FAW Amateur Trophy: Denbigh Town will fly North Wales flag alone in semi-finals

Denbigh Town will be the sole flag bearers for North Wales in the semi-finals of the FAW Amateur Trophy.

Today’s quarter-final matches saw Town of the tier 3 Ardal North West triumph 3-1 in South Wales against Pill AFC from the fourth-tier Gwent County League Premier Division.

North Wales’ other hopeful, Rhos Aelwyd, were beaten 5-2 in a good contest at Bridgend Street.

The four semi-finalists are:

Denbigh Town
Bridgend Street
Llandrindod Wells
Trethomas Bluebirds

The draw is due to take place within the next few days with the semis scheduled for March 18.

PILL AFC 1 (Ross 85)
DENBIGH TOWN 3 (Fleming 63 & 67 pen, H Bennett 90+)

Report: Iwan Jones

Denbigh are through to the semi-finals of the Dragon Signs FAW Trophy after a much deserved away win over opposition from the Newport area.

Two second half goals from captain fantastic Paul Fleming, including a penalty, and a late Harvey Bennett finish secured the win after a battling performance on an uneven pitch with a swirling wind making playing conditions difficult to master.

Pill AFC had only lost one league game this season and caused a major upset in the Welsh Cup earlier this term by beating Cymru Premier League side Cardiff Met University 2-1 at their Pill Harriers Sports Club ground.

Backed by a large contingent of vociferous Denbigh supporters who had made the long trek to the south, Town started on the front foot with captain Fleming glancing his header just wide in the first minute after a pinpoint cross from Nathan Brown.

Shortly after Jake Walker sent an overhead pass into the path of Brown who unleashed a powerful first time volley which shaved the post.

With Denbigh piling on the pressure home keeper Craig Cueto came to Pill’s rescue as he saved well from Jason Foulkes’ first-time volley.

A frustrating first half finished goalless despite Town having most of possession and creating all the chances.

The second half continued in the same vein with Walker volleying inches wide.

The relentless pressure had to tell, and Denbigh’s first goal came on 60 minutes when Fleming latched onto a loose ball in the penalty area and blasted a low drive away from the despairing dive from Cueto.

Six minutes later it was 2-0 as Pritchard was brought down in the penalty area and referee Ben Schofield had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot. Fleming coolly stepped up to send Cueto the wrong way and give Town a two-goal lead.

The game swung Denbigh’s way even further on 70 when Pill’s substitute Robert Millar, who had only been on the pitch for five minutes, was shown a straight red card after an altercation with Town’s Foulkes, who saw yellow.

Manager Dewi Llion Jones then brought on Sam Haddon, Harvey Bennett and Jacob Edwards for the hard-working Foulkes, Walker and Brown as Denbigh looked to play out the game with a two-goal lead and an extra man.

A few minutes later and another substitution saw the dependable Sion Jones replaced by Craig Rogers.

The rapid changes in a short time unsettled Denbigh and they allowed Pill to pull a goal back with Leo Ross chipping over Aaron Jones and a despairing Rogers being unable to stop the ball crossing the goal line .

With the score 2-1 and with five minutes remaining the hosts piled on the pressure for the equaliser. Their long throw-ins from Gary Colbourne created problems in Town’s penalty area but some staunch defending from Keiron Roberts, Billy Holmes and Ben Lockley helped protect the lead.

As Denbigh relieved pressure on their goal, the ball was played to the left wing for Edwards to control and head to the corner flag, seemingly to play for time.

Instead, he broke inside and laid a deft ball into the path of 16 year old Bennett, who has just been called up for the Wales Schools Under-18s squad. The youngster calmly slotted the ball home from 10 yards to give Town a deserved 3-1 winning lead.

BRIDGEND STREET 5 (Robertson OG 22, Murphy 54, Fowler pen 60 & 67, Actie 86)
RHOS AELWYD 2 (D Roberts 31, R Jones 61)

When Rhos Aelwyd pulled the score back to 3-2 just past the hour they looked to have a good chance of going on to win the tie, but hosts Bridgend Street upped a gear and added two more goals to clinch a semi-final berth.

Tier 4 South Wales Alliance Premier hosts Street took a 22nd minute lead through an Aled Robertson own goal, but Dan Roberts levelled on 31 to make it 1-1 at half time.

Mike Murphy scored a second for Bridgend nine minutes into the second period, then when Paul Fowler added a penalty on the hour, things looked grim for the tier 3 Ardal North East travellers from the Wrexham area.

However, Ryan Jones struck a minute later to keep the Aelwyd in it.

It was game on for a short spell, but Fowler’s second on 67 dampened the away mood.

And Osian Actie made sure of a home success with the fifth after 84.