Llandudno Junction F.C v Amlwch Town F.C
23rd February 2008

After last week’s good performance in the derby, we had a tough challenge at home to Amlwch, who are also desperate for points to get away from the bottom of the table. With the good performance came some bad news when Rob found out he had broken a bone just below his ankle and also suffered some knee ligament damage which will keep him on the sidelines for the next few weeks, we all wish Rob a speedy recovery and hope to see him soon, so the full squad this week was as follows:-

Joey Welsh

Tony Priestley, Ben Thomas, Darrel Jones MOM 1, Dwyfor Williams ©.

John Paul Colville, Nathan Jones, Steve Priestley, John Blundell.

Ross Stevens, Bobby Colville.

James Hobson, Neil Picton, Sam Magill, Mike Williams, Neil Poynton.

After two good performances the lads were in good spirits before such an important game, Dwyfor instructed the players to pick a number, between 1-16. With the dressing room full of anticipation and the lads excited to what significance the numbers meant, some of the lads thought there might be a prize in it for them, sadly it wasn’t anything that exciting as we informed the players that even numbers would take out the dugouts and the odd numbers would bring the dugouts back in after the game after a bit of a laugh and some teasing the even numbers got the dugouts out. After a lively warm up we named the team with the only change being Joey in for the injured Rob and went through how important it would be to maintain our discipline today as Amlwch would be very physical.
The game kicked off with the sun trying to break through the clouds and thankfully the home dugout not facing into the glare, within five minutes we created our first chance of the game when we played some good football which fell to Natty but unfortunately he put his effort just wide. Our next chance was made solely by JP who picked up the ball in our half and went on a jinking run cutting inside from the right and was stopped with a great tackle which saw Amlwch set up a very quick counter attack which saw James Burgess smash his shot against the upright and flew across our goal and out to Tony in the right back position. Almost immediately Joey pulled off a magnificent save to prevent Amlwch taking the lead, we managed to make a few good passes to settle us down Ross seems to be growing with confidence and getting used to the players around him. In the 12th minute Ross was alert enough to pounce on an error when their keeper messed up his kick and Ross was denied by a fine save by their number 1. The play became very scrappy and the tactics by Amlwch were to swamp the midfield and make it physical, this seemed to stop us playing the football we are able to produce and the lads became frustrated at the amount of poor challenges they were receiving. The football on show was very limited and our next chance came when John launched a long throw in into the box which was headed cleared but fell to John again who rifled in a great volley which was matched with a superb save.
The highlight of the first half came when we actually managed to pass the ball about, Dwyfor found Natty with a great pass and Natty showed very quick feet to bamboozle his marker and pick out a great left foot attempt which unfortunately sailed just wide. This spurred us into a flurry of good attacks and everyone seemed to have upped their game, Tony and Steve linked up well and Steve left his marker for dead and delivered a great ball into the box which John met with a header but again we were off target. Just after the 30 minute mark we created another good chance down the left hand side and this time Swampy fired his shot just wide but the lads were now playing some good football. Another long throw by John saw Darrel win the first header, and then Bobby and finally Swampy headed the ball into the path of JP who was very unlucky not to find the target. Amlwch put us under some pressure and managed to win the ball but thankfully the ball out to the left hand side was very poor and we regained possession.
At half time the score line was 0-0 but both teams had good chances to have changed this and both keepers ad kept their side in the game.
The lads were very frustrated and this was mainly down to the fact we hadn’t played anywhere near as well as we could, s after some calming words we said we would stick to our tactics and try and play a bit more football. The opening few minutes of the second half saw us play some very attractive football which was started when Tony passed to Steve then returning the ball back to Tony who found JP with a great ball who played the ball instantly to Natty who turned away from his marker and played the ball to Steve who went passed two of their players and returned the ball to Natty who switched the ball to John who then threaded the ball through to Bobby who was unlucky not to find the net with a good strike. The lads now had the bit between their teeth and were creating some good passing football, this was on show on the right hand side when JP worked the ball well and after skipping passed three players he found John with a good ball whose shot was deflected and Natty followed up with some good pressure which prevented Amlwch getting the ball cleared. On the hour mark Dwyfor whipped in a fantastic corner which had their keeper flapping and the ball falling to Swampy who struck the ball well but again just wide.
 After a good 15 minutes of possession and creativity we lost our shape and let Amlwch have an attack which they wasted. Then in the 70th minute of the match saw all the frustrations boil over after an awful challenge by Gareth Pritchard everyone piled in to have their say and after a few minutes the referee showed the red card to Gareth and our very own Crouchy who ran 40 yards to get involved which was disappointing as when he arrived at the scene he didn’t do anything. Back to the game and a quick throw to Natty in space saw him turn a thread a god all through but Bobby was blocked off which would have been a certain goal, then we regained possession again and after some good passing the ball was fed through to Ross who scuffed his shot but the football was much better.
Ross was heavily involved in the next chance when he collected a pass from Natty and turned and skipped passed one challenge in one movement then into the box where he was challenged and won a penalty, after some deliberation Pico placed the ball on the spot but was denied by the feet of their Keeper, was this our chance gone we asked ourselves with the sending off’s we felt Amlwch had settled for the draw but we needed the points and the lads kept on knocking on the door. With five minutes left on the clock Natty collected the ball in our half and burst through the middle of the field and was put under a lot of pressure and was unable to get a good shot away after a great run. More pressure saw us being awarded a corner and Dwyfor again whipped in a fierce cross which Darrel met but was denied by a last ditch clearance off the line, as we attacked again and pushing for the winner we got another corner which this time was put in by Hobbo and again Darrel rose like a tin of canned pilchards and thundered his header home at last the net was bulging and we had our goal 1-0 and with time ticking away we managed to get another home victory.
Thanks again for all support and the people who again helped before during and after the game, a special thanks to Evo and Mally who put the goals up for today’s game.