DRUID SPORT AND LEISURE WELSH NATIONAL
DIVISION ONE LEAGUE CUP SEMI-FINAL SECOND LEG
GRESFORD ATHLETIC RESERVES 0 CEFN UNITED RES 0
(agg 3-1)
By Captain Web

My first thoughts when we jumped for joy at precisely 8:12pm on Friday night were “What a fool I was for not standing up to be counted at a committee meeting almost 12 months ago when I appeared to be a lone voice to enter a team into the Welsh Youth Cup as several of our side which played their hearts out on Friday would I am sure done our club credit”.

Make no bones about it, it was a patched up side from the team that defeated Cefn 3-1 in the first leg with six of our squad being unavailable as they were sampling sun, sea, cells and sangria on a Bank Holiday Binge in Majorca . Stupid boys !

Ady himself opted to partner young Luke Peate in the heart of the defence and he brought in the evergreen Mark Evans at left back. Patched up it might have been in terms of numbers but Huw Birkhead, Shaun Winters, Robbie Jones, Darren Jones, Luke Peate, Owen Roberts and Chris Hughes although are still in their teens all played out of their skins.

Evo made a positive start and memories flooded back, what a fearsome player he was in his prime and even now he was a cut above the rest and ‘tailor-made' for this ‘one-off' epic. His positional play was impeccable and he once again made defending look easy. In the opening 15 mins, he won every tackle, was strong in the air and a string of clearances with his left foot were best described as text book.

Ady is no spring chicken either these days and he too was coping well until a calf injury forced him to retire with les than 20 mins on the clock. Evs switched to central defence and Huw slotted in at left back

It was an even first half with the only two clear cut chances falling to Owen Roberts and Richard Carr but there finishing let them down.

To be fair, we were under the cosh for most of the second half and we did begin to tire, Hughesey replaced Shaun who had worked his little socks off.

Despite their territorial advantage, Pricey had a quiet evening but his handling and talking again demonstrated why he is the Welsh National Leagues number one keeper.

Ady again recognised fresh legs were needed and brought on Richie Lloyd for Owen who got a standing ovation from our biggest crowd of the season as they all recognised his immense contribution.

We weathered the odd storm but were delivered another cruel blow when Evo got a nasty cut to the head and the referee forced him to take no further part in the game.

An extremely late and reckless tackle on Keeno almost left him crippled and he too was carted off with a badly damaged shin bone so we played the final minutes with just ten men.

OK so it wasn't pretty stuff from our point of view but this gutsy display means we have reached two major cup finals, next Saturday we travel to Acrefair to play Chirk AAA's in the League Cup and on the following Friday we face Brynteg in the final of the Horace Wynne Cup.

What can I say – I think Julian's position as Mayor of Gresford is under threat !

Man of the match was Luke Peate who was in immaculate form and thoroughly deserved the accolade

Team: 1. Mike Price (7) 2. Robbie Jones (7) 3. Mark Evans (8) 4. Luke Peate (8) 5. Ady Roberts (7) 6. Darren Jones(7) 7. Shaun Winter (7) 8. Richard Carr (7) 9. Chris Broadhurst (7) 10. Paul Jones (7) 11. Owen Roberts (7) SUBS: 12. Chris Hughes(7) 14. Huw Birkland (8) 15. Richie Lloyd