Cup run cut short as United fail to deliver......
I don’t know how United lost this match, it was one of those which should have been dead and buried in the first half, but once again United were found guilty of trying to walk the ball into the net, and once again they got punished for the lack of efforts from distance. It obviously didn’t help that all the officials more or less travelled on the same bus as Llandyrnog, the biased approach shown, especially in the first half was so obvious, with decision after decision going Llandyrnog’s way, and United were denied two clear cut penalties when Mathew Phillips was chopped down by Llandyrnog’s dirty keeper, as he made no effort at all to collect the ball in the 15 th minute, but instead his only intention was to hurt Mathew, and hurt him he did. A few minutes later brother Gethin was felled just within the penalty area, but the referee was never going to punish his mates from his neighbouring village!
Still missing for United were injured Iwan Price and Andrew Williams was still in the Med, but back into United’s defence came a very lean Ceirion Williams, but obviously he lacked match fitness after a long absence from the team.
It only took a few minutes for Mathew to get into the danger zone, Carl Wayne Jones delivered a fine ball over the top, but a good tackle by one of Llandyrnog’s defenders denied Mathew a shooting opportunity. Chris Joyce did try to test the keeper from distance in the 12 th minute, but his wayward effort from 30 yards or so was blocked, which thankfully saved someone a trip into Hefin’s field to collect the ball! Following the penalties that never were, Mathew tried to get the better of the dirty keeper and rounded him with ease on the left side but his final cross to Gareth Eifion Jones was far too high. It was in the 22 nd minute that United came closest in the half, Rhys Roberts with an acute effort from the right side from 6 yards beat the fully stretched keeper and was on it’s way in by the far post but the shot lacked pace, Mathew Phillips narrowly missed a tap-in and so the effort was cleared off the line by a Llandyrnog defender.
United were pressing well for the opener, and in the 24 th minute Eifion Williams got in a good position to head form a right sided corner, but his effort went well over. The 27 th minute saw Mathew Phillips replaced by Martin Bohana following his mistreatment at the hands of Mr Dirty, the Llandyrnog keeper, and this was obviously a factor as United’s top marksman was the main threat with his pace and ability to chase the long balls. Although United kept pressing, they were not helped by the referee who was still giving Llandyrnog everything.
United came close in the 36th minute, Rhys Roberts on the right side won the ball in his own half and advanced to within 30 yards when he switched to Martin Bohana, but Martin’s first touch effort went some two yards high and wide of the left angle. Seconds later Gareth Eifion’s obviously been watching too much of his captain, his ‘cic hosan’ from within the six yard area was saved by Llandyrnog’s keeper and parried out along the six yard line, but Rhys Roberts who was advancing had unfortunately slowed down and allowed the keeper to collect on the second attempt.
Carl Wayne was the next to feel the physical side of Llandyrnog’s play, when he felt some studs on his thigh, but once again no free-kick – surprise, surprise! Shortly afterwards the referee halted proceedings and warned all the players that anyone caught swearing would be red carded – what the f*** was all that about? if he would have been fair with his decisions I’m sure the swearing would have been minimal. In the final minute of the half Gareth Eifion had a goal bound effort blocked, when Carl Griffith’s cross from the left side eluded Llandyrnog’s defence. The referee called time on 45 minutes, no injury time despite Mathew Phillips and Carl Wayne being decked for a couple of minutes each! Not a good game by any stretched of the imagination, but United should have put the game beyond reach.
Within five minutes of the resumption, a misunderstanding between Ceirion and Dave Ball, resulted in Ball letting the ball go out for a corner when obviously Tat thought it was a gaol kick. This led to the most pressure that Llandyrnog had shown so far, but to be fair Tat was a bit rusty! Eifion and David Noel Williams linked up well in the 57 th minute, which saw Charlie cross into the six yard box from the left side but the defence got the better of Gareth Eifion. Charlie, Carl Griffiths and Martin Bohana then linked up well but the final ball was blocked and went out to the left by-line where Chris Joyce tried his luck from 35 yards but the keeper collected with ease.
On the hour Llandyrnog took the unlikely lead, an over the top ball to the edge of the area saw Phil Jones toe poke over the advancing Dave Ball into the top left corner. From there on it was back to mainly being all United, and with long balls being delivered over Llandyrnog’s defence, Mathew Phillips was clearly missed, he’d chase them all day and would have made a difference. Dave Ball pulled off a fine save in the 69 th minute from a rare Llandyrnog attack, when Ceirion was caught napping and Llandyrnog’s number 7 was free on goal with only Dave to beat, but a fantastic stop by Ball to his left denied him. Aled Owen replaced Tat immediately afterwards as he was loosing his bearings.
Gethin Phillips had the ball in the back of his own net in the 73 rd minute but thankfully Llandyrnog were caught off-side. With time running out United were maintaining the pressure and Eifion Williams was going forward at every opportunity, with only ten minutes of normal time remaining, he rounded Llandyrnog’s defence with ease and had his boots well and truly on when he delivered a powerful cross from the left touchline, but was deflected for a corner but not according to the Denbighshire referee. The 84 th minute saw Carl Wayne with a goal scoring opportunity, after getting the better of a couple of challenges his effort from 15 yards was nearer Glyntwrog than the goal posts! Gareth Eifion came agonisingly close in the 87 th minute, Chris Joyce found Gethin Phillips deep on the left wing and his cross was met by the boot of Gareth Eifion but went a couple of feet over. A couple of minutes later and Gareth Eifion was advancing on goal but a good tackle denied him a shooting opportunity.
With the 90 minutes up and injury time being played, crosses into the area were called upon, but Charlie had other ideas when he chose short corners and then failed to get the return ball into the danger area of the six yard box, what on earth was he thinking about only he knows, all the pressure piled on by United in injury time proved to be to no avail when the referee halted proceedings after five minutes.
Another cup gone by the wayside, and with a trip to Gresford next week in the second round of the Welsh Cup, United will have to do better to ensure progression into round three. The dreaded minibus makes a return for the trip to Wrexham, but let’s focus on the game and not the drinking afterwards boys. I’m driving and if I can’t drink, then nobody drinks! Mathew Phillips is a doubt, not only due to his axing down in the 15 th minute but work commitments are on the agenda. Andy Bach will hopefully be back and Iwan Price had been ordered to ditch the crutches, so lets hope he’s on the mend.
LLANRUG UNITED: Dave Ball, Gethin Phillips, Chris Joyce, Ceirion Williams (Aled Owen – 70 mins), Eifion Williams (Capt.), Carl Wayne Jones, Carl Griffiths, Gareth Eifion Jones, Mathew Phillips (Martin Bohana – 27 mins), Rhys Roberts (Gavin Rogerson – 76 mins).
SUBS (Not Used): Marvin Pritchard.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Eifion Williams.
2009/2010 