RHOSTYLLEN (The Rec, Vicarage Hill)

FAW WELSH CUP 2nd ROUND, RHOSTYLLEN 0-2 FLINT TOWN UNITED, ATTENDANCE: 120 (est)

Today attention switched back to the Welsh Cup, as the competition reached the second round. After a visit to the island in the last round, it was a short trip up the A483 to Wrexham for today's action. When the draw was made, the only team left in the Northern section that I hadn't visited was Rhostyllen. When they were drawn at home to Flint Town United, it was a no brainer as far as I was concerned.


Rhostyllen is a former mining village, with many residents working at the nearby Bersham Colliery, which before closure in December 1986 was the last working coal mine in the Denbighshire coalfield.

There is evidence of football being played in Rhostyllen as early as 1879, which is the year displayed on the club badge. The Vicarage Hill field has been used to play football since 1955, when it was donated by Colonel Fitzhugh. The Rec ground is excellent for this level of football, with a railed off pitch and a small covered brick stand.

There have been many clubs who have taken to the field under the name of Rhostyllen (a Rhostyllen & Bersham won the Wrexham Area Division One in 1995 and a Rhostyllen MV also won Division One in 1989) with the last incarnation playing as Rhostyllen United when they folded in 2005.

 The reformed club joined the North East Wales League in 2015. Due to cup fixtures, the club have only played 5 league games and won them all, so they are, currently, well placed with games in hand.

In their debut Welsh Cup campaign this season, Rhostyllen have seen victories over AFC Brynford (6-0) Brymbo (1-0) and Berriew (2-1). The club are also through to round four of the Welsh Trophy.

Rhostyllen are the lowest ranked Northern side left in the competition so today would be their biggest test so far as they welcomed Cymru Alliance outfit Flint Town United to The Rec.

Unfortunately for the home side there would be no giant killing, as this game was a step to far, though they did make Flint work hard for their victory.

Stewart Carroll gave Flint the lead when he blasted home the ball from the edge of the area after 10 minutes. Rhostyllen worked their way back into the game and tested Flint 'keeper Ross Dalton with a few efforts. However just before half time, Carroll scored a superb free-kick to double Flint's lead (pictured below).

The Silkmen controlled most of second period and had chances they really should have taken to extended their lead and make their afternoon slightly more comfortable. However as the game moved into it's latter stages, Flint took their foot off the gas and allowed Rhostyllen chances to get themselves back into the tie, with one effort cleared off the line. However Flint held on to secure their passage to the next round and a home tie with Welsh Premier League Newtown.

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

ABERDARE TOWN (Aberaman Park)

FAW WELSH CUP 3rd ROUND, ABERDARE TOWN 4-2 PRESTATYN TOWN, ATTENDANCE: 120 (est)

A trip to the Cynon Valley today as Welsh Cup holders Prestatyn Town began their defence of the trophy at Aberaman Park, the home of Aberdare Town. 

This had 'potential banana skin' written all over it as Welsh Premier League Prestatyn headed south to take on their Welsh League Division One opponents.

Founded in 1892, Aberdare Town were previously known as Aberaman Athletic before the changing their name to Aberdare Town in 2012. Aberaman Athletic had won the Welsh League as recently as 2009, but were denied promotion on ground criteria.

It was an eventful game as the cup holders crashed out and finished the game with eight men. 

Prestatyn were down to ten men after 7 minutes when Sean Hessey was deemed to be last man and was given a straight red before Chris Miethke gave the homesters the lead after 29 minutes. 

On 33 minutes Lee Hunt received his second yellow card and just before half time Miethke netted his second to give Aberdare a 2-0 interval lead. 

This was soon 3-0 after the restart when Sam Small broke clear to score before Mike Parker deflected home a Jack Lewis shot to reduce the arrears on 55 minutes, to give the seasiders hope. That hope was quickly extinguished when David Hayes was given a straight red for foul and abusive language. 

Sam Danby made it 4-1 with 12 minutes remaining before Andy Parkinson got a second for Prestatyn after 85 minutes. 

Obviously the sending offs had a huge impact on the result and it is a case of 'what if?' for Prestatyn, but take nothing away from Aberdare they had a right go and unsettled Prestatyn from the off,  playing some decent attacking football. Their two wingers caused problems to the Prestatyn defence throughout the game. Aberdare will now be at home to Bodedern Athletic in round 4. 

Pre-match was spent in the Red Cow in Llwydcoed where two Gower Ales 'Sampson's Jack' and 'Gower Gold' were on offer. A top day out in South Wales.

Match highlights can be found on this link here

BODEDERN ATHLETIC (Cae Ty Cristion)

FAW WELSH CUP 2nd ROUND, BODEDERN ATHLETIC 5-1 TYWYN/BRYNCRUG , ATTENDANCE: 108 (h/c)

I missed out on a visit to Bodedern when they reached the dizzy heights of the Cymru Alliance in 2005 so today seemed a perfect opportunity to put that right.

The overnight weather in North Wales was wretched but there were no problems on the Island and the club club 'tweeted' early in the day to say the game was definitely ON.

I did have slight concerns travelling down the A55 as the rain and hail showers battered my car but upon reaching Bodedern the sun was beating down on the village.

Bodedern is 7 miles east of Holyhead and a football club has been in existence since 1946. After winning the Welsh Alliance in 2005 Bodedern FC were promoted to the Cymru Alliance and finished 9th in their debut season. 

After finishing 2006/07 in 13th position, the following season club ran into difficulties and it all came to a head in October 2007 when they were unable to fulfil a fixture at Queens Park due to a lack of players. The club took the decision to resign from the Cymru Alliance on the 16th October 2007 and their reserve team in the Gwynedd League then became their first team.

The club changed their name to Bodedern Athletic and began the process of climbing the pyramid once more. They were promoted from the Gwynedd League in 2010 and made it back-to-back promotions in 2011 by finishing runners up in the Welsh Alliance Division 2.

The club are now established in the Welsh Alliance and sat 4th at the beginning of play. They were taking on Tywyn/Bryncrug of the Mid Wales League, who sat 12th in their league at the start of play (both the Welsh Alliance and Mid Wales Leagues are Step 3 in the Welsh pyramid).

Anything is possible in a cup tie but on paper it looked a home banker and that is how it turned out with the homesters comfortably progressing to the next round.

Bodedern found themselves 3-0 up after just half an hour. The impressive Ryan Taylor opened the scoring after 7 minutes when his cross-shot squirmed under the Tywyn 'keeper. Chris Evans (13) was played in to put Bodedern 2-0 up, again the Tywyn 'keeper got something on the shot but couldn't prevent it going in.

James Burgess (30) toe poked home a cross from 2 yards out to put the home side firmly in control going into the break. Bodedern looked threatening every time they went forward but, in fairness, Tywyn did have their moments too, but were lacking any sort of finish to their attacks.

The game was effectively over just after the break when Joe Peebles (47) glanced a cross into his own goal. Tywyn finally got on the scoresheet after 50 minutes when Ben Richards ran through the heart of Bodedern's defence, played a one-two and shot home for a mere consolation. Substitute Iwan Jones scored with 8 minutes remaining as the homesters went nap.

Cae Ty Cristion has been Bodedern's home since the club re-formed in 2007, having previously played on pitch behind the local secondary school.  The ground is fully enclosed and has a seated stand behind the goal, towards the corner. The club secretary introduced herself and told us about the work that had gone into improving the ground over the past 7 years. She was rightly proud of what had been achieved so far. With that in mind, I hope Bodedern get a big club at home in the draw for the next round, they would be deserving of a glamour tie.