Mold lose out on penalties

Mold Alex were knocked out of the Welsh Trophy 4-2 on penalties in a draining contest at Penrhyndeudraeth F.C.

Mold started brightly but the opening 45 minutes were tight and ended 0-0. Aarron Stafford had Mold's best chances during the first half. In the first instance Lewis Buckley slipped him clear only for the goalkeeper to make a great save. The second chance was a result of a great cross from Jordan Stafford with Aarron bringing the ball down magnificently only to fire straight at the keeper.

Penrhyndeudraeth had two key chances of their own when Roberts was left free from a free kick only to fire over and after an up characteristic error from John Burns dropping a simple cross for the resulting follow up to hit the post when the goal was gaping.

Penrhyndeudraeth started the second half well but Mold withstood the early pressure. Mold grew in to the half and took the lead on 55 minutes with Aarron Stafford magnificently heading in a Gino King free kick.

Sadly for Mold they couldn't hold the lead for long when Roberts rolled Jamie Evans and having the luck that deserted Mold when his effort was magnificently blocked by Joe Tierney only for the ball to fall back at his feet to tap home.

Aarron Stafford suffered a nasty head injury and fall which caused a significant delay whilst he received treatment and was substituted.

Mold ended the game on top but were unable to find a winner.

The first period of extra time was up eventful but the game exploded in to life in the second period.

Penrhyndeudraeth made it 2-1 when John Burns collided with Phil O Neul trying to claim a cross resulting in the Penrhyndeudraeth left winger nodding home. Within a couple of minutes Penrhyndeudraeth had made it 3-1 with a thunderbolt from 25 yards out rising in to the top corner.

Mold are not 11 games unbeaten for no reason and they showed their team spirit by making the game 3-3 with only six minutes left.

Jamie Evans scored from 45 yards before a Lewis Buckley chip sealed a remarkable comeback.

Mold lost out 4-2 on penalties with Paul Lindfield and Lewis Buckley having their efforts saved and the winning penalty being struck down the middle.

Manager Sean Rogers was devastated but proud of his players:

The most important thing is that Aarron is ok. He was taken to hospital by Russ Highins who stayed with him and he has been discharged with concussion and soft tissue injuries so we are all mightily relieved.

"We should have taken the lead in the first half and the first two goals we conceded were at very bad times and could have easily been stopped but for individual errors.

The players spirit to recover from going 3-1 down with so little time left was incredible and there are very few sides that can match that sort of commitment.

Hopefully key lessons are learnt from this fixture and I am just gutted for the Club that we have not progressed for them in this competition.

One thing I would say is that the standard of officiating this season has been diabolical.

Last week we had a game played with six areas of standing water and this week had our reserve game postponed at late notice by a referee for a small patch of standing water.

In this fixture we had a 10 minute stoppage treating Aarron for concussion, there were four subs used and two goals scored yet the referee played two minutes injury time when we were on top. I'm certain with the pressure we were exerting we would have created more chances in normal time had the correct time been played.