BRAVE Rhyl FC suffered a cruel penalty defeat to Llanelli at the weekend in a thrilling 3-3 FAW Cup clash.
The six goal thriller met its pre-match billing as the tie of the fourth round, as the ten-man Lilywhites twice came from behind to take their Premier League opponents all the way, with Tom Rowlands opening the scoring and Ryan Williams coming up with two equalisers.
Despite losing out 5-4 on spot-kicks, with Shaun Dowling’s effort saved, manager Greg Strong was delighted with his side’s performance.
“They’ve done the club and themselves proud,” Strong said.
“We’re obviously disappointed with the result, and I think on the balance of things we deserved to come away with more.
“But with penalties it’s on the toss of a coin. It is what it is, but Andy Legg and his staff said afterwards that we were hard done by, and with ten men for so long, the lads have shown what they’re all about.”
Rhyl were up against it after Neil Coverley’s eighth minute dismissal for a two footed challenge, but a super-human effort from his team-mates more than matched the cup holders for more than 110 minutes.
Strong said that he had few complaints on the dismissal, and indicated he would look to shuffle his pack for last night’s league clash away at Llangefni Town.
“At the time I thought it was about right, Neil knows he shouldn’t be going in there, but having seen it afterwards I think that maybe it was a bit harsh. In this day and age and with the media talking about tackles you’ve got to be more careful.
“To play with ten men for so long takes it out of you, but I know anyone who doesn’t play will be disappointed to be left out. We’ll have a look at things in the morning and take it from there.”
Winger Tom Rowlands put Rhyl ahead on 13 minutes with a placed finish from Mike Pritchard’s cross, but a Rhys Griffiths penalty and Stuart Jones’ second half strike put Llanelli ahead.
But with three minutes left on the clock Williams powered home another Pritchard cross to take the tie into extra time, and his penalty in the 112th minute secured the shoot-out.
But Dowling’s effort was saved by Craig Richards to send Llanelli through.