CHIRK AAA (Holyhead Road)

FAW TROPHY QUARTER FINAL, CHIRK AAA 9-0 PENLAN CLUB AFC, ATTENDANCE: 150 (est)

With the storms that have been battering the country over the past few days (and weeks for some people) I had little desire to travel any great distance for a game this weekend. However, when every game in the Cymru Alliance, Welsh Alliance and Mid Wales League fell victim to the weather I feared it was going to be a day in front of the TV watching Sunderland v Southampton bore me in the FA Cup.

The New Stand

However, a ray of light appeared in the form of a tweet saying that the Chirk v Penlan Welsh Trophy game was definitely going ahead after a pitch inspection , so a revisit to Holyhead Road was an absolute no-brainer.

I last visited Chirk back in 2004 (also for a Trophy game in which they lost 2-5 to Denbigh Town) and it is fair to say the ground has improved dramatically since then. There is now hard standing down two sides of the pitch and a smart seated stand next to the changing rooms/tea bar.

Founded in 1876, Chirk Amateur Athletic Association are one of Wales' oldest clubs and, in the year of their formation, were also founder members of the Football Association of Wales. They were a hugely successful club in their early years, winning the Welsh Cup on five occasions. 

..and we are off!!

Welsh footballing legend Billy Meredith began his career at Chirk before going on to play for both Manchester clubs and being instrumental in the formation of the Players Union (the forerunner to today's PFA).

In this last eight trophy clash, Welsh National League Chirk were hosting undefeated Swansea Senior League leaders Penlan, who caused an upset by knocking out higher-ranked Garden Village in round 5.
. 

Celebration as Aron Blackwell's
effort hits the net

Today, however, there was never any likelihood of an upset once Chirk had raced into a 2-0 lead within the first ten minutes. Aaron Blackwell gave the home side the lead after 5 minutes before Nicky Williams made it two after 10 minutes.

Congratulations after Nicky
Williams scores his first goal

As the rain began to relent and the sun appear, Williams (34) scored his second from a free kick to make it 3-0 before Khos Jones (39) made it 4-0. 

Penlan were reduced to 10 men when Robert Jenkins was sent off for a professional foul and, from the resulting free kick, Blackwell was played through to make it 5-0 just before half time.

Nicky Williams' free kick makes
it 3-0 to Chirk

As you can imagine, the tempo of the second period was not as intense, as the work had been done in the opening period, but The Colliers added to their tally thanks to further goals from Williams, completing his hat-trick (65) a superb long range strike from Jason Williams (68) and two late efforts from Shaun Morris (85) and Ben Jones (88). Penlan's misery was also compounded midway through the second half when substitute Keiran Meredith was given a red card for dissent.

Chirk will now go on to face South Wales Amateur League side Ton & Gelli BC for a place in the Trophy final.

Aron Blackwell makes it 5-0

Spot the ball

The Chirk team line up pre-match

TREARDDUR BAY UNITED (Lon Isallt)

FAW WELSH TROPHY 2ND ROUND, TREARDDUR BAY UNITED 1-1 LLANFAIRPWLL (After Extra Time, Trearddur Bay won 5-4 on penalties) ATTENDANCE: 54 (h/c)

This weekend my travels took me along the North Wales coast and onto the Isle of Angelsey for a Welsh Trophy cup tie. My destination was the village of Trearddur Bay (or Tywyn y Capel, to give it's Welsh name) on the west coast of Holy Island. 

It was about a 35 minute stroll from Holyhead railway station to the village (passing Holyhead Hotspur's New Oval football ground en route). I had built up a bit of a thirst by the time reached Trearddur Bay itself, so I had to head into the Trearddur Bay Inn (which is next to the ground) for some well earned liquid refreshment (It was a JW Lees house and the Mancunian Pale Ale went down a treat).

The beach at Trearddur Bay, where an ancient burial ground was excavated in 2003, is a popular tourist destination and just a stones throw away is the home ground of Trearddur Bay United Football Club.

Formed in 1989, Trearddur Bay are members of the Welsh Alliance Division Two, as are their opponents Llanfairpwll. 

This is the clubs' first season at this level, having been crowned champions of the Gwynedd League in 2012/13 after going through the season unbeaten in the league.

The Lon Isallt ground is basic and open, but the location is fantastic. I think it helped that today the village was bathed in some lovely late summer sunshine, so that allowed me to sit on the stone wall that runs along the touchline and feel the warmth on my back. I don't think it would be quite the same on a bleak winters afternoon!

No admission was charged but the club do produce a programme and the little lad selling them did a roaring trade as he went along all the people sitting on the wall. There is also a cafe at the ground but if a bacon butty wasn't your thing you could nip across to the beach a get yourself an ice cream. I went with the former especially after a couple of beers.

The game was a really good Welsh Trophy cup tie that went the full distance, the homesters going through by virtue of a penalty shoot out after two hours of play couldn't separate the teams.

It was a very even first half and neither goalkeeper had a meaningful save to make however The Beach Boys did go in leading at the break, thanks to a superb solo effort from Craig Moore. A Llanfairpwll corner was cleared and landed at the feet of Moore, well inside his own half, who ran with the ball all the way into the LlanfairPG box and fired the ball home (33m).

The visitors were level soon after the restart when the ball was headed back into the area and it landed at the feet of Richard Owen, with his back to goal, who turned and shot home from six yards out (48m).

Llanfairpwll were now in control of the game and Kelvin Frazier missed two glorious chances to give the visitors the lead. Trearddur Bay rode the storm and had a decent chance of their own, Barry Haigh firing over with goal at his mercy, but it wasn't to be and extra time beckoned.

The visitors made the running in the first period of extra time but once again could not make the breakthrough, their best effort coming from Brendan Hogan's 'Leighton Baines-esque' free kick which was tipped over by Gareth Owen.

The second period saw both teams reduced to ten men with Anthony Parry and Gavin Jennings receiving straight red cards after an altercation (I didn't get a good view of what actually happened but someone sitting nearby said it was an elbow, then retaliation) and with that the game petered out to the lottery of penalties.

After the regulation 5 penalties it was still square at 4-4, both teams having had a spot kick saved. The first of the sudden death penalties were both saved before Ian Williams stepped up to score for Trearddur Bay to make it 5-4. Llanfairpwll skipper Jack Williams had to score to keep his team alive but his spot kick was saved by Owen and it was The Beach Boys that went through to the next round.

The extra time meant I missed the bus back to Holyhead, so I had to walk back to catch my train but it was well worth worth it. All in all a fantastic afternoon down by the sea.

Trearddur's Gareth Owen saves Jack Williams' penalty to send his
team through to the next round

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.