They are coached by former Welsh International Christian Edwards, who combines this role with a similar one at Aberystwyth whilst also continuing his studies. The opponents today were Bala Town who play in the Welsh Premier, the top tier, and although are having a difficult season results wise they are a team brimming with experience. On paper it seemed a bit of a mis-match.
I booked my train to cardiff back in November, as soon as the draw was made, but it was with some trepidation I left a frost bound North Wales and headed south. I just couldn't see the game being on so I was contemplating chucking my tickets in the bin and looking for a certainty closer to home.
I spoke to the UWIC secretary on the friday evening and he was pretty confident there wouldn't be any problems (last week when South Wales was covered in frost, theirs was one of only two games that went ahead). His confidence was well founded and the game was never in doubt.
It was well worth the trip as, in a major upset, the students stunned the premier league side by dumping them out of the cup.
Bala took an early lead through a Chris Mason shot from the edge of the box (9) before the students came back to lead 2-1. Lewis Murray (13) prodded home before Sam Carrington (18) doubled the advantage. Bala were then reduced to 10 men when left back Mike Thompson was dismissed (35) for an elbow. Bala did continue to press and were unlucky not to be level at the interval when the hit the bar and had two efforts kicked off the line. However the students held firm and were superbly marshalled by skipper Donal Roughneen.
Bala won a penalty within a couple of minutes of the restart, but this was saved by Chris Willis, the UWIC goalkeeper. As the game went on Bala became more frustrated and their challenges became more robust however the students continued to play their football and picked Bala off on the break with two further goals in the last 15 minutes.
An an attack was broken up by the Bala defender, but the attempted back pass was intercepted by Ed Jones (75) who rounded the keeper to slot home. A superb strike by Murray (88) sealed the win for the students. Bala's misery was further compounded when they were reduced to 9 men in stoppage time Mark Connelly, on his debut, received his second yellow card.
Overall though Bala can have no complaints with the final score. This result puts UWIC into the draw for the last eight and, speaking to a club official, the £12,500 prize money they will recieve for today's victory will keep the club ticking over for a good four seasons. It also leaves the students only three games away from the Europa League...what price for that?
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| Bala's John Irving shields the ball from UWIC striker Ed Jones. |
For the match highlights, courtesy of S4C, then follow this link...http://www.youtube.com/
Saturday 29th January 2011
FAW Welsh Cup 4th Round
UWIC 4-1 Bala Town
Attendance: 163
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