LLANDYRNOG UNITED 1
LLANYSTUMDWY 1
(Llandyrnog won 4-2 on penalties)
LLANGOLLEN Town are next up for Llandyrnog United after their spot-on Welsh Cup success to open the season.
In Elfed Lloyd’s first competitive match in charge at Cae Nant, his side overcame an early setback to see off Llanystumdwy in this first qualifying round clash.
Having hardly had time to settle into the dugout, Lloyd found his team a goal down within 32 seconds as Mike Parry shot home from 25 yards out.
Brushing themselves down from this early setback, Llandyrnog soon found their rhythm and went on to dominate the first half by playing some expansive football all over the pitch.
Russ Moorcroft and Lucas Cruz were always a handful down the right side during the first half, which found the visitors pinned in their own half.
Whenever Llanystumdwy did manage to break out, their attackers were well marshalled by the home back line, who looked to break out with the ball at every opportunity.
Llandyrnog were awarded a penalty on the half-hour and Danny Jones stepped up to calmly slot away the equaliser.
The visiting midfield found it hard to track the dynamic runs of Kristian Pierce, but all to often good build-up play wasn’t matched with decisive balls in the final third.
This limited the Llandyrnog strikeforce of Gareth Roberts and Si Brown to only a handful of half chances.
When the hosts did manage to get an attempt on target, they found the visiting keeper in inspired form, which had much to do with the half-time scoreline remaining at 1-1.
The second period carried on in the same vein, with Arwel Hughes in goal being nothing more than a ball feeder for the full backs, both carrying the ball upfield without much resistance.
Endaf Jones came on to replace the injured Neil Brown and immediately started pulling the strings in midfield alongside Tom Evans.
With Llandyrnog continuing to pressure, it seemed a matter of time before a goal would come.
Brown’s shot appeared to cross the line, but nothing was given, while the introduction of Phil Parry up top gave the tiring visitors more to worry about.
Still they kept everything out, however, with some courageous last-ditch blocking.
In extra time, Josh Davies was added to the front line and the youngster thought he had broken the deadlock when he rose to wonderfully head in, however he was adjudged to be offside.
The extra spell continued in the same pattern, with the Cae Nant side bombarding their opponents from every angle.
Credit to the visitors though as they managed to take the game into penalties, a massive achievement in light to the possession Llandyrnog had throughout.
It was left to Endaf Jones, Kristian Pierce, Danny Jones and Phil Parry to all slot in their spot kicks, while Arwel Hughes’ presence was enough for the visitors to miss two of their kicks.
This means that Llandyrnog now progress into the second qualifying round, where they will entertain fellow Denbighshire outfit Llangollen Town on August 28.