Penycae v Coedpoeth

SCORERS: Josh Mazzarella 2
Tom Edwards
Rhys Powell
M.O.T.M: Josh Mazzarella
STARTING XI: 1. Ben Darlington 2. Kyle Jarvis 3. Jamie Monk 4. Dyf Smith 5. Aaron Jones 6. Harry Bowen 7. Josh Mazzarella 8. Rhys Powell 9. Austin Owen 10. Alex Rowlands 11. Tom Edwards
SUBSTITUTES: 12. Ruben Monterio 14. Natty Davies

With a free day Saturday it gave the lads a chance to have a well deserved rest before we made our first ever appearance in the NEWFA u19’s Cup. With both our u15 & 16 squads winning their respective competitions last season, the lads stepping up were looking to continue winning ways in the competition.

We couldn’t have had a harder start as we were pitted against an experienced u19’s Coedpoeth team, which is made up of some first team players and regularly have strong league campaigns in the u19 league.

The game started with both teams trying to get a hold of possession, but both defences controlled any attacks from the opposition. We mounted numerous attacks with Tom Edwards giving the Coedy right back a day to forget. The first game courtesy of some good work by Edwards has he drilled the ball low across the box for the on rushing Josh Mazzarella to slip home on 19 minutes. This sparked Coedy in to life and a excellent one handed save from Ben Darlington kept us ahead. A few chances started to fall our way and on 39 minutes we extended our lead as Rhys Powell curled home from 18 yards with a smart finish to give us a two nil lead at the break.

Second half was all about surviving the first 20 minutes and with Coedy trying to mount an attack, the defensive side of our game was just as strong as the attacking side. On 54 minutes we extended our lead when Tom Edwards beat his man to head home from a well delivered Harry Bowen free kick. With us soaking up the Coedy pressure we launched numerous counter attacks and when Alex Rowlands played a through ball Josh Mazzarella cut in to drill the ball in to the far corner beyond the keeper. 

A solid performance from the lads and the result we deserved. 

We progress on to the next round, which is due to be played Sunday 11th November, were we await our opponents. The month of November will be an exciting albeit challenging one for the squad as we try to navigate through three knock out games in the Welsh FA Youth Cup were we travel to Llandudno, NEWFA u19 Cup as well as our League Cup against Holywell Town. Thrown into that is the league campaign to continue with, so your support will be very much appreciated.