Women’s football: Unlucky 13 as Tudno close curtain on a season to forget

Llandudno 1 (Jordanne Greenough 15)
Abergavenny 13 (Amy Thrupp 1, 13 & 25; Laura Davies 16 & 27; Sian Bull 30 & 47; Ffion David 60 & 70; Zoe Russell 57, Megan Jones 78, Greenough 2 own goals)
FAW Women’s Welsh Cup quarter-final

It was always going to be a monumental task for a Llandudno side which had not played a competitive match since November, shortly before they withdrew from the Welsh Premier Women’s League.

However, the Seasiders insisted on seeing through their Welsh Cup commitment to meet Abergavenny for a place in the semis.

The teams had met at the same stage of last season’s competition at Maesdu Park, with Aber scraping a 2-1 victory on that occasion.

No doubt there would have been a similar scoreline today had Tudno still been operating as per usual in the WPWL, but the squad manager Sarah Colville was able to field contained only seven rusty regulars who started the season, four recreational footballers, one rugby player and a goalkeeper returning to competitive action after a lengthy break.

The defence had never played together before and it showed, Abergavenny rattling up seven goals in the first half-hour.

At times the visiting players strolled through at will, most of their goals coming from simple scoring positions.

Goalkeeper Jess Hughes produced some great stops, in fact Aber would have been well into double figures by half time but for her.

The one highpoint for Llandudno came at 2-0 down, when Kelsey Davies crossed low from the right and the ultra hard-working Jordanne Greenough slid in to score.

The second half saw the Welsh Premier visitors add six more goals without reply.

Adding to Tudno’s woes was an injury to Greenough after an unfortunate clash of heads with a team-mate. She could easily have called it a day with a matter of 10 minutes left, but bravely carried on with a bandaged head.

Within moments of returning to the pitch, she gave away a second unfortunate own goal – something she just did not deserve.

Credit to all the Llandudno players who turned out and gave their all, the odds were so heavily stacked against them that it was never going to be a day for celebration.

So a season to lament for Tudno is over. It is hoped they can rebuild in the summer and return next season in the North Wales League.

Eight seasons in the Welsh Premier, Welsh Cup finalists in 2015/16, North Wales’ flagship team for so long…..they are so much better than what happened today.

Llandudno team: Jessica Hughes, Jordanne Greenough, Claire Colville, Cat Jones, Mari Walker, Kelsey Hughes, Kelsey Davies, Stacey Tradewell, Ella-mae Hughes, Sofie Owen, Fflur Williams. Subs: Nikki Pritchard, Charlotte Ryan.