Cup joy as Bethesda Athletic land first trophy in 13 years
North Wales Coast League West Division One Cup Final – May 27
Bethesda Athletic 2 (Noa Hughes 45+2, Joe Todd 88)
CPD Llannerchymedd 1 (Chris Bennett 47)
Bethesda Athletic celebrated their first trophy since 2009 after Joe Todd headed in an 88th minute winner against Llannerchymedd at Lon Groes on Friday night.
Not since lifting the Welsh Alliance League title 13 years ago for a second time in succession under Chris O’Neal had Pesda landed any silverware,
But they put that right at the expense of the team which pipped them to the North Wales Coast West Division One title – Llannerchymedd.
The Division One League Cup final featured the top two teams at Gaerwen.
Contrary to reports these two sides faced each other with no animosity as a result of the abandoned league match between the pair a fortnight ago.
An evenly contested first half ended with Bethesda’s Tomos Hughes’ diagonal pass being met by Noa Hughes cutting in from the right flank to beat Kenny Hughes with a cool side-foot finish. It was the 13th goal of the season for 16-year-old Noa, son of manager Mark.
At the start of the second period, Pesda surrendered their lead and dominance with a defensive lapse on 47 minutes when Llan’s Chris Bennett side-footed a smart finish over keeper Dave Clarke to level matters.
The remainder of the half was equally tight, but changed on 75 minutes when Medd’s Deion Evans was dismissed for a cynical foul on Todd.
Pesda responded to the man advantage with impetus, following a 120-minute semi final effort two days prior, the addition of Kyle Hartleb as a substitute after a month out injured, paying dividends.
His diagonal pass was met by Noa Hughes in the Llan box, who lifted a perfect delivery for Todd to head the winning goal two minutes from the end – his 29th goal of the season.
Todd added to his stock by being awarded the man of the match accolade.
TEAMS
Bethesda Athletic
David Clarke, Tomos Eames, Cameron Robertson (Kieron Bullock 74), Osian Hughes, Tomos Hughes, Mark Thomas, Noa Hughes, Joe Todd, Dean Redmond, Scott Hughes (Kyle Hartleb 58), Daniel Bell.
Llannerchymedd
Kenny Hughes, Ben Hughes (Gavin Sharpe 75), Tomos Jones, Dan Thomas, Lewis Connor, Deion Evans, Geth Davies, Chris Bennett, Steffan Bulkeley, Mark Jones (Gwion Owen 89), Gwion Thomas.