Today saw us welcome top of the league Brymbo to Penycae, it was another tough fixture for us.
We had to make numerous changes this week due to player availability, this resulted in us calling 5 16 year olds into the squad with
Ben Darlington,
Josh mazza, and
Harry Bowen starting the game. The game started with Brymbo quickly getting into their stride and attacking at every opportunity, we were nervous but managed to hold firm and get into the game. On 32 mins the 1st goal of the game arrived and it was Brymbo who took the lead when a long ball over the top caught us out and the striker lofted it over Ben for 1-0. This lifted Brymbo who then struck the woodwork on 2 occasions with us scrambling the ball away both times and got to half time at 1-0. The half time instructions were to sit in and frustrate Brymbo and try and play on the counter attack. The 2nd half was again Brymbo on the front foot with the majority of possession but we're limited to shots from distance. On 60 mins
James Triggs won possession and played a lovely through ball for
Austin Owen to run onto, he took a couple of touches before slotting past the keeper for 1-1. This goal rattled Brymbo and they began forcing the play with long balls towards our goal, but we were looking strong and holding firm. They managed to get in behind but
Ben Darlington pulled off a great save for a corner. From the corner Brymbo went 2-1 up on 76 mins when a player had a free shot at goal from 4 yards out. We now threw caution to the wind and pushed for an equaliser, time was running out but on 88 mins we equalised through
Tom Edwards after a great pass from
Ben Richards. With the referee signalling 3 mins left of injury time, we tried our best to keep Brymbo away who were now throwing everything at us, they hit the bar again and
Ben Darlington made a wonder save on 94 mins which lead to a corner. The corner came in and we cleared towards halfway, surely now the whistle would go, but Brymbo passed it forward and the winger who looked a few yards offside slotted under Ben for 3-2 in the 95th minute. This was heartbreaking for the players, the management who gave everything and yes, we did have a bit of luck, but thought we'd done enough for a point. A tough one to take today, but a great performance and effort from the players, and to have 4 16 year olds on the pitch at the same time was remarkable.
