Battling Saints fall short in cup final

DESPITE a brave showing, new Costcutter League division one champions St Dogmaels went down 3-0 against Aberystwyth League kingpins Penparcau in the final of the J Emrys Morgan Cup at Cae Baker in Penrhyncoch.

The Teifi Estuary villagers beat their rivals 2-1 last month in Cwpan Coffa Dai Dynamo Davies but could not reproduce that feat in front of a crowd of around 500.

Penparcau were beaten 3-1 by Shropshire-based Bishops Castle at the semi-final stage but Castle were subsequently thrown out for including an ineligible player.

It could be argued that St Dogmaels did not have the rub of the green in an absorbing contest when having two goals ruled out for offside and thumping the woodwork when appearing to get on top during the latter part of the first half.

But their opponents turned in a solid team performance and controlled matters after taking the lead early in the second half.

Goalkeeper Carl Woodhouse was pressed into action on numerous occasions during the opening exchanges and made a series of excellent saves, especially the stunning effort to deny Penparcau livewire Nathan Warren.

Saints came into the game and dominated for lengthy spells until half-time but were kept out as central defender Neil Evans stood tall and goalkeeper Dan Pritchard also excelled.

Pritchard, however, could do nothing about an Adam Williams free-kick that left him motionless but the ball thumped against the crossbar.

Penparcau went ahead after 12 minutes of the second period when a Saints defender hoofed the ball off the goal-line, but the attempted clearance was charged down by Ben Davies, who picked his spot.

The goal seemed to deflate Saints, who faded out of contention as Mathew Davies netted twice to ensure that Penparcau lifted the coveted trophy.

Afterwards Penparcau manager Darren Thomas said: “There was always a feeling that whoever scored the first goal would go on and win and that’s how it proved. I was proud of our players.”