Penycae Football Club C.I.C.

Derby number three of the season so far as we hosted Cefn Albion at the Riverside. Derby’s always have a little edge to them but this one was always going to be different with the players knowing each other and some of my ex-youth players being involved.

Cefn started straight out the blocks as we expected them to do and put us under constant pressure. With the wind against us we struggled to get the ball out of our half but for all the possession Cefn had in our half they struggled to break us down as the lads organised themselves really well and dug in reducing Cefn to shots from distance, with both Josh Valentine & Callum Mannion going close. For all the results we’ve had so far in my eyes that first half was one of the best 45 minutes of our season as we remained solid and showed great character to keep Cefn at bay.

We couldn’t really get into the Cefn half but on 17 minutes Natty Davies battled past 3 defenders, starting out wide right before cutting in and seeing his cross turned into the net by the opposition captain, Les Morris. The game continued with Cefn having the majority of possession but failing to create anything before another counter attack on 27 minutes saw Ramone Nelson slide a well weighted through ball for Ben Richards to race clear, round the keeper and put us into a two nil lead at the break.

The second half was well managed by the lads, and they put in a mature performance as we sat solid and invited Cefn on to us knowing our speed on the counter attack would cause them problems. Defensively as a unit we were solid and this gave the platform to counter Cefn and we caused massive problems down the left with Tom Edwards and Kyle Davies bombing down the flank. We extended our lead on 62 minutes when Ramone Nelson was up ended in the box and Ben Richards converted the penalty. We had chances to extend our lead as Ben Richards, Tom Edwards and Kyle Davies all seen chances go close before Edwards cut in from the left on 87 minutes and unleashed a shot which the Cefn keeper saved well but Joe Griffiths was in the right place to slot home to give us a 4-0 derby day win.

The lads are in for a big month in November as we will be battling on four fronts; we continue our League campaign and also have the next round of the League Cup, make a trip to Llandudno Academy in the Welsh FA Youth Cup and have the second round of the NEWFA Cup.