Trailing 2-0 in the second half, and having lost their talisman Elliott Reeves to a badly gashed knee, it looked all over for the Silkmen, but to their credit they got themselves back into the game, had Bala wobbling, but couldn’t find the elusive third goal, and ultimately lost out in the penalty shoot out, in this dramatic Welsh Cup tie.
Flint had an early sight of goal, when some good skill by Reeves brought the ball down and under control, before feeding it into the path of Mike Burke who powered into the box, but Bala keeper Joel Torrance saved well with his legs. From that point on, however, the visitors took control, and the home side were struggling to get the ball out of their own half and into Reeves and fellow forward, Florian Yonsian, both of whom looked dangerous when they did get possession, but all too often were feeding off scraps.
Bala’s physicality was causing problems for the Silkmen, and they were also their own worst enemies with some wayward passing, but despite a few heart in mouth moments around the 18 yard box, direct chances on the home goal were rare. However, Flint were caught on the counter in devastating fashion on 31 minutes. From a corner down the other end that was cleared, Bala broke quickly down the right, sent in a low cross, and the unfortunate Jake Phillips, who was sprinting back to provide cover, could only turn the ball into his own net.
Flint’s best outlet was to try and get the ball to Reeves, whose touch and movement was causing the Bala defence real problems. On 41 minutes he got on the end of a long ball, and broke onto the area, and pulled his shot just wide of the far post having been chased down by a couple of defenders. Then in the 44th minutes he combined well with Yonsian, with the latter striking a shot with the outside of his boot that Torrance saved.
Despite not seeing much of the ball in the attacking third in the opening half, Flint had still somehow managed to fashion some decent chances courtesy of their livewire front two.
Early in the second half, a collision between Reeves and Bala skipper Nathan Peate near the touchline on the halfway, resulted in the Flint player being sent hurtling into the barriers, sustaining a gashed knee and cut hand in the process. The Flint crowd and coaching staff were incensed by what appeared to be a late challenge, their anger only increasing when the referee decided it was a normal coming together and awarded a throw in. With Reeves, who had been the Silkmen’s most dangerous player, having to depart the action it was a bitter blow for the home side.
Bala took advantage of Flint’s apparent disarray following the loss of Reeves, and a bout of pressure around the hour mark looked to have paid dividends. First, Jack Flint was called upon to pull off a good save from a Ross White header. Having had a let off on that occasion, the Silkmen weren’t as fortunate a couple of minutes later, when George Newell produced an instinctive reaction to poke home a loose ball from close range after a free kick had been delivered into the box.
At 2-0 down it looked all over for Flint, and it certainly could have been on 64 minutes when Newell got on the end of an Osebi Abadaki cross and his goalward effort was blocked by a combination of Isaac Lee and Flint, to give the Silkmen a slender lifeline to cling onto.
This they did, by mounting a superb comeback in the last twenty minutes. The introduction of George Maire off the bench would prove crucial in the fightback, the youngster taking the game by the scruff of the neck, and driving his team forward by running with the ball at the Bala defence.
Another substitute, Luke Mariette, produced an excellent effort on 72 minutes, that crashed against the angle of post and crossbar, before bouncing down and being cleared for a corner. The resulting delivery saw the ball drop into the path of Maire inside the box, and he lashed it home to give his side some hope.
Flint now had some self belief and continued to apply pressure onto a Bala backline that was suddenly creaking. With 10 minutes remaining, a long ball from Phillips found Yonsian, who swivelled and hit a sublime shot that looped over Torrance and under the crossbar to make it 2-2. Suddenly it was game on.
In the final minute of regulation time, in a packed Bala penalty area, Lee, with his back to goal, found Harry Owen, whose shot looked to be heading inside the post, that is until a good defensive block sent it just the other side of the upright, to the home crowd’s frustration.
Had extra time still been played in this competition, there looked as though there would only be one winner, with the Silkmen now holding the upper hand, but instead we went straight to penalties, and as it was, the visitors held their nerve, converting all their spot kicks, whilst Torrance produced two saves to deny Phillips and Mariette and send his side into the next round.
Whilst it would have been nice to progress deeper into this season’s Welsh Cup competition the more immediate concern from the game was the loss of Reeves, who will likely miss crucial league games against Briton Ferry Llansawel and Aberystwyth in the coming weeks.
Report by Nigel Sheen
Line Ups :
Flint Town United – J. Flint, B. Beaumont (L. Mariette 46), M. Burke, I. Lee, H. Owen (c), S. Fofana, J. Phillips, B,. Hughes (G. Maire 68), E. Reeves (J. Jones 54), F. Yonsian, T. Mfuni (I. Lambert 68). Unused Sub – E. Jones
Bala Town – J. Torrance, K. Lloyd, E. Clarke, N. Peate (c), K. Harrison, R. White, L. Mendes (L. Robles 71), N. Burke, G. Newell, J. Malkin (H. Mehasseb 13) (L. Higgins 83), O. Abadaki (D. Malone 83). Unused Sub – R. Jones (GK)
Flint MOM – George Maire (great impact coming off the bench to get his side back into the match)
