Welsh Cup Round 1
Holywell Town 3-0 Penrhyncoch

Welsh Cup football returned to Halkyn Road and Town looked forward to the challenge of playing Cymru Alliance opposition Penrhyncoch, and with the visitors struggling in the league, an upset was most definite on the cards.

Both teams were looking for a good start and with 4 minutes on the clock, Steve Thomas was brought down by Aneurin Thomas. Thomas took the free kick and hit the ball into the danger area but the ball was cleared with Sam Jones and Graham Boylan lurking to head the ball goal wards. Penrhyncoch then got into the game, and a good build up by the visitors saw them close the Danny Stanton’s box, but a perfectly timed tackle by Tom McElmeel stopped Dylan James from passing the ball to the Penrhyncoch striker in Town’s penalty area.

The visitors then went on the attack and got a couple of corners in quick succession, the 2nd , after falling kindly to a couple of players but they weren’t able to capitalize and the ball was finally cleared well by Dafydd Griffth.

Paul Willaims was terrorizing Penrhyncoch’s back four and his low cross was well saved by Llew Hughes. A few minutes later, Sam Jones had a shot which Hughes again saved well. Town were on the offensive now and Hughes once again saved Penrhyncoch, saving from a Steve Thomas effort. Graham Boylan was next to nearly break the deadlock, but his header from a Sam Jones cross went over the bar. Tom McElmeel flicked on a corner towards Graham Boylan but his header was saved before with the last attack of the first half, Sam’s volley from a Matty Roberts cross was blocked by the wall.

The teams came out for the second half and Penrhyncoch’s Jonathon Evans saw his chip go over Stanton’s bar. Holywell then had an opportunity as Paul Williams broke down the right, but his cross eluded Boylan and his header flashed wide. Evans once again had a long rang effort on goal which went wide then Paul Williams found himself on a 1 to 1 with the Penryhcoch keeper, but he managed to parry the ball as Williams chipped the ball goalwards.

On 70 minutes, Penhyncoch’s Josh Halrich saw red for a tackle on Tom McElmeel and a few minutes later, Town took the lead. Town won a corner and as the ball came in, the keeper decided to go walkabout chasing after the ball, and as it dropped to Tony Roebuck, he looked up and saw the keeper was off his line and he chipped the ball over him despite the efforts of Jon Folingo to prevent the ball crossing the line. The goal lifted town, and on 83 minutes, a cross by Paul Willaims was just too fast for Thomas to connect with.

Arron Lemon then had a shot go well wide of the target for Penrhyncoch then a minute later, Paul Williams doubled our lead after a great run by Sam Jones which saw the ball fall kindly to Paul to fire home. Steve Thomas killed the game off with Town’s third after a great run by Sub Luke Tyson a minute later and as the whistle went, it was Town’s name still in the hat for the next round. It was a great performance by everyone on the pitch and the victory was well deserved......roll on Round 2!!