West Wales Intermediate Cup Feature

 

Vikings and Rooks meet each other in semis

 
The West Wales Intermediate Cup semi-finals have thrown together Carew and Hakin United - and a lot of local football fans have been disappointed because they had hoped the two teams would have been drawn apart so they might have been able to watch two Pembrokeshire teams play in the final at The Swanseacity.com Stadium, as they have done occasionally in the past.
 
Looking at the way that both clubs have performed in this season’s competition that might have happened but at least it means that one of our teams will be playing there.
 
It is always a hard grind to reach the final because also in the melting pot are some excellent teams from Swansea, Carmarthenshire and Neath and this week we linked with two outstanding young managers in Scott Davies (Hakin United) and Ceri Brace (Carew) to show the paths they have taken with their players on the run-up to their semi-final.

The semi-final  will take place at the Ogi Bridge Meadow Stadium, home of Haverfordwest County FC,  on Thursday, March 30th, kick-off 7.30pm.










 

First Round:

 
Both teams had byes into the second round.
 

Second Round:

 

Cwm Wanderers 1 Carew 2

“We knew that this would be a tough away match because although Cwm are 11th in the West Wales Premier League we knew that their experience at this new level had to be a halo and so it proved.

Marcus Griffiths gave us the lead as he went through in a one-on-one with the keeper after good work by Archie Smith but they drew level with a goal by Jacob Power.

James Hinchliffe grabbed our second from a good header but for a while in the second half we were under the cosh but defended well and were delighted to go through.”
 

Trostre 0 Hakin United 2

“Trostre were fourth in the Carmarthenshire Premiership after being top for a while but we played well against a physically challenging side that had six yellow and one red card, whilst we kept our discipline well and only had one yellow late on.

We took the lead after 32 minutes as Jack Britton found the net after good work by Leon Luby - and then Jack set up our second-half goal for Justin Harding which made sure we could settle things down and see us move smoothly into the next round.”

 

Third Round:

 

Bonymaen 1 Carew 9

“Bonymaen were bottom of the Swansea League Division Two but for the first 20 minutes they looked a useful outfit and stopped us playing our own game to open the scoring with a goal by Dean Green - but we gradually settled and got well on top to take a 4-1 half time lead and added another five goals in the second half.

Jordan Richards scored all four goals in the 23rd, 26th, 43rd and 45th minutes as we played really well
Charlie Perkins made it 5-0 before Jordan grabbed another three goals and Spencer Williams rounded off our scoring as we stormed through.”

 

Hakin United 11 Cilfrew 0

“Cilfrew were ninth in the Neath Premier so we thought they must be a useful side but we played really well from the start in front of our home crowd and were already 4-0 in front at half time thanks to well-taken goals by Garin Gardner, Mark Jones, Ashley Bevan and Justin Harding.

‘Skinny added his second to open the second-half scoring, Shane Walsh got on the scoresheet and Laurie Haworth scored twice before Ashley completed a deserved hat-trick with two goals in a minute. Ryan Wilson finished things off in style and we were delighted with our win.

 

Fourth Round:

Carew 4 Waunarlwydd Galaxy 0

“Any team that reaches the fourth round must be useful but at least we knew that although this team were in the Swansea First Division they were 11th in the table but they turned out to be one of the better teams we have played against and put us under a lot of pressure in the first 20 minutes, when Tom Davies and our back four, led by outstanding skipper Sonny Williams, defended really well.

But Spencer Williams gave us a 25th-minute lead James Hinchliffe added a vital second score before half time - and then Charlie Perkins made the game safe with a 25-yarder into the bottom corner. Adam Muskett made it 4-0 as reward for his hard work up front and we were into the quarter finals.”

 

West End 0 Hakin United 5

“West End used to be a team to be feared and although they are in the West Wales Premier League there wasn’t the same intimidating atmosphere or the energy that used to be at their ground - and we had great support that urged us on.

We played some really good football and were home and dry by the break as we already led 4-0 as Nicky Woodrow was in terrific form with goals in the 19th and 26th minutes, with assists from Shane Walsh and Jack Britton - and then Shane grabbed a double of his own in the 31st and 33rd minutes to kill off any further resistance, helped by  Leon Luby and Ryan Wilson.

It was appropriate that Nicky scored the only goal of the second half as early as the 55th minute and we couldn’t have been more pleased with the result.”
 

Quarter Finals:

 

Carew 5 Evans & Williams 1

“We were level at one-all after full time and feeling despondent because we had missed a sitter with two minutes to go and then Evans & Williams scored their only goal a minute later from Ryan Froschi - and it was hard to imagine then that we would win by four clear goals.

Evans & Williams are in the top three of the West Wales Premier and to be honest we were pleased to go in at 0-0 at half time because they had been the better side.

But we changed our shape and took the lead after Marcus Griffiths had a good shot saved and Adam Musket pounced to net the rebound.

We lost Iwan Izzard to a red card that might have been a yellow but then their skipper Mark Howells was shown a yellow for a similar tackle but then kicked the ball away and so was given his marching orders!
We held on until it looked as if we might snatch the verdict but they scored late on - but we showed real resilience and did superbly in extra time.

Adam Muskett had a yellow card early on in extra time but it seemed to spur us on so that when we were awarded a 98th minute penalty for hand ball Shaun Whitfield scored - and then James Hinchliffe atoned for an early miss with a splendid finish as he chested the ball down and coolly chipped their keeper. In the second half of extra time Tom Cole finished things off with two more goals and we were through by such an unexpectedly huge margin!”

 

Hakin United 1 Pontlliw 1 (Hakin won 5-4 on penalties)

“When we were drawn against Pontlliw we realised straight away what a challenge we had on our hands because they had played nine games in the Carmarthenshire Premier League, had won them all with a goal difference of +34, and beaten Goodwick in the previous round.

Our worries started as early as the second minute when Sam Rodon, who was so superb whilst playing for Haverfordwest County in the Welsh Premier League, headed home for them at a set-piece.

We started to play well with a fantastic crowd cheering us on but there were no more goals, although we had our share of chances - until we levelled matters in the 63rd minute when Shane Walsh set up the chance for Jack Britton to equalise.

And that is the way the score stayed until the end of full time and throughout extra time so that we had to go into a penalty shoot-out - and we were still level after two attempts as our goals came from Jack Britton and Justin Harding   but the third spot-kick from them hit the bar and bounced back out!

Leon Luby scored our third penalty and so it meant that our last two takers only had to score and Nicky Woodrow did just that and so did Pontlliw from both their final attempts to leave The Vikings with a golden chance of glory - and we called up Kieran King for the vital last kick.

He is only 19 and came on after 88 minutes for Camron Thomas, and showed the composure of a veteran to send Lewis Gibbs the wrong way - and I have never seen such a response to a goal in all the time that I’ve been involved in the games which was beautifully captured on social media!