Flashback: Amlwch ladies come from behind to lift cup on emotional night at Rhyl

It is 12 months since Amlwch Town Ladies won their first-ever major trophy.

A year on and things have got a whole lot better for the Anglesey team.

Amlwch Town 2 (Gadd 56, Crawley 61)
Wrexham 1 (Palin 35)
North Wales Women’s League Supplementary Cup Group B Final – May 2019

Two goals in five second-half minutes from leading scorers Cerys Gadd and Lexi Crawley settled a thrilling cup final at Belle Vue, Rhyl, in Amlwch’s favour.

These teams had already met three times this season, in the league Wrexham winning 2-0 at home, with the return at Lon Bach ending 2-2, while the Dragons also triumphed 3-2 over the islanders in the Division Two Cup semi-finals.

So Amlwch were targeting a first win over the Reds and they achieved that on the perfect stage in front of a good crowd which included a group of very lively Town supporters.

Both sides showed plenty of endeavour in the opening half-hour, but that period produced only one on-target effort, a deflected Megan Buckley strike finishing up in the arms of Town keeper Ceri Pritchard.

Amlwch were doing most of the attacking, but the ball did not quite fall right for them in that first 45 minutes.

And it was Wrexham who took a 35th minute lead, Shannon Lear crossing from the right and Savannah Palin lashed home a lovely shot.

Amlwch had opportunities before half time, but Ashleigh Jones and Charley Smith fired straight at keeper Kat Jones.
Half-time: Amlwch 0 Wrexham 1

Amlwch began the second half really well and deservedly levelled on 56 minutes.

Gadd used her strength to win possession, worked her way into the box and replacement keeper Alex Jones could only help the midfielder’s shot into the net.

Five minutes later, Lexi Crawley smartly beat the offside trap, got goal-side of her marker, and lobbed the keeper cleverly to make it 2-1.

Wrexham now rallied and a cracking shot from Palin was brilliantly tipped away for a corner by Pritchard.

Amlwch looked to finish it and could have done so when Gadd intercepted a goal-kick but blasted just over the bar.

Town kept possession well in the closing stages, Williams, Ashleigh Jones and Crawley all working well in attack, and after seven minutes of added time the final whistle finally went.

An emotional joint-manager Charlotte Bethany Webb said after the game:
“What a night! Words can’t do justice in explaining how I feel about this team, and the performance they gave tonight.

“As a manager I could not have asked for more.

“From the start, they went in and gave everything they had. Dominating for the majority of the match, they showed character and determination to come back from 1-0 down to win.”

Amlwch

Ceri Pritchard, Paige Williams, Carol Lewis, Laura Eynon, Charley Smith, Sara Furlong, Beth Smith, Cerys Gadd, Meinir Thomas, Lexi Crawley, Gail Manning.
Subs: Ashleigh Jones, Kim Lodge, Shannon Thomas, Catrin Thomas, Sophie Baker.