Late goals cruel on battling youngsters

THREE goals conceded in the closing 10 minutes was a cruel end to a battling heroic effort by the young Seagulls Development squad as they went down 6-0 to a full-strength Barry Town United side in the all Wales final of the Welsh Blood Service League Cup at Newtown.

The team had shown a lot of heart and character to keep the score to 3-0 until the 81st minute, helped by some good saves from first team keeper Jack Crichton – including a first half penalty. But Barry took advantage of tiring legs in those closing minutes to take a bit of the gloss off the young Bay side’s performance.

Barry led after only four minutes with a screamer into the roof of the net from the edge of the area by Troy Greening, and were denied a second six minutes later when Crichton dived to his right to keep out Kayne McLaggon’s 10th minute penalty.

The Bay, playing with just the hard-working Hugh Holland up front, stuck to their defensive task well, but Josh Graham jumped to beat Crichton to a ball into the area to head Barry’s second goal on 31 minutes and Welsh C international McLaggon added a third from a rebound before half-time.

In the second half, with Will McKinley putting in some good runs from deep, Hugh Holland clipped the bar with one fine effort and forced a save out of Barry keeper Michael Lewis with another, after good run from half-way, but they were the only really threats to the Barry goal.

Some heroic defending prevented the South Wales side from adding to their score until the closing stages, with substitute Kyle Jones eventually heading their fourth goal on 81 minutes.

Curtis McDonald got a fortunate fifth with a back header that lopped over Crichton on 85 minutes and then, in added time, Aiden Lewis seized on a rebound to add a sixth after Crichton had a made a fine block from a close range header.

The lads, however, can hold their heads high for the way they played.

See manager Steve Evans’ post-match comments on Manager Interview – Welsh Blood Service Cup Final – YouTube

COLWYN BAY: Jack Crichton, Elis McLoughlin (Ben Preater 77), Jack Nightingale (Paddy Judge 90), Will McKinley, Keiran Jones, Hugh Holland (Rob Lloyd 90), Aaron Forbes, Etan Goodwin, Joel Giblin, Mathew Hardaker, Oliver Williams. Subs not used: Sion Davies (G), James Griffith, Frank Kaminski-Kirtlandt.