MATCH OF THE DAY: FAW Trophy – Chaplin goal sends Trearddur Bay into the last eight

Trearddur Bay captain Dion Donohue (4) goes for goal. All pictures: SEAN CHADWICK – MANY THANKS AS ALWAYS

FAW AMATEUR TROPHY ROUND FOUR – JANUARY 18, 2025

Trearddur Bay 1 (Chaplin 66)
CPD Llanuwchllyn 0

With just one defeat in 16 matches dating back to August – and that against a tier 2 team in the Welsh Cup – Llanuwchllyn were always going to provide a tough test for Trearddur Bay in the Trophy at Maes Cynlas.

Bay started well against fellow tier 3 opponents, moving the ball quickly which caused issues for the visitors.

The first clear cut chance fell to Joe Chaplin, a cross from Toby Jones met by the centre forward who saw his header saved well by Rob Dascalu in the visiting net.

Although the hosts controlled the majority of the play in the first half, the other big chance fell to Llan.

John Evans beat the offside trap and Paul Pritchard charged out to stop the forward putting his side ahead on 34 minutes.

Half time: Trearddur Bay 0-0 Llanuwchllyn

Llan looked refreshed in the second half and aimed to press Trearddur Bay higher up the pitch. It was causing problems for the hosts, but the back line stood firm.

With Llan advancing, gaps began to open up and Dewi Thomas ran through on goal. He was forced wide of the goal but cleverly squared the ball back to Chaplin who couldn’t miss from six yards and Bay were in front.

The Beachboys took confidence from the goal and were disappointed not to double the lead a few moments later, Thomas firing a shot from the edge of the area and forcing another fine stop from Dascalu.

Dion Donohue puts in a challenge on Tomos Roberts of Llanuwchllyn

Naturally the visitors threw everything at trying to level the game up in the final stages, but a resilient Bay ensured it was back to back clean sheets and progressed to the quarter finals of the Trophy.

This season ihas delivered 1-0 home league wins over Rhyl 1879 and Porthmadog – now they can add Llanuwchllyn in a national cup to that list of prized scalps,

Trearddur Bay: Paul Pritchard; Ryan Vaughan, Tom Taylor, Anthony Marshall, Jake Roberts; Dion Donohue (C), Sean McCaffery, Sion Edwards (Dan.McGinness 87), Toby Jones, Dewi.Thomas; Joe Chaplin (Josh Stanley-Williams 87).

Llanuwchllyn: Rob Dascalu, Steffan Dolben (Warren Aykroyd-Duckett 75), Sam Evans (Ceri James 83), Tom Dyer, Meirion Pughe, Rhys Rowlands, Joe Vaughan, Tomos Roberts, Meilir Williams (c), John Evans (Gwydion Ifan 83), Gwydion Roberts.