A review of round one Welsh Cup upsets in the north

Dan Wood was Man of the Match for Cefn Albion against Gresford Athletic

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.