Llandudno Junction Reserves v Point of Ayr

This week saw us drawn against First Division outfit Point of Ayr in the Presidents cup, with confidence running high after some very good results and the return of Scott from yet another jolly we were confident of progressing in this competition. The squad has pulled together this season and performed quite well and the attitude has been good and in recent weeks the belief of achieving something this season has been growing. This week saw Beef packing his cases for another holiday within the football season so the squad which we assembled this week was as follows: -

Mike Hughes

Sion Watson, Scott Jones, Phil Williams, Aaron Jones

James Hobson, Danny Williams, Danny Parry, Chris Darbey

Ross Stevens and Matt Hughes 1 MOM

Chris Lloyd on for Danny Williams

Matt Hunt on for Sion Watson

Ashley Jones on for James Hobson

Once again we found ourselves playing against a much bigger team – Bigger in Height – Bigger in League Status – and believe it or not Bigger in Mouth! Yes we found a team who could not only match us but also beat us in the verbal stakes.
With only 2minutes on the clock, we knew we were going to have to battle for everything and that the referee had to be strong as Point were verbally intimidating. Point were very direct in the opening stages and when their keeper knocked a long ball forward Mike had to be on his toes to read the play, which he done well. We got our first chance when Hobbo won the ball well in the middle of the park beat a man and played a good ball to Matt who was brought down in the penalty area, the Referee waved play on. Another long ball from Point’s keeper was again flicked on and this time their number 10 latched onto it and lifted it over Mike who was coming out to close down the angle one nil down after ten minutes was this us going back to our old ways? An early goal always has a demoralising effect on any team but the lads this year have always rolled up their sleeves and tried their very best, Hobbo seems to be getting better and better each game and when he hassled well again and won the ball he got the ball out of his feet quickly and played it into Ross who was denied by the keeper. Sion sent a long ball forward to Matt who hooked into the box Darbey collected it on the left and delivered a first time pass to Paz who shot just wide which was unlucky. Mike pulled off a terrific save from a delightful free kick, which must have been about 25 yards out. The aggressive nature of Point gave us plenty of opportunities to get the ball into the box from free kicks, and Scott delivered a quality ball into the box which Matt challenged for and won and with his back to goal laid the ball off to Hobbo who shot just over. All though Point were talking or should I say shouting a good game we had our chances and in the 36th minute Hobbo drilled in a free kick but none of our lads could get on the end it. After some very good play the 42nd minute saw Darbs have one shot blocked and his follow up effort was just wide of the post. In the closing stages of the first half Sion won the ball went on a mazy run passed to Ross who done well and crossed into the box only for the keeper to beat Matt in the air. Half time a disappointing one nil score line against an average team. We talked at half time about stopping their Captain who was pulling the strings in the middle of the park, we made a change which we thought would combat this and brought on Lloydy to replace the Ox who had given his all after a lengthy lay off, 45 minutes under his belt which will stand him in good stead for the future.

 We said we needed an early goal to rattle them and immediately after the restart Matt got clattered, Hobbo delivered a perfect free kick, which Matt headed home to equalise 1-1. With the bit between our teeth we played some nice football and when Phil played the ball to Matt who turned his man brilliantly and instantly passed to Lloydy the Referee oddly gave an offside decision to bring the game to a halt after a superb piece of play. With the pressure we were applying Point were struggling to live with us and our attacking desire was summed up when Sion was adjudged to be offside after another excellent piece of play. Our next attack was started from Darbey who gave the ball to Lloydy who at pace ran at Point’s back line only to be denied by a crude challenge which went unseen by the referee. Although we had a lot of chances in the first half we were weak in the challenges and our desire was severely lacking the second half however was evidence enough of the old saying a game of two halves, we were much better all over the park and this frustrated Point and their challenges were getting later and later, this helped us as we kept our discipline and continue to play good football.
We were awarded a corner in the 68th minute which Hobbo delivered and when Matt was beaten to the ball by their centre half the ball dropped to Scott who cleverly disguised a shot but for his troubles got clattered and we were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box, Hobbo hit with some power but was just wide. With us having all the possession it was time for Phil to start showboating in the middle of the park with a faint and a trick which left their Captain on the seat of his pants he turned inside and neatly passed to Ross who turned and shot but the keeper was equal to his effort. The football on show at the Home of Football was a joy to watch and a good passage of play down the left which involved Darbey, Lloydy and finally into Ross who turned one way then the other found himself through on goal with only the keeper, but to everyone’s dismay and unusually for Ross he blazed over this should have been 2-1 which would have put us well on our way into the next round. Point realising how close they were to exiting this competition went on the attack but found the resolute Scott who defended well and stopped them in their tracks. Dan then took a free kick which Phil headed goal wards but was cleared for a corner, this time Hobbo took responsibility and found Phil and with a free header just put the ball wide.
With 10 minutes to go and all our chances gone begging, saw Point hoof a long ball forward which Azzy usually deals with but with some confusion didn’t Mike bizarrely came steaming off his line which Point took full advantage of and made it 1-2 to them. Obviously this was still going through Mikes mind as a few minutes later an unsavoury incident saw a Point player head butt Danny which the referee had seen and was about to deal with when a rush of blood went to Mike’s head and saw him run and grab the player by the face and started a free fall which was more common in the Anglesey league, this gave the referee no option but to send Mike off along with the Point player. We put Matt in goal for the last ten brought on AJ and Matt Hunt to replace the very impressive Hobbo and the tiring Sion Watson;
Matt took his first goal kick, which he nearly hit, the target with! Point were awarded a free kick in the 84th minute and obviously their captain was getting very giddy when he responded to someone in the crowd with a terrace chant of ‘2-1 to the boys in Blue, 2-1 to the boys in Blue’ fortunately for him only a few heard this as he would have been very much ripped to pieces as his team were wearing a nice little Claret number and not Blue whoops! By this time it was becoming a Children’s story as we huffed, and we puffed but we couldn’t convert our chances, although Phil was playing real well in the middle of the park something he hasn’t done for a number of years he kept bursting forward and getting or creating chances and when Ross done real well in the 85th minute and found Phil in the box with the keeper to beat he screwed his shot into the side netting. Our next attack was started when we hassled well in the middle of the park and this time Phil found Ross but this time Ross found the side netting.

Final score 1-2 to Point of Ayr which was disappointing to say the least, as they were no better than Rhyl Nomads but we just didn’t turn up in the first half, hopefully the lads can put this right when we return to league action next week when we travel to Caerwys.