Met Caerdydd V Caernarfon
Saturday 13 December, 17:25
Cofis Through to Last Eight.
Cardiff Met 2 – 4 Caernarfon.
Caernarfon were given one of the toughest draws left in this years last sixteen of the JD Sports Welsh Cup as they travelled to the capital to face a resurgent Cardiff Met side today.
The Archers defeated the Cofis 3-0 in Llandudno just a few weeks ago and so Richard Davies and his men were probably seen as the underdogs for the televised fixture, although the game did not really pan out that way.
The hosts began on the front foot and threatened Connor Roberts’ goal in the second minute, Reynolds shooting wide from the edge of the box. Sion Bradley went closer to opening the scoring at the other end two minute later when the ball found him at the edge of the area from an Adam Davies flick and the winger’s powerful effort was inches wide of the target. It was end to end action at this early stage and Town’s number one, Roberts, pulled off a superb full stretch save low to his left on nine minutes to deny Reynolds.
Sion Bradley put the Cofis ahead in the seventeenth minute with an excellent strike after Met defender Popham had headed the ball into his path from a Connor Roberts free kick into the box. The first time volley from Bradley gave stopper Samuel Seager no chance as it nestled in the bottom corner of his net.
Mendes nearly doubled the visitors lead two minutes later when Dominic Smith found teed him up in the box but his goalbound efforts was blocked by Richards.
Caernarfon were on top for the remainder of the half, bossing possession and keeping the hosts at bay with resolute and well drilled defending. The Archers were not really posing much of a threat in attack and yet, a minute before half time they levelled the score when Reynolds took advantage of some bad marking to head the ball beyond the reach of a diving Roberts.
The hosts went ahead eight minutes into the second period after a Mwandwe cross was blocked by Sears, but the ball lopped into the penalty area where Payne was first to the ball to head past Roberts.
It seemed an unlikely lead as the visitors had had the upper hand for most of the match up to that point but, far from being crestfallen, the Cofis roared back with a leveller two minutes later. When Bradley crossed into the six yard area, Seager could only manage to party the ball into the path of Sears and the defender made no mistake when he controlled the ball and powered it past the keeper and two defenders.
Goalscoring opportunities dried up as the match entered its final third but it was Caernarfon who seemed the likeliest to score. Iwan Lewis tried his luck with a long range bullet on seventy one minutes that ended clearing the bar by an inch whilst Adam Davies went close eight minutes later, having got on the end of a Phil Mooney header but his lob over Seager was not quite enough as Popham somehow cleared off his line.
The key moment of the tie arrived in the eighty seventh minute when Lock and Lewis worked a quick corner, the latter hitting a powerful low delivery into the six yard area, where Paulo Mendes somehow managed to redirect the ball into the net. It was an excellent finish by the tall midfielder, who looked back to his best after long recent injury.
With the hosts pushing forward in search of an injury time equaliser, Caernarfon struck again, this time through Connor Evans who latched onto a Bradley pass and outpowered a defender before sliding the ball past the advancing Seager.
It had been a tough, but well-earned victory for the Cofis, who performed as well on the night as they have done all season.
Tyn Lon Volvo Garage Man of the Match: Ryan Sears.
Team: Connor Roberts, Ryan Sears, Phil Mooney, Dominic Smith, Kyle Harrison, Paulo Mendes, Iwan Ellis, Sion Bradley, Adam Davies, Darren Thomas, Josh Lock.
Subs (used): Daniel Gosset, Connor Evans, Connor Evans, Morgan Owen. Not used: Hari Thomas, Osebi Abadaki, Sam Downey, Osian Ellis.