Canaries to meet Flint in Play-Off final

MIKE HAYES ruined Cardiff Met’s plans for a winning send-off for manager Christian Edwards by netting the decisive goal to give Caernarfon Town a 1-0 win in the JD Cymru Play-Off semi-finals.

Edwards announced last year that he would be stepping down at the end of this season after 13 years in the job, but his side couldn’t find a way to unlock the Cofis defence to reach a final shoot-out with Flint Town United.

“They finished fourth and we were seventh and even though we threw everything at them they deserve to be in the final,” said Edwards.

The home side started well, with Met goalkeeper Alex Lang forced to make a smart save early on from a Darren Thomas strike.

As the students worked their way into the game, Eliot Evans forced two saves from Jacob Ojrzynski in the home goal.

The breakthrough came just before the break as Hayes converted a Darren Thomas pass into what proved to be the only goal of the game.

Emlyn Lewis headed just over from a free-kick as Met pushed forward in the second half, but they could not breach the

Caernarfon defence.

In the other semi-final, Penybont suffered further agony as their JD Welsh Cup final defeat was followed by a penalty shootout loss to Flint.

It was a ninth straight defeat in all competitions for Rhys Griffiths’ side and came after they had held the Silkmen to a 1-1 scoreline after 90 minutes.

Then came the dreaded shootout and a 3-1 defeat that saw Flint through to a final with Caernarfon on Saturday.

Flint struck first with a sixth-minute goal from skipper Alex Jones, Nathan Wood levelling.

This year’s reward for the playoff final winners will be a place in the 2022/23 Scottish Challenge Cup.

The New Saints have already qualified for next season’s competition after winning the league title.

In recent years the prize for winning the play-offs has been a place in Europa League qualifiers, but since Wales lost a spot in Europe for the coming season, the reward has changed.

It is looking likely that this year’s format will be a one-off as Wales are set to reclaim their fourth European ticket for next season.