LLANFAIR UNITED (Mount Field)

FAW WELSH TROPHY 4th ROUND, LLANFAIR UNITED 2-3 LLANBERIS (AET), ATTENDANCE: 92

After the exertions of last week, travelling 4,500 miles around Europe, I kept it a little bit closer to home this week with a trip into Mid-Wales. Llanfair Caereinion is the home of Llanfair United and today they were taking on Llanberis in the 4th round of the FAW Welsh Trophy.

Llanfair Caereinion is a small village in Powys, around 8 miles from Welshpool and is famous for being a terminus of the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway.

Many readers of this blog will have travelled on this when attending Llanfair's game versus Abermule back in August. This was a 'groundhop' game but due to work commitments I was unable to attend, so today was a great opportunity to put that right.

Entrance to the ground Llanfair style!



The game was an absolute corker, but to be honest the first 45 minutes gave little indication of the excitement that was going to follow. It was a scrappy first period on a heavy, heavy pitch and chances were at an absolute premium. The visitors took the lead after 25 minutes, Dylan Parry bundling home, but it was a pretty even contest.

The hosts were deservedly level on the hour when Steve Andrew headed home. The game ebbed and flowed and either team could have snatched a winner. With 7 minutes remaining, Llanberis looked like they had done just that when skipper Gethin Wakeham scored at the back stick.

To their credit, Llanfair didn't cave in and two minutes later they were level when Richard Astley headed home. As the game entered stoppage time, Llanberis had Nidian Huws sent off for a second bookable offence, leaving them to play extra time with 10 men.

Unfortunately for United this proved to be no hindrance to the visitors as they grabbed what proved to be the winner with a superb 30 yard pile driver from Dylan Parry, bagging his second of the game. Despite late pressure from United, they could not find that elusive equaliser.