Cefni FC produce one of football’s great turnarounds

Ever heard of a team losing 16-0 one week, then playing the same opponents seven days later and beating them?

It is often said that despite having such a small number of clubs and a bottom-tier ranking in Wales, the Anglesey League does not half throw up some thrilling stories and surprises.

The latest occurred on Saturday, when Cefni defeated Mountain Rangers 2-1 in the Dargie Cup, a mere week after losing 16-0 at home to the Rhosgadfan outfit in a league encounter.

I cannot think of too many similar happenings in the football world.

Perhaps the nearest would be Southampton losing 9-0 at home to Leicester City earlier this season in the English Premier League, only to then beat the Foxes at the King Power Stadium 2-1 recently.

Cefni saw the return of several key players with captain Phil Davies and player-manager Graham “Squeez” Jones in outstanding form. It was a more experienced home team that took to the pitch this week.

Rangers looked out of sorts and failed to get their passing game going, while the islanders battled for every ball.

Both defences looked comfortable and it took a Ben Wright penalty to break the deadlock in Cefni’s favour.

The visitors started well in the second half, and the previous weekend’s 12-goal hero Sam Williams netted his 45th in all competitions this season when finishing well via a flick from man of the match Ian Pleming.

Just when Rangers were gaining a foothold in the game disaster struck when centre back David Jones miss-timed a header and took out full back Kevin Barlow, leaving Wright to finish smartly.

Rangers then threw everything forward and thought they had equalised only for the home keeper to pull off a wonderful fingertip save from Pleming.

Jimmy Greaves was so right when he gifted us that immortal phrase ‘Football is a funny old game’.