Lee Fowler’s side created a little bit of history as they successfully overcame Trearddur Bay to reach the semi finals of the Welsh Cup for the first time in over 70 years. An early Darren Stephenson goal settled any nerves and paved the way for the Silkmen, who added another through Ben Wynne before half time before making absolutely sure with a Ben Hughes strike late on. Our opponents gave a very good account of themselves, and exited the Cup with their heads held high, as their own impressive run in the competition came to an end.
Flint looked lively from the off, and a raking crossfield ball picked out Josh Jones on the right, who sent in a low cross towards Elliott Reeves, but a combination of defender Tom Lennon and goalkeeper Paul Pritchard prevented the ball from reaching its intended target.
But in the fourth minute the Silkmen struck. The lively Osebi Abadaki took possession on the left touchline and sprinted towards the by-line before delivering a low centre that Stephenson touched home from close range. A very simple but extremely effective move.
On 14 minutes the lead was doubled. Once again Abadaki was the provider, this time coming inside before sliding the ball to Wynne, who was handily placed on the edge of the ‘D’. He looked up, picked his spot and continued his fine goal scoring form this season by placing his shot wide of Pritchard and into the net.
It was beginning to look a bit ominous for the visitors at this stage, but to their credit they didn’t buckle and eventually started to play their way back into the game. A long ball out of defence picked out Tom Hilditch who looked to add to his tally of 10 goals in this season’s competition, but he was thwarted by Jack Flint who had sprinted out to close down the angle, and spread his body well to block the shot.
Jake Canavan was providing his usually trickery in midfield, and he picked out Reeves with a fine ball on 19 minutes, only for the striker to send his effort just wide of the upright. A few minutes later, having won possession back in midfield just inside the Trearddur Bay half, Canavan spotted Pritchard off his line and tried his luck with a spectacular long range effort that just cleared the bar.
Max Purvis, who was making his debut for the Silkmen, sent a cross over from the right that Reeves headed towards goal, but it just clipped the top of the bar, as Pritchard looked as though he managed to get a fingertip on it.
Bay responded through Liam Armstrong, who attempted a curling effort from 25 yards out, that went just wide of the top corner of Flint’s goal.
At the start of the second half, Pritchard pulled off a fine reaction save to deny Wynne, after Abadaki had again done some good work on the left and played the ball into an inviting position. The rest of the half turned into a much more even affair between the two sides, and Flint’s play became a bit more ragged and disjointed as the game wore on. They were caught offside too many times, the linesman’s flag ruling out a couple of attempts that crossed the line.
Trearddur Bay kept probing and looking for a way back in, but in the centre of the Flint defence, Sidi Fofana, who was deputising in there for the absent Harry Owen, cut a commanding figure and was dominant in his one to one battles.
The introduction of Ben Hughes injected a much needed spark into the Silkmen, and it was he who put the game firmly to bed in the 85th minute, when he ran clear to receive a clever, lofted through ball from Canavan, and coolly despatched it past Pritchard.
So the class of 2026, have done the club proud in getting to the semi finals of this competition for the first time since 1954, but two massive hurdles still remain if they are to repeat the feat of their illustrious 1953/54 counterparts, but as they saying goes … “You have to be in it, to win it”, and in it we most certainly are, along with Caernarfon, Rhyl and Bangor, an all north Wales last four.
Report by Nigel Sheen. Photos by Damon Mead.
Line Ups :
Flint Town United – J. Flint, B. Woollam 9E. Smith 76), O. Abadaki (B. Hughes 72), S. Fofana (c), M. Purvis, J. Thorn, D. Stephenson (L. Morrison 88), J. Canavan, E. Reeves, B. Wynne (C. Ferguson 88), J. Jones. Unused Subs – D. Szczepaniak (GK), J. Phillips, L. Bevan
Trearddur Bay – P. Pritchard, S. Edwards (L. Davies 76), H. Jones, A. Marshall (M. Rowlands 84), S. Samuel, T. Lennon, L. Armstrong, S. McCaffery, T. Hilditch, C. Aziamale, R. Price. Unused Subs – O. Griffiths (GK), L. Morris, J. Giles
Flint MOM – Sidi Fofana (took over the captaincy and the place in the heart of defence from the unavailable Harry Owen and stepped up to the challenge magnificently)
