Corwen hosted holders Holyhead Hotspur for the second time in the first round of the League Cup after the original encounter was abandoned due to an on-filed injury. Due to the game being re-staged the second round draw had already been made, with the winners traveling to Trearddur Bay on the 23rd of November, which would mean facing their neighbours in back to back fixtures for the visitors should they win, as they are due to go head to head in the Welsh Cup on the 16th of November.

Midway through the first half the away side hit their hosts on the counter attack, before Corwen won the ball and followed suit, with goalkeeper Tyler French playing the ball to Harry Strong, who in turn played it on to Robbie Williams, whose pass allowed Tom Williams to get through on goal, where he forced a diving save out of goalkeeper Guto Hughes.

At the opposite end Tomi Llywelyn lined up a shot, but he was thwarted by Tyler French, who used his feet to make a save.

A minute later Tomi Llywelyn sent a looping header over Tyler; however Harry Strong was on hand to clear the ball on the goal line.

Half Time

Early on in the second period there was some good build up play from Corwen, which lead to Henry Evans running with the ball, who lined up a shot, which was tipped over by Guto Hughes. From the resulting corner Ryan Billington headed the ball over the crossbar.

Penalty

Ten minutes after the restart Corwen were awarded a penalty kick, which Sam Henry was given the responsibility of taking, and he hit the ball towards the bottom corner; however Guto Hughes guessed correctly, and was able to make a save to keep the scores level.

As the game entered the last twenty minutes the away side thought they had broken the deadlock as the ball was headed home from a corner; however the referee had already blown up for a foul before the ball had made its way into the back of the net.

Two minutes later Holyhead’s Kane Roberts tried his luck from distance, but he blasted his shot wide.

Tomi Llywelyn was bearing down on the Corwen goal and despite pressure from the Corwen defence he was able to get a shot away, which whizzed across the box and hit the far post. Corwen went on the attack from the resulting goal kick, which saw Tom Williams blast a shot over the bar.

With eleven minutes to play Sam Henry collected the ball from a throw in before unleashing a low shot at goal, which brought a save out of Guto Hughes.

Goal

With four minutes to go the referee played advantage after a foul in the middle of the field, which allowed Sam Henry to get through on goal, where he slotted the ball beyond Guto Hughes and into the back of the net at the far post.

The away side put pressure on the home defence in search of equaliser to force a penalty shootout, but the closest them came to doing so was in the sixth minute of stoppage time when a shot was dragged narrowly wide of the post.

Gavin Billington

Corwen FC

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