A review of round one Welsh Cup upsets in the north

Four notable Welsh Cup upsets on Saturday saw two wins for Tier 3 over Tier 2, a victory for Tier 4 versus Tier 3 and a Tier 5 triumph against Tier 4.

There were some other close calls too – Tier 4 Llanberis only losing on penalties at Tier 2 Llanuwchllyn, and Penycae of T3 needing spot-kicks to get past T4 Nantlle Vale.

ROUND ONE UPSETS

Cefn Albion 1 Gresford Athletic 0

Tier 3 hosts Cefn Albion knocked out second-tier visitors Gresford from the Cymru North thanks to a goal scored in the very first minute.

Kien Morris’ strike, via a Callum Mannion assist, made all the difference at The Muga.

Albion could also afford the luxury of a missed penalty on the hour from Torne Samuels.

This was a sixth win in a row for Cefn, who also remain in the FAW Amateur Trophy.

Llysfaen 2 Barmouth and Dyffryn United 1

Surely the result of the round as 10-man Llysfaen of North Wales Coast East Division One came back from a goal down to defeat Tier 4 outfit Barmouth in added time.

Ossian Owen gave Central Wales League North Bermo a 22nd minute lead they held until 68 was on the clock, and Ryan Roberts equalised.

Faen had Ben Rawlinson red-carded on 83 minutes, yet the Tier 5 underdogs would not be denied, grabbing a 92nd minute decider via substitute Ryan Watson.

This tie was covered in more depth earlier on Saturday by Grassroots North Wales.

Mochdre Sports 2 CPD Pwllheli 2 (Mochdre won 6-5 on pens)

Great outcome for Tier 4 Mochdre against an on-form Pwllheli side from the level above Ardal North West.

Sports of the North Wales Coast East Premier took a 2-0 lead inside 13 minutes courtesy of Adam Hold and Niall Owen, but Deio Williams pulled one back for Pwll close to half time.

Osian Thomas made it two-apiece on 66 minutes and there were no further goals, meaning a penalty shootout was necessary to determine a winner.

In a nerve-jangling contest. Mochdre emerged 6-5 victors in the pens head-to-head.

Ruthin Town 0 Llay Miners Welfare 3

Woeful result for Cymru North side Ruthin against a fired-up Llay Miners Welfare of the Tier 3 Ardal North West.

Sitting just one place off the bottom of their league, the Welly upset the odds with goals from Jonny Taylor, Jonathan Collo and Ieuan Jones-Wellstead.

All the goals came in the second half, on 51, 67 and 87 minutes respectively.

Ruthin, third from bottom in the Cymru North, have now lost five matches in a row and have not scored in any of those games.