THOMAS DRIVES CHIRK TO TROPHY FINAL

LLANGEFNI TOWN 0 V CHIRK AAA FC 1
FAW TROPHY SEMI FINAL AT CORBETT SPORTS STADIUM, RHYL FC
11 MARCH 2017 --- 2PM

FAW TROPHY SEMI FINAL LLANGEFNI V CHIRK

A Matty Thomas goal 3 minutes before half time was enough to separate these two evenly matched sides and send Chirk through to a FAW Trophy final appearance.  The Colliers should have probably been further in front at the break but in the second half had their keeper Zac Bebbington to thank for pulling off 3 excellent saves in a 5 minute period of Llangefni pressure.
At last the blog returns to the Principality for a game of football and with a start just before 9.30am we would arrive in Rhyl around 3 hours later, only just mind you.  After an uneventful first leg and change, as normal, at Piccadilly we would depart to Cheser and the North Wales coast.   Only the Arivva Wales trains was not on the departure board and it was then that I realised no trains were running to Manchester Airport and very luckily we caught a connecting train to Oxford Rd which was just about to depart were todays Bangor train would be leaving from.  With little time in Rhyl for this 2pm kick off times were crucial and there was a breath of relief when we claimed our seats on an unusually quiet train.

DREAMING OF RHYL AND BEYOND

Rhyl beckoned and on departure it was off to Les and Rita's chip shop for unfortunately only a tray of chips nothing else was ready, all cooked fresh I guess, but we had little time to wait as the plan was for a quick walk on the sea front before dashing back to the ground.

YOU CANT BEAT A GOOD CLOCK TOWER

Sadly Rhyl as I mentioned in my last visit 2 seasons ago has seen better days and with derelict buildings, closed tourist information centre and now defunct skytower, which originally came from the garden exhibition in Glasgow, it does resemble a socio economic study for many a university student.  The shopping centre was busy but although of course out of season the appeal of Rhyl as disappeared so after a look out to sea we made our excuses and sped away to The Corbett Sports Stadium.

BACK OVER THE RAILWAY LINE RHYL FC HERE WE COME

The blog as looked at the ground before but its one of the more built up stadiums in The Welsh Premier League and well worth a visit with nooks and crannies everywhere offering the feel of an old style football league ground.  On my previous visit the weather was brighter and I managed to get some lovely shots of the floodlights with a sunset backdrop sadly today it was cloudy with poor light but this ground is still special to me.

WE ARE IN THE RIGHT PLACE THEN

Its all but an all seater ground and with a near corporate feel dedicated to Arriva I love the aquamarine seats at the end of the main stand, programmes and entry gained I set off on a tour taking a few ground pictures before introducing myself to Graham the Llangefni secretary who had been kind enough to confirm the kick off time to me on Friday.

LLANGEFNI TOWN FLAG

 As ever a pleasure to meet the merry band of club secretaries thanks for your greetings today Graham.  Rhyl as hosts seemed to have the day set up well but the down side had to be the FAW programme production they had produced an appalling programme again for a prestigious game with a team line up and the other seven pages a cover and individual players photos.  No words were included and not even a greeting from an FAW official surely they should be more proud of this prestigious competition.

HERE IS ONE OF CHIRKS FLAGS FOR FAIRNESS

Mick or Batman as he has now become known went off in search of his soup and even later told me he managed a hot dog while I wasn't looking.
A close game was anticipated and so it turned out to be with Chirk AAA  from the Welsh National League and Llangefni Town from the Welsh Alliance both having top half of the table seasons.  This was a nice neutral venue with Chirk making the trip from the border just north of Oswestry and Llangefni from Holyhead coming in a similar distance.

The game started of at a pace with both sides looking to attack but maybe it was all a bit to frenetic however Alun Roberts headed just over the Llangefni before Mathew Jones saw his effort ruled out for offside on 20 minutes to deny Cefni.

 
Chirk were becoming dominant though as the half wore on it was Louie Middlehurst who crashed a deflected header off the bar after 24 minutes then Craig Roberts fired just wide before Chirk did take the lead.  The clock had moved round to 42 minutes when Thomas picked the ball up 25 yards out advanced to the edge of the box and drove low and hard across Llangefni keeper Stephen Sinclair into the bottom left hand corner to give Chirk a deserved half time lead.

CHIRK KNOW HOW TO CELEBRATE THAT MATTY THOMAS GOAL

The second half started with Chirk in the ascendancy when Middlehurst saw his effort cleared off the line.  But Chirk probably should have been further ahead by this stage and Llangefni came back into the game with a storm and only keeper Bebbington denied them in a blistering 5 minute period he saved first from Craig Evans a wonderful full length denial from the Llangefni players header.

Then he pushed over Mathew Jones effort before turning away for a corner a one on one shot from Anthony Hughes.  This would be the turning point in the game for many as Bebbington had single handily denied Llangefni a way back into the game with his heroics.
As the match rattled on in entertaining fashion Nicky Williams and Middlehurst combined to miss and excellent chance for Chirk to extend their lead.

The remainder of play had seen a selection of chances missed by both sides but one thing that could not be doubted was the tremendous effort of both teams who had given their all at stages it looked like Llangefni would survive with dogged defending but overall the extra firepower that Chirk had just got them over the line.  A credit to both sides the crestfallen appearance of the Llangefni players was hard to take at the final whistle for a side who had given their all but of course on the other side of the coin there were scenes of sheer delight from the Chirk players and fans as they now await a final against Penlan who won through 1-0 in the other semi final.

A brisk walk back to the expansive platforms of Rhyl station saw us depart just after 4pm and after a change in Manchester and some tea at the 'M's' we were soon underway again back to base station with the remarkable achievement of 4 trains caught and seats on all we climbed off our train just short of 8pm after an enjoyable day.
The blog send best wishes to Llangefni Town for the rest of the season and of course to Chirk AAA for the remainder of their season which includes an FAW Trophy final, enjoy!

HUMOROUS END TO THE DAY AT MANCHESTER OXFORD RD STATION