The unpredictability of football is part of its enduring charm and when Ruthin visited Coedpoeth for this Welsh Cup match no-one could have predicted what was going to happen. Ruthin couldn’t have had a better start as virtually from the kick off Gwion Owen weaved his way past one and then two Coedpoeth defenders before being brought down by a third to give Ruthin a penalty. Ryan Jones stepped up and made no mistake.
With an early goal against a team two divisions below the Ruthin faithful settled down for a goal fest. Coedpoeth, however, had other ideas. It wasn’t the fact that Ruthin didn’t match their rivals for effort because they did, they also tried to play their normal passing game and enjoyed good spells of possession but Coedpoeth were committed to the cause. They were aggressive, without being over aggressive and physical without troubling the referees whistle too much. They worked and hassled all over the pitch and had chances themselves. Had they been a little more composed upfront they may well have found themselves in the lead at half time. Ruthin in turn responded well, stood firm and had Gwion Owen causing problems as he ran at the home defence. Osian Davies was also busy making tackles of his own in the heart of midfield and keeping Ruthin ticking over.
In the second half Ruthin tried to be a bit more direct but were undone by a really good move by Coedpoeth. Nick McCormick passed a lovely ball to Nathan Jones on the left who controlled the ball to put in a great cross for Curt Griffiths to slot the ball home much to the joy of a good home crowd. Somewhere in Coedpoeth a banana was being peeled.
Ruthin continued to enjoy large swaythes of the possession and were pressing their hosts without creating any real chances as Coedpoeth continued to defend resolutely. Just as their hosts started to show signs of tiredness they won the ball from Gwion Owen in midfield. As some of the Ruthin players were appealing for a foul the ball was played through to Oiver Lewis who outpaced the Ruthin defence to shoot the ball underneath the advancing Ryan Goldston in the Ruthin goal. 2-1, we now had a proper cup tie, the banana skin was well and truly on the pavement and the muscles that had previously seemed tired were revitalised.
Ruthin continued to press, a revitalised Coedpoeth continued to frustrate their visitors. The sign of a good squad is when the manager has options on the bench with players who can change the game. Enter Tom Williams. This young man did just that. Coming on the right he started to take on the Coedpoeth defence causing problems. With time running out he made it to the byline and put in the best cross of the day to the back post where another youngster, Lewys Turner, rose to power a header into the net – much to the relief of the travelling support.
There had been a number of injuries during the second half so a decent spell of injury time was expected. Having said that, there is no doubt that Ruthin would have settled for extra time but thankfully there was no need. Yet again Tom Williams picked up the ball on the right his crossed caused confusion in the opposition penalty area as the defence were reeling from the late late equaliser. The ball came out to Osian Davies who’s shot went under the keeper to claim a 96th minute winner.
Somewhere in Coedpoeth someone picked up a banana skin and put it in the bin.