Match of the Day: Llangefni 2 Holywell 2 – injury time goals rescue Cefni a point

NORTH WALES WOMEN’S FOOTBALL LEAGUE – DECEMBER 12, 2021

Llangefni Town 2 (Coulson 90+4, Jones pen 90+6)
Holywell 2 (Stopford pen 55, Lancaster 80)

What a game at Plas Arthur!

Entering the 90th minute, Holywell looked a dead cert to claim a first-ever league win as they led 2-0.

But Llangefni never gave up and two goals in stoppage time earned them a first draw of the campaign.

Played on the leisure centre all-weather pitch, the always prevalent wind at this location dictated much of the game.

Holywell went with the breeze in the first half and Llangefni, using their experience of a similar situation in the game against Trearddur Bay at the end of October, soaked up the pressure from the visitors with Jess Marshall producing some top class saves to keep the Wellwomen out.

Minutes before the half time whistle Holywell’s influential captain Sarah Massey went down with an ankle injury and had to be replaced.

The second half started with Llangefni hoping to utilise the wind, but they struggled to keep any through balls from running straight out of play.

Holywell reacted brilliantly to their skipper going off and the bond they have really galvanised them.

In the 55th minute, keeper Marshall rushed out to claim a through ball and collided with Zoe Stopford.

A former Welsh Premier League striker with Rhyl, Stopford neatly tucked her penalty away to make it 1-0 to Holywell and build on an incredible performance from herself to add to her heroics against Bangor 1876 last week.

Town manager Dan Gregg reacted by sending on the returning Ellie Coulson, a tall and effective performer up front.

Llangefni huffed and puffed for the rest of the second half until the ever dangerous Courtney Lancaster blasted into the top corner to make it 2-0 to Holywell.

With 10 minutes to go, attacking player Megan Wood was sent on for the hosts and Llangefni changed to three at the back.

Megan injected some pace and a spark into Llangefni and in the 94th minute Coulson gave the home side hope with a header directed in from a corner by Tasha Jones,

Llangefni grabbed the ball and kicked off in a hurry and on the 96th minute a Jones shot was adjudged to have been handled and a penalty was awarded.

Tasha Jones herself stepped up to take and under big pressure neatly tucked away to salvage a point for Cefni.  

Cefni manager Gregg said: “The improvement from Holywell in a short space of time is incredible. Hats off to them we just couldn’t break them down; they stayed strong even after losing their captain.

“Zoe Stopford had a fantastic game to match her game against Bangor and Courtney Lancaster was a threat in behind for the whole game. We made hard work of the second half but the courage the team showed after going 2-0 down with ten minutes left to play speaks volumes about my team.”

Players of the Match (awarded by Llangefni)

Holywell: Zoe Stopford
Llangefni: Ffion Thomas

TEAMS

Llangefni
Jessica Marshall, Nia Ginnelly (c), Hannah Owen, Megan Summers-Roberts, Tasha Jones, Jade Cook, Llinos Hughes, Alice Pascall (Megan Wood 82), Lara Cain (Ellie Coulson 55), Marissa George, Ffion Thomas. Subs: Elwen Evans, Sharlee Owen, Mared Roberts.

Holywell
N/A, Jo Lloyd, Jess Collings, Sarah Massey, Caitlin Latham, Zoe Stopford, N/A, Charlotte Durrans, Courtney Lancaster, Leah Davies-Williams, Ruby McGilloway. Subs: Sinead Beck, Emma Fox, Fiona Lambrecht, N/A.