Hakin United 3 - 4 Holywell Town

The FAWTrophy holds a special place in the heart of Holywell fans after the extraordinary scenes that followed the 2011 final win over Conwy, the wellmen triumphing at Rhyl's Belle Vue overturning a 2-0 deficit in 7 remarkable, injury time, minutes.
Since then the side have gone on to make headlines in the Welsh Cup, and today's tie at Hakin was an almost complete role reversal from the David v Goliath cup tie versus Aberystwyth a couple of weeks ago.

With the Wellmen, two tiers above their Pembrokeshire hosts, and now playing the role of Goliath, it was their turn to experience the large hostile home crowd, and blustery conditions that The Vikings played perfectly to their advantage in the first period.

Town went a goal down after 20 minutes. Nick Woodrow directing a header just beyond the reach of Paul Turner's dive. Phil Lloyd pulled the Wellmen level within 60 seconds, neatly dispatching a Sam Jones through ball. When Matty Harvey's header put the wellmen 2-1 up, and Jones smashed a volley against the crossbar, you could have been forgiven for thinking the Wellmen had weathered the storm, but then came a turning point that swung the game back in the hosts' favour.

A loose ball in the town area was adjudged to have struck a Holywell arm & a penalty given that even the most hostile of the home supporters vociferous support judged as harsh. Woodrow duly despatched the spot kick sending Turner the wrong way, leaving the tie finely poised at 2-2 at the break.
With the wind at their backs in the second half, Holywell started well, but went behind again to the goal of the game. A cross field ball from the right was turned first time back across Turner's goal by Woodrow, where Jack Harding was arriving to thump home from close range. With around 20 mins remaining Sam Jones found himself on the wrong side of a referee once again, when an innocuous looking incident was adjudged to be violent conduct, and a red card shown.

Despite this setback, Town rallied and a crazy last 10 minutes saw them turn the tie on its head when Jack Darcy equalised steering home on 82 minutes after home keeper James Manson had collided with one of his own defenders and the ball had run free.
Loud shouts for handball in the line were waved away, whilst the hosts had a chance to win the tie when Steve Mathias ran clear but pulled his shot narrowly wide.
Then, just as the clock ticked over 90 minutes, the unfortunate Manson appeared to collect the ball at the feet of Lloyd, but inexplicably released it for the Town striker to roll it into the empty net.
At the final whistle, Hakin player's sank to their knees, whilst Wellmen celebrated another remarkable comeback in their favorite competition, and look forward to their second semifinal of the season.