Match Report - Llangollen Town

Corwen made the trip to Tower Fields to take on local rivals Llangollen Town on a chilly February afternoon in front of a bumper crowd.

Goal
The visitors were under the cosh early on and the hosts early pressure lead to a goal in the eleventh minute when Ben Duffy collected the ball in midfield and shot at goal from distance, which brought goalkeeper Rhys Jones off his line to make a save, which bounced after he got his hands to it and he was unable to recover to prevent the ball going into the back of the net.

Corwen looked for an equaliser when Tom Williams ran down the wing and went past a defender before crossing the ball into the penalty area, where Scott Evans saw his header saved.

As the game entered the last eight minutes of the opening period Jake Hayward played a corner on to the head of Harvey Williams, who saw his effort saved by Rhys Jones and caused a scramble as the players chased the loose ball, which was eventually cleared.

At the Llangollen end Tom Williams lifted a shot at goal from the edge of the D, which curled towards the post, but goalkeeper Ricky Bennett adjusted to make a save.

In the final of the regulation minutes a Llangollen player unleashed a shot at goal from outside the penalty area, which went over the oncoming Rhys, but struck the cross bar.

Half Time

After the break Scott Evans curled a free kick at goal from the edge of the box, which Ricky Bennett pushed away from goal and saw the ball played back in, which the goalkeeper was able to clear at the same time of asking.

Goal

The home side doubled their advantage six minutes after the restart as a cross was played into Corwen penalty area by Jake Hayward, who was able to find Benjamin Wilson, who leapt into the air to head the ball home.

Goal

Corwen looked for a rapid response from a Henry Evans corner, which was ran onto by Oliver Crimp, who sent his header narrowly over the bar. Ricky Bennett hit the resulting goal kick shorter than anticipated and to a Corwen player, allowing the ball to be played to Tom Williams, who ran at the Llangollen number one before slotting the ball home to give Corwen a foothold in the game.

Goal

With twenty minutes to play the scores were level, as Henry Evans floated a free kick into the Llangollen penalty area, where Ryan Billington held the ball up before pulling it back to Kieran Smith, who placed the ball home.

Goal

The away side completed the turnaround six minutes later when the ball fell to Scott Evans in a crowded box, who smashed it into the back of the net to give Corwen the lead.

The home side looked to level things up from a free kick, but they did not trouble the Corwen defence as it went straight into the wall.

With two minutes of the ninety left a Llangollen player was able to get through on goal, but he shot was saved by Rhys Jones.

In the ninetieth minute Rhys Jones suffered what appeared to be a dislocated finger, meaning that he had to be replaced and with no goalkeeper on the bench it had to be a volunteer from the outfield players, with Ryan Billington opting to done the gloves for the closing stages.

Goal

Corwen’s hopes of claiming all three points appeared to be dashed in the fourth minute of stoppage time, as a Llangollen player played the ball into the box, where a Corwen player left the stand in keeper helpless as the ball ricocheted off him and went into the bottom corner of the net.

The visitors didn’t give up though and went in search of what would almost certainly be a winner when Henry Evans galloped down the wing with the ball and looked to play the ball back into the six yard box from near the touchline, but he could only place his cross into the side netting.

As the game entered the ninth minute of stoppage time Corwen sub Gethin Edwards was able to get beyond the last defender and line up a shot, but he could only send his effort narrowly wide of the target.

Gavin Billington