Football: Fifth hat-trick puts Glan Conwy FC in semi-finals

Dec 11 2008 By Tim Channon

ASHLEY SMITH hit his fifth hat-trick of the season as Glan Conwy reached the semi-finals of the Normac Precision Cookson Cup with last weekend's 4-2 win over Barmouth.

They now play Rhydymwyn or Llanrug for a place in the final, with title challengers Bethesda Athletic and Pwllheli facing each other in the other semi-final.

"Whoever you meet in a semi-final is going to be tough - it is all down to who is up for it most on the day," said manager Paul Moroney.

"To be honest we struggled for over an hour to get on top of Barmouth, but I think our fitness is kicking in now and we are starting to dominate teams in the last 15 to 20 minutes of games."

Barmouth led through Carl Ryan after 14 minutes, and although Smith scored either side of half time to put Glan Conwy 2-1 up, Barmouth hit back to equalise when Ryan scored again from a rebound off the bar.

Glan Conwy then started to take control with Smith completing his hat-trick and Howard Vaughan, who had an excellent game in midfield, also on target.

Mally Tidswell did well in centre midfield after being recalled due to injuries, and he could well face his former club CONWY UNITED in this Saturday's league derby at Cae Ffwt (2pm).

Conwy went out of the Cookson Cup with 5-3 defeat at Pwllheli last weekend after fighting back from 0-3 down to level the scores at 3-3 with goals from Chris Quinn, Jamie Jones and Bryn Phillips.

They lost their momentum after that and Pwllheli got two late goals to win the tie.

"It was if the players thought the hard work had been done," said manager Eifion Hughes.

"The lads need to learn that they have to work hard for the whole 90 minutes and can't afford to rest on their laurels."

That result followed a 5-1 midweek defeat to Bethesda in the league which ended a Conwy’s run of five successive wins.

" We were a bit unlucky to be 1-0 down against the run of play at half-time, but two quick goals early in the second half killed us," reflected the manager.

A knee ligament injury to Adam Jones the previous weekend at Nantlle Vale, following a similar injury to Ian Pattinson the previous week, has been a major blow to the side.

"We have lost our balance in midfield with those injuries and it looks as though both will be out until after Christmas," said the manager.

"When you only have a small squad, injuries like that can hit you hard and we can't do anything about bringing in replacements until the January window opens.

"We have definitely suffered by not having a reserve side this year and the club are now looking seriously at addressing that for next season and possibly running an Under-18 side as well."

More football news and tables in this week’s Weekly News.