Date: 16.05.2018

Ground: 35

Match: 29 (56)

Venue: The Recreation Ground - Treflan

Teams: Llansantffraid Village FC V Abermule

Competition: E.R. Jenkins Cup Semi Final

Admission: £3

Final Score: 4-2 (H/T 1-1) aet

Referee: Not Known

Attendance: 46 (Head Count)

Mileage to venue and return: 83 Miles

Programme: Not Available

Village Of Llansantffraid-Ym-Mechain

Llansantffraid-Ym-Mechain is situated in , Mid , the village is close to the border with . It lies 7 miles South-West of , 8 miles North of , on the A495 road and on the confluence of the Vyrnwy and the Afon Cain. Llansantffraid-Ym-Mechain has a population of just under 1500 people.

There is a lot of information to be studied with regards to how the name of the village derived.

Llansantffraid means – ‘Church of Saint Bride’ whilst, Ym-Mechain refers to the location in the medieval centre of, Mechain. Mechain was historically a medieval in the kingdom of Powys, Wales. Cantref is translated as, Cant-hundred, Tref meaning Town, in modern Welsh.

The name mechain may derive from the River Cain which flows through on the way to the River Vyrnwy and it’s meaning is, quite beautifully – ‘Meadows of Cain’

Llansantffraid is based upon the story of, Saint Bhrid, legend has it that Saint Bhrid was to have floated across the Irish Sea on a Sod of Turf. Another story goes that the Saint may well have been carried to Scotland by two Oystercatchers.

The followers of Saint Bhrid possibly set up new settlements, known by the Welsh as Llan Santes Ffraid. This wording translates into, ‘Church of Lady Saint Bhrid’

In recent years there has been much debate on how Llansantffraid should be spelt. The argument is over whether a letter ‘t’ should be used within the name or not. The nearby village of Llansantffraid Glyn Ceirog has received the same amount of debate. The Powys County Council has recognised this by providing a dual spelling of the village (with and without the letter ‘t’) on road signs in the area.

The earliest form of the village name comes from the book of Llandav. This book contains a 12th century document referring too ‘Llann Sanfreit’

During this time many places in Wales began to be known as Llansantffraid, it was deemed necessary to add further location details to distinguish different places. For example, Llansantffraid- Ym-Mechain and Llansantffraid Glyn Ceirog.

In the year 1526 an English document showed the village to be called, Llansayntefrayde.

Evidence of early settlers in Llansantffraid-Ym-Mechain can be traced all the way back to 2400-2000 BC, The Bronze Age. This has been achieved by the finding of Beaker Pottery which was known to have existed during this period.

A small hilltop enclosure was known to have been constructed in the year, 400 BC. The people that lived in and around the enclosure grew wheat and barley as well as keeping Cattle, Sheep and Pigs.

Aerial photography within the area of the village shows evidence of a Pit-Alignment possibly dating back to the Iron Age, present in the grounds of the nearby Tanant Hall Hotel.

Roman archaeological evidence is also to be found in the vicinity of the village. One such piece of evidence includes a Roman Fort in Bronhyddon field adjacent to Cae Hywel Orchard.

During the 5th Century a battle is said to have taken place in and around Llansantffraid-Ym-Mechain. The story goes that the traitor, Emrys Wen Pascen induced The Saxons to attack the Welsh. In turn

Emerys Benaur was appointed the head of the Welsh army, Benaur led his men to victory ensuring the naming of a township in his honour. Unfortunately, there is no factual evidence documented on this battle.

A 2nd battle is said to have taken place in the area between, Meredydd and Ithel the two sons of who was King of Wales from 1055-1063. The brothers were in combat with Bleddyn and Rhiwallon over the crown of Gywnedd and Powys. Ithel and Rhiwallon were slain whilst Meredydd fled the scene of battle. This left Bleddyn to be named as the sole King of and Powys.

The 12th Century Church, The Church of St. Ffraid is situated on he northern edge of the village. Llansantffraid-Ym-Mechain is a lovely little village, one of its highlights is the bridge which goes over the River Vyrnwy, this offers some great photograph opportunities as shown below:

A nicely appointed plaque on the bridge gives some very interesting historical information with regards to the bridge. Information as follows:

In the 18th Century the bridge was maintained by the local inhabitants, farmers and land owners. It appears that they were rather lax in their duties and in 1775 the bridge was swept away by floods. In 1783 money was raised for the building of the new stone bridge which stands to this day. It is a grade II listed structure. In 2013 the bridge was refurbished by Dawnus.

Walking back into the centre of the village and almost directly opposite the bridge is a Zion Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, erected in 1861.

A short walk from the chape,l there is a large petrol station complete with convenience store.

The village primary school, namely, Llansantffraid Primary School, is situated on Church Lane.

The Station Grill is a popular bar and restaurant, other pubs in the village include, The Cross Keys Inn and The Lion Hotel.

Not far from the football ground is the village war memorial, shown below:

Llansantffraid Village FC

The club were first founded in 1959 and during those early years competed in the Montgommeryshire Amateur League, winning the league title on seven separate occasions. At the end of the 1989/1990 season they were elected to the Central Wales League, presently known as the Mid Wales League. The club gained promotion from this level of Welsh football at the first attempt, finishing as runners up. This meant that they would now compete in The Cymru Alliance.

In the 1992/1993 season they gained promotion to the League of Wales, presently known as the Welsh Premier League. The club achieved this as league champions also winning the Welsh Intermediate Cup during the same season.

In 1996, Llansantffraid won the Welsh Cup, a great achievement which enabled them to compete in the European Cup Winners Cup for the first time in their history the following season.

During this time, a local computer company, namely, Total Network Solutions of Oswestry, arranged a £250,000 sponsorship deal with the club. The deal incorporated the company name into the name of the football club. During the summer of 2003, Total Network Solutions Llansantffraid FC merged with nearby Oswestry Town.

The football club in their present form were founded in 2007 and have won the league titles in both division 2 and division 1 of the Montgommery League.

The 2017/2018 season saw the club competing in the Spar Mid Wales League division 2, gaining promotion to Spar Mid Wales League Division 1 for next season.

Treflan – Home of Llansantffraid Village FC

The ground is situated on the same site as the Community centre. I found there to be ample car parking on the same site right next to the ground itself. The picture shown above is of the impressive large stand behind the goal near to the club’s social club. This covered stand has around 175-200 seats and as mentioned is more, or less next to the social club. I had the chance to have a quick look around the social club before the game and was pleased to see a picture of the Llansantffraid Welsh Cup Final winning team. This picture is shown below:

The village bowling club is also part of the social club, the bowling green can be seen from the rear of the club. Next to the bowling green and social club are some turnstiles ( shown below) no longer in use at the ground.

Entrance to the football ground on the day I visited Treflan was obtained by paying a friendly club official who was taking admission next to the turnstiles – information of prices to pay in order to enter the ground were displayed on a white board positioned at the rear of the club officials car.

As well as the large stand there is also a smaller covered stand with around 70 seats situated on the half way line opposite the car park. There is also room for spectators to stand at the back of the stand if they wish too. The picture below shows the stand in question and a raised area behind a wooden fence which is where I watched the first half match action from. This vantage point gave great views of the whole pitch.

There is hard standing available all the way around the ground, the changing rooms can be found to the rear of the community centre. The goal next to the community centre has a small play area for children behind it.

Lastly but not least, on visiting this ground you cannot fail to see the large TV Gantry opposite the smaller covered stand. I believe this was used by television companies when the club were playing in the Welsh Premier League. A picture of this impressive structure is shown below.

Team Line Ups & Match Statistics

Llansantffraid Village FC Abermule

1. Rhys Jones 1. Lewis Jones ( c )

2. Ben Thomson 2. Dan Owen

3. Dan Hinley 3. Dan Green

4. Joe Mackison 4. Drew Crook

5. Matthew Davis 5. Will Denham

6. Jake Harris 6. Rickey Davies

7. Rob Carruthers ( Tom Cale, 75) 7. Tommy Jones ( Nick Mumby, 82)

8. Bryn Jones ( c ) 8. Charlie Humphreys

9. Nathan Prodger 9. Dave Anthony

10. Bailey Austin ( Callum Williams, 86) 10. Jack Clare ( Ryan Groves, 69)

11. Wayne Austin ( Jake Addis, 90+4) 11. Huw Mcgrath

12. Tom Cale 12. Ryan Groves

14. Callum William 14. Nick Mumby

15. Jake Addis 15. Jamie Stephens

16. Jay Barnett

17. Aled Jones

Goal Log: Goal Log

Prodger. 27, 120+4 Charlie Humpreys. 26,

Jones. 79, Dave Anthony. 90+8

Addis. 115,

Statistics Statistics

Attempts: 24 Attempts: 13

On Target: 12 On Targets: 6

Corners: 11 Corners: 6

Yellows: 0 Yellows: 2

Reds 0 Reds: 0

Match Report

Llansantffraid Village eventually came out on top in this pulsating cup tie against a hard working, determined and young Abermule side.

The home side made the running in the early stages of the game, their first clear chance came on 8 minutes. A high cross field ball from the right found Bailey Austin in space in the penalty area, Austin glanced his header wide.

On 15 minutes Wayne Austin forced a good save from the feet of the Abermule goalkeeper and captain, Lewis Jones.

The away side opened the scoring against the run of play on 26 minutes. A free-kick from the right was delivered into the penalty area and was met by a fantastic diving header by Charlie Humpreys giving Jones in the Llansantffraid goal no chance.

Llan were on equal terms only a minute later, from absolutely nothing, Prodger tried his luck with a left foot shot, 12 yards out. The shot evaded everybody, and the ball nestled Into the bottom left hand corner of the goal.

Llansantffraid thought they had taken the lead on 40 minutes but their joy was quashed by the linesman who deemed their effort to be off side.

Two minutes before the interval, Bailey Austin delivered a delightful ball over the top of the Abermule defence, Dan Hinley volleyed the ball over the bar.

Half-Time: 1-1

The opening five minutes of the second period were rather quiet, the half came to life on 54 minutes when Rob Carruthers for the home side had his close range volley well saved by Lewis Jones.

Only two minutes later, Abermule very nearly took the lead for the second time in the game. Will Denham unleashed a powerful shot from fully 25 yards out, Denham was unlucky to see this fine effort hitting the bar.

Llansantffraid had a great chance to take the lead on 71 minutes. Prodger found himself clean through on goal, good goalkeeping from Jones kept the score line even.

I was very impressed with Lewis Jones, the young goalkeeper and captain of Abermule, one of the best displays of goalkeeping I have seen this season.

Llan took the lead on 79 minutes, Bryn Jones delivered a free-kick into the penalty area from the right flank. His dangerous delivery evaded everybody with the ball finding it’s way into the far corner.

The game was almost made safe for Llan only three minutes later, a corner from the left was swung in and met with a looping header by Jake Harris, yet again Goalkeeper, Jones came to the rescue and produced another fine save.

To their immense credit Abermule never once gave up and their determined play was rewarded in what I made the 8th minute of injury time. No. 9 Dave Anthony found himself with time and space in the opposing penalty area. Anthony kept his composure and neatly despatched the ball into the back of the net to make the score line 2-2.

This late goal meant the game would now go into 30 minutes of extra time. Extra Time First Period:

Both teams understandably were looking quite tired, the only real effort of note during the first period of extra time was a long range free kick from Jones for Llansantffraid, pushed over by Lewis Jones.

Extra Time Second Period:

In the 111th minute Charlie Humpreys for Abermule saw his well, executed volley go wide of the goal.

A minute later, a good turn and shot by Llansantffraid’s Jake Harris was pushed over by that man again, Jones.

In the 116th minute, the home side took the lead for the second time in the game. Substitute Addis, tried an over head kick from just inside the area, the goal bound effort was turned in by Humpreys who was only denied a goal four minutes earlier.

Abermule pushed hard for an equalizer, creating panic in the home defence with crosses in from all angles, even goalkeeper Jones joined in, in some of the attacking play. The home side held firm and made the game safe in the 4th minute of injury time in extra time. Prodger, clean through on goal finished well to make the final score 4-2.

Summary

A really enjoyable first visit to Treflan was matched by a pulsating cup tie. Some good football was played by both sides and was a delight to watch.

I received a really warm welcome from club officials and supporters alike, which seems to be the norm from all Welsh Clubs that I have visited this season.

Special thanks to the referee who kindly let me take a picture of the team sheets so that I could record the line ups for this report.