This Saturday saw Llanfyllin take on arguably the biggest local rivals. With the game including goals, red cards and penalties it really was a hotly contested local derby what was competitive till the very end.

The game began with a few nervous moments for the visitors with them not being able to keep hold of the ball for the first few minutes and allowing there opponents to seize the initiative. It took only 3 minutes for the home team to punish the slow start by the magpies.

With the Llanfechin goal kick being hoofed right into Llanfyllin's half for Mostin to lose a very rare aerial battle against Llanfechin's striker and Llanfyllin old boy Craig Scott who managed to flick the ball forward, where a moment of misjudgment from Liam Jones allowed the ball to drop over his head and in between himself and Jack Morris, which allowed the Llanfechin winger to sneak in a finish calmly underneath Gareth Jones.

This seemed to wake up the sluggish Llanfyllin who then began to exert pressure and start to control possession with Llanfechin having to resort to hopeful punts up the field which the formidable pairing of Mostin and Liam dealt with with ease. As the first half ticked by despite there superiority the Magpies struggled to carve out any clear cut chances against a very determined Llanfechin defense.

However around the 30 minute mark after some good passing between the back four Martin Phillips was gifted a few yards of space around the halfway line. Which allowed him the chance to get his head up and fire a pin point pass into Zakh Ward on the edge of the Llanfechin penalty area, dropping just over a desperate attempt to head clear from Diggy onto Zakh's chest. His control took him into the box with a sight of goal but instead of snatching at the chance he showed cool composure to fake a shot before slotting into the corner of the net for the equaliser.

After the goal Llanfyllin stepped up the pressure on Llanfechin with Ward driving down the wing before cutting back for what seemed to be a tap in for Dan Williams, but the first touch got the ball stuck under his feet preventing the early shot. It seemed that Llanfechin would sneak into halftime with the score at 1-1 however a minute before the break Ward broke through the Llanfechin ranks before crossing beyond the goal keeper to land at the feet of Nash 4 yards out. He made no mistake in brushing the ball into the open net.

After the break it seemed to be more of the same, as Llanfyllin again dominated possession with Martin and Sam seeing a lot of the ball and the back four not having a great deal to deal with. However it seemed to be an issue finding the important third goal with Nash, Liam and Dan all going close and Ward having a few penalty appeals but staying on his feet swayed the referees decision.

The third goal did eventually come. Again some good work from the back four saw the ball drop to Moley who had time to find a good pass to Dan down the line who did really well to turn his man and break into space in the opponents half. Just inside the Llanfechin half Dan got his head up and picked out a great ball inbehind the two centre halves to release Ward one on one with the keeper, Ward again showed a cool head as he rounded the on rushing goal keeper to tap into an empty net.

This seemed to be game over with 20 minutes left and Llanfyllin still in control, but a moment of stupidity from Jack Jones saw him see red after picking up a second yellow for kicking the ball away. this seemed to inspire Llanfechin who after not creating a chance for the majority of the second half they started applying serious pressure to the magpies defence. however some good defending from Jack, Moley, Mostin and Liam saw the magpies weather a storm. However with 10 minutes left a route one ball caught out the Llanfyllin defence and saw the Llanfechin striker break through for a chance to draw the score back to 3-2 with 10 minutes left. Gareth Jones came rushing out of goal only to see the ball touched past him at the last second as he brought down the striker, only for the referee to point to the spot. Up stepped Llanfyllin top scorer from last year Craig Scott to try and punish the magpies for there numerical disadvantage.But Gareth Jones attoned for his error by saving neatly to his left and pushing the ball away fro a corner.

This seemed to knock the wind out of the Llanfechin sails, and with 5 minutes remaining and them pushing forward a ball over the top released Ward to run in one on one, but before he could get his shot of to finsih the game he was brought down in the box leaving the referee with no choice but to point to the spot for the second time in 10 minutes. However unlike his counter part Ward made no mistake in brushing the ball into the side netting.

Overall it was a very good performance from the team who looked dangerous everytime they went forward, and bar the slow start looked solid at the back. The team host another local rival this week when Llanrhaedr reserves at home.

LLANFYLLIN TOWN F C

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