Welsh Cup
Caernarfon Town 3 – 0 Flint Town United FT
Danny Gosset and Darren Thomas lift the Welsh Cup following Caernarfon Town’s win [FAW]
Caernarfon Town secured their first Welsh Cup with a devastating opening 18 minutes proving decisive in a 3-0 win over Flint Town United in the final at Newport’s Rodney Parade.
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The Cofis took full control against their Cymru Premier rivals through goals from Sion Bradley, Matty Jones’ free-kick and an Adrian Cieślewicz header.
Richard Davies’ side have sealed their place in next season’s Europa Conference League qualifiers, their second European appearance in three seasons.
Flint, who were looking to win the Welsh Cup for the first time in 72 years, will now turn their focus to securing JD Cymru Premier survival with one game of the season remaining.
Sion Bradley, an unused substitute for TNS in last year’s final, scored Caernarfon’s opening goal against Flint [FAW]
Caernarfon showed their intent from the start and a cross from captain Danny Gossett was headed on by Zack Clarke, but Bradley fluffed his effort wide inside the opening two minutes.
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Flint began to settle into the game, but Caernarfon went ahead after seven minutes
Good work by Josh Lock and Paulo Mendes set up Bradley, who wrong-footed the Flint defence and slotted past keeper Jack Flint for the opening goal.
Bradley continued to cause problems for Flint and was brought down by Elliott Reeves on the edge of the penalty area and from the resulting free-kick Jones scored with a curling effort which gave the goalkeeper no chance.
At the other end Mikey Burke’s effort was blocked by Phil Mooney, but Caernarfon extended their lead when from a Jones corner, Cieslewicz’s header crashed in off the crossbar and over the line to make it 3-0.
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Stunned by the events of the opening 20 minutes, Flint responded and enjoyed a good spell of their own with Burke denied by Connor Roberts while Darren Stephenson’s header struck the post.
For Caernarfon, Jones lined up another free-kick in a dangerous position, but his effort on this occasion was pushed onto the crossbar by keeper Flint.
Flint made another crucial save just before the interval to deny Caernarfon midfielder Lock, who was through on goal.
Cieślewicz capitalised on a mistake by substitute Jake Phillips but the six-time Welsh Cup winner just failed to connect with the ball.
Flint forced a series of corners, but failed to make them count while Flint gathered Mooney’s shot at the second attempt.
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A cross from Caernarfon substitute Rio Owen, on loan from Wrexham, set up Lock who had his shot smothered by keeper Flint before the danger was cleared.
Owen himself created an opportunity for himself a few minutes later only to blast his effort over the crossbar.
Caernarfon, seeing out the game, made a number of substitutions with the most significant being the introduction of veteran Darren Thomas.
It was fitting that Thomas, alongside captain and man of the match Gosset, lifted the Cup and mark a historic day for Caernarfon Town.
Matty Jones celebrates after scoring Caernarfon’s second goal [FAW]
Teams
Caernarfon Town: Connor Roberts, Matty Jones, Phil Mooney, Paulo Mendes, Danny Gosset (Captain), Zack Clarke (Brad Young 83′), Sion Bradley (Darren Thomas 88′), Adrian Cieslewicz (Rio Owen 85′), Josh Lock (Iwan Lewis 85′), Kyle Harrison, Ryan Sears (Morgan Owen 85′)
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Substitutes: Hari Thomas, Adam Davies
Flint Town United: Jack Flint, Ben Woollam, Mikey Burke (Josh Jones 76′), Sidi Fofana, Harry Owen (Captain), Jack Thorn (Jake Phillips 45′), Ben Hughes (Ben Wynne 90′), Elliott Reeves, Lee Jonas (Max Purvis 81′), Jake Canavan, Darren Stephenson
Substitutes: Dawid Szczepaniak, Evan Smith, Alec Mudimu
Referee: Iwan Griffith
Attendance: 2,224
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