Llanfair Reserves were the toast of Montgomeryshire on Friday night after winning the Emrys Morgan Cup for the fifth time.
A big crowd watched events unfold at Penrhyncoch where Llanfair came away 2-0 winners against an impressive Llandysul side to bring the trophy back to Montgomeryshire for the first time since 1996.
The following is a report from the club’s web site capturing the dramatic final that featured a last minute penalty save, red card and then a clinching goal at the other end of the pitch!
‘Llanfair were forced to defend for most of the game as Llandysul dominated the majority of play, starting straight from the off, with Adrian Hazelby and Ben Thomas causing problems with their pace.
Llandysul came very close to opening the scoring after 32 minutes but Chris Humphreys tipped the ball onto the post and the ball rebounded out across the goal and out for a corner.
But on 44 minutes, completely against the run of play, Toby Evans capitalised on a defensive error to score from just inside the penalty area to put Llanfair 1-0 up.
Then Llanfair, who had very little efforts at goal came close to a second but Josh Astley's effort hit the crossbar.
The second half began just like the first, with Llandysul on top and causing Llanfair problems with their fast attacks. Hazelby missed a golden opportunity when he found himself unmarked and 10 yards out, firing his shot wide.
Llanfair were forced to see out a period of heavy pressure from Llandysul who were causing a threat from corners and more counter attacking play. Humphreys made a string of brilliant saves and dogged defending by Llanfair kept Llandysul at bay.
Then a controversial moment as Hazelby raced through only to be stopped for offside. However, the ball actually came from a goal kick off the ground and play should have continued. A drop ball was contended instead.
Toby Evans had a shot well saved by the Llandysul keeper with 10 minutes to go and Tim Dowling missed a good opportunity when he broke away, only for his shot to go narrowly wide.
Llanfair defended for their lives in the final 10 minutes and in the 90th minute, Daniel Isaac pulled back the Llandysul striker as he ran through on goal and the referee awarded a penalty. The referee then showed a red card to Isaac before Humphreys heroically saved the penalty to spark wild celebrations from the large Llanfair following.
And if that wasn't dramatic enough, Evans scored again after quick thinking by Matt Bumford from a throw in to seal a fifth Emrys Morgan Cup for the club and a first for Montgomeryshire since 1996.
A brilliant night for everyone involved. Thank you to the supporters who made the journey across to Penrhyncoch and commiserations to Llandysul who were very impressive throughout a pulsating cup final.’