News & EventsLatest NewsCalendar
Cookson Cup

Cookson Cup

Matthew Lewis7 Jan 2018 - 20:41
Share via
FacebookTwitter
https://www.pitchero.com/clubs

Llandyrnog 2 Llanrug 2 (Llanrug with 2-3 on penalties)

It was penalty shootout heartbreak for Llandyrnog as they crashed out of the league cup in the cruelest fashion.

Visitors Llanrug arrived at Cae Nant with their impressive unbeaten record this season still intact.
Dyrny quickly set about trying to end that and were given the best possible start when a brilliant bit of individual skill from Dan Porter left two defenders for dead before he fired past Dylan Roberts in the 'Rug goal.

The away side then showed why they are having such a good season as they quickly turned the game back in their favour. Their equaliser came from the spot when Conor Jones was adjudged to have brought down his man and Johnny Sadler made no mistake from 12 yards.
A stunning individual effort then put them ahead when David Noel Williams brilliantly curled one into the top corner from 30 yards. Llanrug were on top but Dyrny received a boost just before half time when Marvin Pritchard was harshly judged to have dived in the box which resulted in a second yellow card.

Ryan Harden’s men went quickly about making the extra man count and took only three minutes of the second half to get level. A long throw was smartly flicked on by Sean James and Luke Appleby was on hand to finish. The home side were now well on top and a winner seemed inevitable but another bizarre refereeing decision turned the game on its head once again.

As substitute Les Brophy broke through on goal he was clearly shoved in the back but to everyone’s amazement not only was a penalty not given, the defender received a second yellow card to level the teams up.
Both teams then had chances for a winner but failed to convert and the game headed into extra time. It was a similar story during the additional half an hour with neither side able to conjure a winning goal so it was left to a penalty shootout to decide who would face Barmouth in the Semi Finals.
Home keeper Stuart Griffiths managed to keep out 2 of the 5 penalties but unfortunately that wasn’t enough as only Billy Holmes and Ben Knight managed to convert theirs.

Harden said ‘ Its always a horrible way to lose especially considering some of the decisions that went against us during the game but it’s somewhat easier for me to take because of the effort the lads gave me over he course of the 120 minutes. It’s them I feel sorry for as they deserved better’.

Further reading