Hawarden Rangers vs Llay Welfare

Welfare travelled to the Gladstone Playing Fields for a Premier League cup tie against Hawarden Rangers. 2-0 down at half time Welfare also lost the services of the impressive Mark Cowper who suffered a shoulder injury minutes before the break and was replaced by Dan Parry.

Within 4 minutes of the restart Hawarden netted their third goal and it looked an uphill battle for the Llay side to get anything from this game. A 55th minute goal from Steve Allman sparked a Welfare revival and, riding their luck, Llay began to take the game to the home side. Ian Thomas was introduced for Dave Griffiths in the 64th minute to give more attacking options and a Hugh Jones strike in the 76th minute looked to have set up a tense finale. However, within 2 minutes, Hawarden took advantage of an official’s mix up over a throw in and scored their fourth while the Llay defenders were in disarray.

An Ian Thomas free kick, deflected past the home keeper, in the 82nd minute led to a frantic finish and hopes of forcing extra time, but it wasn’t to be and Hawarden booked their place in the quarter finals.

Llay team: P Pattenden; M Cowper; S Halliwell; D Phennah; D Griffiths; I Mathias; H Jones; G Guest; S Allman; M Davies; J Roberts. Subs: D Parry(45); I Thomas(64); C Raydon(83 for S Halliwell).