New-Look Mountain Progress In Cup

It's back! Football has returned and the 2022/23 season is underway. Mountain started the season with a short trip to Connah's Quay Town in the qualifying round of the JD Welsh Cup. The two sides faced each other twice last season in the opening rounds of the Welsh Cup and the FAW Amateur Trophy, with both teams claiming a victory apiece via a penalty shootout. After both sides were promoted from their corresponding leagues, this would once again be another tough clash.

With Aden Shannon away, it was Jonny Hill who took up the mantle and fielded seven debutants in the starting eleven, including Jamie King, Ieuan Hewitt, Kyle Smyth, Gary Roberts, Calyn Spencer, Andy Brown and Ben Brierly, while John Davies also returned to the club after making a couple of appearances last season.

On a very awkward pitch, it took a while for the Mountain to gain any form of rhythm in the game and Town had the better of the opening exchanges and they went closest with a free kick that whistled past the woodwork of Jamie King's goal. The Mountain defence were also called into action several times to stop different town attacks. It took until the last minute of the half for the deadlock to be broken. After Mountain had won a corner, Gary Roberts swung in a perfect ball for Andy Brown to rise high and plant a header past the Town goalkeeper for his first Mountain goal on his debut.

The second half again saw chances at a premium in a hard battling game. With twenty minutes to go, Town were thrown a lifeline when Ieuan Hewitt clipped his man as he turned in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Town stepped up and found the bottom corner to level. The scores only remained level for five minutes as Mountain then won a penalty of their own. Andy Brown flicked on a forward ball into the Town box. Charlie Hughes raced through the defence and in a desperate effort to clear, a Town defender scythed through Hughes and the referee once again pointed to the spot. On penalty duty was Ste Lewis, on as a substitute and he smashed the ball into the top corner. The score remained the same until the end and Mountain took the tie.

Next up, Mountain make our bow in the opening game of the Ardal North West League, with a tough away clash against recently relegated Llangefni Town next Saturday.

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