony Limbrick.
“It was a disappointing day for us in terms of our performance, but we got through.
“Connor Roberts made the save that mattered in the penalty shootout and was our hero.”
Roberts saved Carmarthen’s third penalty and that allowed Danny Redmond to strike the winning penalty to make it 5-4 to TNS.
Penybont and Caernarfon Town were both a man short in the second half of their all-Cymru Premier clash after Darren Thomas saw red for the visitors in the 39th minute and Lewis Harling was dismissed two minutes later for the home team.
There were no goals in normal time and Penybont went through 3-1 after three misses by the visiting penalty takers.
Taffs Well’s Marcus Jones bagged his seventh goal of the season after 10 minutes at Buckley Town. Jack Fox made it 2-0 just before the break and Buckley’s hopes were further dented when Sam Wainwright picked up a firsthalf red card.
Chris Venables scored a hat-trick to send Bala Town through 3-1 at Haverfordwest County, while Craig Harrison enjoyed his first win in charge of Connah’s Quay Nomads thanks to goals from Jamie Insall and Jamie Mullan in a 2-0 triumph at Flint Town United.