All hail our girls ! Penrhyn Bay are into the U16 Welsh Cup final

Penrhyn Bay Girls & Women are into the FAW Under-16 Girls Welsh Cup final for a second time in three years.

They saw off the team they lost to in last season’s quarter-finals, Talycopa, 3-1 at Newtown on Sunday to set up a final against either Barry Town United or Caerleon, who meet in the other semi next weekend.

The first half at Latham Park was a very tight affair with both sides pressing their opponents hard and finding it difficult to create any clear opportunities.

It was clear from early on that the midfield battle was going to be a key area, with Maddie Williams and Mia Roberts working extremely hard for the team and seeing a lot of the ball.

Penrhyn Bay seemed to be having most joy down the wings, whilst centre forward Nel Metcalfe was receiving extremely close attention from the Talycopa centre half.

The South Walians looked as though they would be most dangerous from set pieces.

Half-time: 0-0

Penrhyn Bay started the second half brightly with Erin Doran and Polly Wild-McGregor becoming increasingly influential on the attack.

It was Doran who finally broke the deadlock as she latched onto a loose ball and rifled home a right-footed half volley into the bottom right corner leaving the ‘Copa keeper no chance at all.

Within minutes of taking the lead Penrhyn received a warning as a Talycopa corner led to an attempt rebounding off the post back into the grateful arms of keeper Libby Rubin.

In the 46th minute a similar set piece resulted in the equaliser from the Swansea side as a dangerous corner was swung into the far post and the South Walians were quickest to react to the loose ball and fire home from close range.

Having let the lead slip Penrhyn seemed more determined than ever to wrestle back control of the game, and it was Wild-McGregor who regained the lead for the team in the 58th minute following more great work from Doran, who found her on the edge of the box.

After some neat footwork to create the space to shoot, Polly finished tidily via the keeper’s left hand post.

Penrhyn were now really on the up, and almost immediately from the restart won a penalty as Wild-McGregor got hacked down inside the box whilst tormenting the ‘Copa defence.

The resultant spot-kick was well saved by the South Walian keeper.

It wasn’t too much longer before the game was finally put to bed as Wild-McGregor was again felled in the area, and Nel Metcalfe slotted home the penalty to finally provide the two-goal cushion.

The third goal seemed to really knock the stuffing out of Talycopa and Penrhyn controlled the remaining minutes in impressive fashion, managing the game to a positive conclusion.

Team

Libby Rubin – Lara Cook, Fleur Custance, Erin Dunkerley, Charlotte Perry – Mia Roberts, Maddie Williams, Erin Doran – Ella Jones, Polly Wild-McGregor – Nel Metcalfe.
Subs – Alys Davis (for Lara Cook), Mille Spencer (for Fleur Custance), Christiana Allen (for Charlotte Perry)

Many thanks to Owen John Davis for assistance with match report