North Wales Women’s League: West – Amlwch edge past Cofis; East – Hall denied in a dramatic finish

NORTH WALES WOMEN’S LEAGUE WEST

Caernarfon Town 0
Amlwch Town 1 (Casey Evans 61)

Casey-Jane Evans’ first goal for Amlwch was enough to clinch three points at The Oval on Sunday.

The Anglesey side made it three wins on the bounce and are well-placed to finish third in the West Division after a hard-fought win over the Cofis, who held them 1-1 at Lon Bach earlier this season.

Just past the hour, Emma Roberts provided the assist and Evans the finish – a memorable moment for the 17-year-old.

Caernarfon battled well and Ceri Pritchard in the away goal was forced into some good stops.

The Canaries are a much improved team of late and can take a lot of positives from this campaign.

NORTH WALES WOMEN’S LEAGUE EAST

Welshpool Town 3 (Newman 3, Lane 89, Evans 90+5)
Northop Hall 3 (Stapleton 29, Bennion 46, Williams 55)

Report: Alan Stubbs (Cymru Sport)

A dramatic end to the match gave Welshpool their first point of the season.

The Powys hosts made a fast start on a muddy and glue-like pitch when Mary Newman scored with her first ever goal for the club in the third minute from just outside the box.

Welshpool, shooting down the slope in the first half, continued to press for a second goal only to find Northop Hall goalkeeper Bethan Hughes in superb form.

Slowly but surely, the Hall were starting to get a foothold in the game. With Alexandra Stapleton pushing forward, it was no surprise when she equalised with a powerful shot in the penalty area..

Welshpool were trying to get their advantage back down the slope and it almost worked when Lauren Stubbs sent a superb floating ball over the top of the defence to put Beth Lane through just inside the area. She connected well only to see the ball hit the post and from the rebound Lane was forced wide and the chance had gone.

After that Northop didn’t want to hear the half time whistle as they were creating more possession and chances

Half time Welshpool Town 1 Northop Hall 1

In the second 45, Welshpool were going uphill and got outdone again with a defensive mix up which allowed Joann Bennion to score a minute into the half 2-1.

Ten minutes later, the hosts failed to clear their lines and allowed substitute Gemma Williams to make it 3-1 to the Hall.

Williams was impressive in the second half as the visitors used her as an outlet and on the counter attack. The impressive away team defence looked assured .

To make things worse Welshpool goalkeeper Sarah Parkes got injured and was replaced by substitute stopper Amy Allen.

Just when it looked like the game was won, suddenly Welshpool burst into life when in the 89th minute top scorer Naomi Evans broke free and crossed across for Lane to score her first goal in Lilywhites colours in only her second match for the club.

Then with 5 minutes added on, from the last phase of play, Evans scored her 5th goal of the season with virtually the last kick to make it 3-3, sending the home side and the management into a frenzy.

Credit to both teams for an entertaining encounter on a boggy and bobbly pitch.