Denbigh Town 7 Llanuwchllyn 1

JD Welsh Cup

IT wasn’t to be for Llanwuchllyn in the end but they still deserve huge credit for getting to the last 16 out of 286 teams that competed for the Welsh Cup.

They made a very positive start at Denbigh Town’s Central Park ground with impressive movement on and off the ball.

It was one-way traffic in the opening exchanges with Will Owen firing against the bar and Ilan Hughes testing the keeper with a well-struck free kick.

But the hosts took the lead, against the run of play, in the sixth minute when Nathan Brown’s cross-cum-shot found the top corner of the net.

This slice of luck boosted Town’s confidence and they doubled their tally 10 minutes later when Owen Davies took full advantage of some slack defending to head in from a corner.

Conceding two avoidable early goals wasn’t in Llan’s script and their frustration grew.

They still offered a threat going forwards but Denbigh’s forward play was slicker and faster and too much for the visitors at times.

Backed by their very vocal travelling support, Tom Roberts, Tommy Evans and Meilir Williams went close for Llan but Denbigh were clinical in front of goal.

Davies bagged his brace midway through the half after rounding keeper Rob Dascalu and things went from bad to worse for the visitors when Brown’s 20-yarder burst the back of the net on 38 minutes.

There was plenty of work to do to lift spirits during the break after a performance that deserved so much more than being four goals down and, to their credit, the visitors came out with renewed determination to get back in contention.

There was a need to press and take a few risks and they were rewarded when John Evans rose higher than the rest to power in a header five minutes into the new half.

It was all Llan again and they went close to reducing the deficit further on several occasions but the flow of the game changed again when Davies notched his hat-trick on 65 minutes.

It was heartbreaking for the visitors who had put so much effort into the tie but Denbigh were the better side on the day and certainly more clinical in front of goal.

The JD Cymru North outfit finished strongly with a penalty by Iwan Roberts on 83 minutes before Brown also completed a hat-trick in the closing stages.

Llan will perhaps look back on the game as a missed opportunity but conceding two early goals and the quality of Denbigh’s attacking play was the difference on the day.

Llanuwchllyn thanked their supporters for their incredible support: “We must thank the community and all the fans for traveling to Denbigh. The support was amazing, and that will be remembered forever.”