Holywell Town 1-0 Abergavenny Town

FAW Trophy Semi Final
Holywell Town 1-0 Abergavenny Town

The game kicked off and from the kick off, Holywell’s Paul Williams ran at the Abergavenny defence and was brought down by Craig Norman, and the referee showed him the yellow card for the challenge. Tom McElmeel stepped up to take the free kick, which was in a dangerous position, but the keeper gathered the ball well and prevented his team falling behind to an early goal!

Mike Platt was then called into action and he was down well to save a low shot of Dan Jenkins, then Platt had to be brave to dive at the feet of Jenkins again a few minutes later in Abergavenny’s next attack. Town then had Steve Thomas to thank as his goaline clearance prevented Abergavenny taking the lead, as he hooked Craig Norman’s header off the line on the far post.

Abergavenny were reduced to 10 men just after the half hour mark. Craig Norman, who had been booked in the first minute, was adjudged to have dived by referee Ben Williamson. The Referee had no alternative but to show the yellow card and Norman was asked to leave the field of play and went for an early shower!

The sending off however did not prevent Abergavenny as they kept pressing looking for the opening to take the lead. Dan Jenkins, who was looking dangerous upfront, broke clear and a great tackle by Lee Emberton prevented him getting his shot in on Platt’s goal. Paul Williams then beat his man and his cross towards goal from the byline beat the onrushing Phil Lloyd and the ball was cleared to safety. Abergavenny still piled on the pressure and Platt had to race out of his area to head the ball clear of the Abergavenny forward before Plat produced two excellent saves with a few miunutes left on the clock before half time. First he saved well from Jenkins before Dean Morgan was through and Platt produced a great one handed block to prevent Morgan giving Abergavenny a deserved lead before the referee blew for half time.

The Second half started and the Wellmen started the much brighter of the teams. Town had a Matty Harvey header cleared off the line, before Phil Lloyd had his shot saved well by Tom Indge in the Abergavenny goal. Town then had another effort cleared off the line before Paul Williams crossed the ball in to Phil Lloyd, but his effort went past Indge’s far post and out for a goal kick. Captain John Leonard then had a shot go wide of the post before Abergavenny’s Aaron Norman headed just wide of Platt’s goal from a corner.

The Wellmen’s performance was a lot better this half and a ball through the middle of the park found Steve Thomas who passed the ball through to Lee Emberton but his shot went wide of the target. Matty Harvey, who was getting a lot of room on the right, ran with the ball and passed the ball to Tom McElmeel who lay the ball off to Steve Thomas but his shot went wide of the target.

Abergavenny then had a couple of efforts which didn’t worry Platt too much before Paul Williams beat his marker and got a cross in but no one was there for the touch that the ball needed. The Wellmen were looking the most dangerous now of the two teams and sub Stuart Hayes had a shot go wide before a few minutes later, Hayes was involved in Town’s winner. Hayes received the ball and skipped past the defender before unleashing a shot which came back off the crossbar and with the ball in the air, Tom McElmeel was there to head the ball back into the empty net to give Town a 1-0 lead with a few minutes remaining. The Wellmen’s supporters behind the goal went mad and on the second half’s performance, the goal was deserved.

The Wellmen then made a couple of substitutions to add fresh legs to the game to help preserve the 1 goal advantage and Abergavenny did give us one scare at the end as their attacker had a shot but it went out for a goal kick. The referee then blew his whistle to mark the end of the game and Town made it through to the final of the FAW trophy looking to win it again like we did in 2010/11. It wasn’t the best performance the Wellmen have put in this season, but the way we rode the storm first half to get back into it second half and to score the late winner shows that we still ‘refuse to lose!’