PICTURE by Wynne Evans.
DESPITE heavy snowfall across the region on Saturday afternoon, local football continued and as always, didn’t disappoint in terms of drama or goals.
Valley Athletic kept their status of being the only Kon-X Anglesey League team still in the NWCFA Junior Cup alive with a highly impressive 3-2 win over Bontnewydd, who are flying high in the Gwynedd League.
Valley faced a real challenge in this one as Bont have only conceded 15 goals (the least in the division) in their league this season. However, the visitors travelled there in high spirits and looked to be in confident mood.
Barry Rowlands’ Valley side took the lead early on when Mike Williams’ shot deflected off the Bont keeper and into the path of Jordie Lees who fired home.
The home side rarely threatened but were gifted a goal when a pass back to Valley’s goalkeeper for the day Konner Druce (who is usually a winger!) ended up in the back of the net following a mistake.
However, Valley soon made it 2- 1 as a floated ball from Jack Peters found the towering figure of Mike Williams who nodded in just before the break.
In the second half, Bont found an early equaliser. A free kick lofted in was met with a volley to equal the tie at 2-2.
Valley kept pushing for to try get that all important winning third goal and it eventually paid off. Marc Wilson’s pace down the left wing allowed him to drill the ball across the box to Valley’s top scorer Justin Williams who smashed the ball home and sealed a famous win with his 29th goal of the season.
A wonder save from Druce at the very end ensured that Valley go into the semi-final’s of the NWCFA Junior Cup and do their division proud in the process.
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Elsewhere on Saturday, the Dargie Cup semi-final match between Mynydd Tigers and Caergybi had to be abandoned as a huge fight reportedly broke out between the two sides after just 25 minutes had been played.
Caergybi were 2-1 up thanks to goals from Kurt Harris and Elliott Patterson as the game was called off by the match official.
The ugly scenes began when Mynydd’s goalkeeper had been held back when trying to take a quick throw out to one of his players. A Caergybi player was then sent off and chaos ensued on the pitch as punches were thrown left, right and center, even after the referee had abandoned the match.
A hearing of the committee is set to take place on Tuesday evening to determine the outcome of the incident.
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Meanwhile, Llangoed Reserves held Bodorgan to a 1-1 draw in a closely fought contest in the Kon-X Anglesey League.
A draw is a real rarity in the division, in fact this one was only the second throughout the whole season, with the last coming way back in September when Mynydd Tigers and Pentraeth Reserves played out a 1-1 draw.
Matthew Cole scored for the Reserves and Danny Connolly netted for the visitors as the two sides walked away with a point apiece in this one.
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In the fourth and final fixture played on Saturday, Bryngwran Bulls came away with an emphatic 3-0 win against an in-form Arriva Bangor side in the Lucas Oil Cup.
Ahead of the match, heavy snowfall had threatened to see the game called off, but luckily it began to clear just in time. Both sets of players and managers lined-up before kick-off to pay their respects to well-respected former Anglesey League committee member Reg Bryant, who passed away last weekend.
Despite Arriva’s impressive form of late, the Bulls seemed to have full control in this one and after going weeks without playing a match, it’s fair to say that they bounced back in style.
A brace from James Ryan, who now has 26 goals for the season and a solo strike from winger Matty Roberts were enough to cement Richard Owen’s side’s place in the semi-finals of the tournament.
The fixtures for next Saturday (March 24), are as follows:
Lucas Oil Cup (semi-final’s): – Mynydd Tigers v Bodorgan and Bryngwran Bulls v Valley.
Bwlch Car Boot Trophy (Play-off round): – Llandegfan v Pentraeth Reserves
Kon-X Anglesey League: – Llangoed Reserves v Arriva Bangor
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