Llanelli 4

Rhys Griffiths 23' 88' (p) Chris Holloway 94' 95'

Quarter Final

 

Wednesday 09 January 2008

 

Kick Off @

19:00

Wrexham 2

Chris Llewellyn 12' 22'



Wrexham

Starting XI:
12 Gavin Ward
05 Steve Evans
28 Phil Bolland
15 Mike Williams
31 Wes Baines 82'
03 Ryan Valentine
18 Levi Mackin
25 Neil Taylor 91'
10 Michael Proctor 63'
09 Neil Roberts
11 Chris Llewellyn
Substitutes:
01 Anthony Williams
02 Simon Spender 82'
04 Shaun Pejic 91'
07 Mark Jones 63'
21 Marc Williams

Llanelli

Starting XI:
01 Ryan Harrison
04 Andrew Mumford
21 Andy Legg
06 Wayne Thomas
14 Craig Jones
10 Chris Holloway
11 Chris Williams
08 Antonio Corbisiero
03 Garry Lloyd
15 Mark Jones
09 Rhys Griffiths
Substitutes:
12 Mark Pritchard
20 Jordan Follows 76'
   
   
   

Match Notes

Venue: Stebonheath Park
Attendance:  
Half Time: Llanelli 1 Wrexham 2
Full Time: Llanelli 2 Wrexham 2
Referee: Mark Whitby

Match Reports

BBC: Llanelli dump Wrexham out of cup


Wrexham FC: Llanelli 4 Wrexham 2

Quarter Finals

Newport 1 Swansea City 0

Llanelli 4 Wrexham 2 (aet)

Carmarthen v TNS

Welshpool v Cardiff

Being played 15th January 2008

Semi Finals

Welshpool/Cardiff v Newport

Llanelli v Carmarthen/TNS

Next Five Games

Sat 12 Jan: Grimsby (a) 15:00

Sat 19 Jan: MK Dons (h) 15:00

Sat 26 Jan: Hereford (a) 15:00

Tue 29 Jan: Morecambe (a) 19:45

Sat 02 Feb: Darlington (h) 14:30

Match Report

Wrexham recorded their seventh straight defeat at Llanelli as the Welsh Premier side came from two goals down to progress through to the Semi Final of the FAW Premier Cup after extra time.

The ninety minutes of football just about summed our season up as we opened a two goal advantage in the first quarter of the game courtesy of goals from Chris Llewellyn but a mistake from Mike Williams a minute later allowed Llanelli back into the game.

But Llanelli never looked like scoring during an uneventful second half until Steve Evans gave away a needless penalty with 90 seconds left and was sent off for a professional foul.

Rhys Griffiths doubled his tally for the night from the spot and after looking like progressing through to the semi-finals with 90 seconds left, Wrexham were virtually out five minutes into the first period of extra time after Chris Holloway helped himself to a brace in the space of a minute.

Llanelli just sat back after that as they had the measure of a Wrexham side visibly drained in confidence and we hardly threatened Ryan Harrison after the two early extra time goals.

The earlier rain and wind eased in time for Wrexham to kick off and Michael Proctor found himself clean through within 15 seconds but a poor first touch allowed former Wrexham keeper Harrison to smother the ball at the edge of the area.

Llanelli did start the brighter of the two teams and the closest they came was when Gavin Ward had to push away a left footed free kick from Llanelli captain Gary Lloyd.

Phil Bolland was lucky to escape with just a yellow card on his debut after ten minutes when he allowed Mark Jones to get goal side of him and Steve Evans had to head clear from within the six yard box from the resulting free kick.

Llanelli forced three early corners but it was Wrexham who opened the scoring in the twelfth minute when Chris Llewellyn took advantage of a short back pass to round Ryan Harrison and make a comfortable finish.

The Wrexham goal rocked Llanelli and Wrexham should have done better five minutes later when Neil Roberts headed Wed Baines’ deep cross back across goal but no one was anticipating in the box for the knock down.

Llanelli should have been back on level terms when Rhys Griffiths again sprung the offside trap but should have tested Gavin Ward as he could only fire into the side netting of the near post.

Midway through the first half and it was two for Wrexham with strong play from Levi Mackin dispossessing Andy Legg in midfield and he played in Llewellyn who got past a weak challenge from Andrew Muntford before placing the ball past Harrison.

But the comical defending continued at the other end when sloppy play from Mike Williams allowed Mark Jones to dispossess him and he squared the ball across the area to give Rhys Griffiths a simple tap in.

The game then entered a quiet spell but Wrexham had a penalty appeal turned down with six minutes left when Proctor's pass split open the home defence to play in Llewellyn and his cross was appeared to be blocked by an arm of Andy Legg.

Wes Baines did recover the ball and his deep cross had to be tipped away by Harrison with Neil Roberts looking to head home at the back post.

A needless tackle by Neil Taylor ended up with the young wing back picking up a yellow card and a deep free kick from Lloyd was unconvincingly tipped away by Ward but the goalkeeper caught the resulting set play underneath his bar.

The second half started at a leisurely pace with the only incident of note coming twelve minutes after the restart when Ward was quick off his line to collect the ball at the feet of Mark Jones.

Chances were few and far between with Llanelli only looking dangerous from Legg's predictable long throws and Brian Little made his first change after the hour mark when Mark Jones replaced the invisible Michael Proctor as Wrexham switched to a three man midfield.

The closest we came so far in the second half was from a Jones corner delivered to the edge of the area but Taylor dragged his shot well wide of the target and we got lucky at the other end when a mistake from Steve Evans was almost punished by Chris Holloway but he could only steer his shot wide of the far post.

Ryan Valentine did deliver a rare shot on target with a well placed free kick but Harrison managed to tip the ball over the bar and Llewellyn had his shot blocked from the resulting corner.

Simon Spender replaced Wed Baines with seven minutes left but Wrexham were forced to defend a free kick and another corner that was only partially cleared to substitute Follows who drove in a cross that was deflected over by one of his own players.

But with Llanelli looking to have ran out of ideas, Wrexham gifted the home side the equaliser when Steve Evans slipped whilst making his clearance and could only pull Rhys Griffiths to the ground.

Steve Evans was the last man and was shown the inevitable red card and Griffiths made no mistake from the spot by smashing the ball in with 90 seconds on the clock.

Ten man Wrexham almost never made it to extra time when we looked nervous from two corners but we nearly stole it at the death when Neil Roberts fired over whilst stretching to reach Taylor's left wing cross after Mackin had headed down.

Pejic replaced Taylor for the start of extra as we switched to a 4-4-1 formation but Llanelli made the extra man count four minutes in when Rhys Griffiths took his second opportunity to deliver a cross and Holloway got in front of Bolland to head home from a yard out.

The game was over a minute later when Holloway doubled his tally in as many minutes when Roberts was beaten to a corner by Mumford and Ward could only parry for Holloway to make it 4-2.

Wrexham could not muster a reply as the confidence was completely drained from the travelling side and both teams went through the motions during the second period of extra time.

The only plus point about tonight is that when we went out to Newport at the same stage of the competition last season, we won our next game on our travels at Barnet in the Football League but it will take a much improved performance to repeat this at Grimsby on the weekend.