October 19, 2019 - 1113 views
Three goals in the opening 33 minutes of the game proved enough to put Colwyn Bay into the second round of the JD Welsh Cup.
Tom McCready, Jordan Carrington, with his first goal for the club, and Damien Ketley put the Seagulls 3-0 up and in control, but they made life difficult for themselves with two goalkeeping errors by Andy Coughlin gifting Corwen two goals just before half-time to put them back in the game.
The Bay had to weather a storm from the re-galvanized Corwen side after the interval, but held on the take the victory and in the end Julian Williams and Sion Edwards were only denied further goals late on by two fine save from home keeper Nathan Roberts.
Colwyn Bay got the perfect start with a goal inside four minutes with another superbly struck free kick by skipper Tom McCready from almost 30 yards.
Corwen were close to equalising when a diving header by Joe Williams hit the bar, but the Bay quickly increased their lead from a corner, conceded after Julian Williams had a shot well saved by the keeper.
From the flag kick, Damien Ketley lifted the ball into the middle for Jordan Carrington to head his first goal for the senior side on 15 minutes.
The Bay forced a couple more corners before Damien Ketley made it 3-0, scoring at the far post from Tom McCready's free kick from the left of the area.
The Seagulls looked to be cruising to an easy win, but Andy Coughlin allowed an effort from Iorweth Jones to slip through his hands on 37 minutes and two minutes later another handling error allowed Rob Davies to get a second for the home side.
Those two goals gave the home side a huge lift and they pressed hard for an equaliser in the second half, putting two headers and a shot narrowly wide and a free kick over the bar, before the Bay wrestled back some control.
Late on the Bay could have increased their lead, but home keeper Roberts made a brilliant one-handed save to keep out a Julian Williams header and then did well to beat away a shot from Sion Edwards, which Mitch Bryant and sub Morgan Owen both fired good chances over the bar.
But victory was secured and the Bay go into the hat for Monday's second round draw.
Seagulls boss Craig Morgan said later: "Andy has apologised to everyone in the dressing room for the error, but I'm not going to criticise him too much because he has won us numerous points with some big saves in recent games
"It happens. When a keeper makes a mistake it usually results in a goal and Andy is big enough to hold his hands up and take it on the chin. He's a top keeper and that won't change.
"At 3-0 up in half an hour you were looking at us scoring six or seven, but their two goals galvanized them. We had to dig in a bit second half, yet in the end still have the chances to win by four or five.
"Corwen is a difficult place to come. The set up isn't great and the pitch isn't great, so to have come here and won twice in eight days is very pleasing.
"Damien Ketley got his second goal in two games and I was made up for Jord Carrington, a local lad from Old Colwyn, to get his first goal for the team.
"We are in the hat for the next round and hopefully we can get a home tie for once. In five competitions since I've been here (FA Cup, FA Trophy and League Cup last season, and Nathanial MG Cup and Welsh Cup this season) we've been drawn away in every one!"
Darren Thornton, who made his 30th appearance for the Bay in this match, is also hoping for a home draw.
"I'm not fussed who we draw as long as its at home," he said. "Some of the pitches we go to in this league are real equalisers for the teams we play
"The Corwen pitch was probably fractionally better than last week, but your standing foot was always going away from you and you couldn't get any real quality playing balls into the box or into the channels or trying to pass into feet.
"In the end, after their two goals go them back in it, it became a bit of a battle which suited them, but the important thing was that we dug in and are through to the next round."
The second round draw is on Monday at 1:30pm.
Reproduced with thanks to Colwyn Bay FC.
