Central Park was host to the biggest game of the season on Thursday evening reports Mark Jones.

In front of a bumper crowd, coaches from across the club took part in a Coaches v Coaches match under the lights.

The two teams were made up of coaches from every age group of our Junior section, the Reserves, Girls section and the Vets. Playing experience ranged from former professionals to a first game in 20 years.

It was a fantastic event that brought the club together after a long season troubled by terrible weather and a backlog of games.

Officiated from the middle by Under 8s coach Mr Tom Wilcox-Jones and his assistants Paul Thomas and Gary Davies.

The referee called the teams to their positions and managers Darren Edwards and Jez Williams took to their respective Reds and Yellows dugouts.

As the game got underway, it was clear this was not going to be a friendly kick about. The Red and Yellows both competed fiercely from the start with few clear chances being carved out for the first 20 minutes.

After some tidy link up play from the Reds, the ball was eventually played through to central midfielder Matthew Williams, who broke the line to slot the ball home past the Yellows' trouser wearing goalkeeper, Ste Mcloskey-Jones.

The Yellows kept pushing on and played some nice football, coming close to levelling the score-line on several occasions, but were kept out by some brave goalkeeping and timely defending from the Reds.

Shortly after, Williams saw the keeper stray from his line and had a strike from distance. The ball dipped under the bar, beyond the back-peddling goalkeeper, who couldn't quite keep it out, doubling the Reds' lead to 2-0.

The second half saw a shift in formation for both teams, with Yellows moving to a back three and the Reds dropping a striker into the middle, and the trousers replaced by shorts in goal.

The extra attacking impetuous saw more chances being carved out for the Yellows and a big penalty shout went up as Liam Jones went to ground in slow motion following pressure from Dai Webster. The referee shook his head and protests ensued from Jones.

With less than 10 minutes remaining and the Reds with their backs to the wall, outgoing Reserves manager Liam Nash found himself on the edge of the box and curled an effort into the top right corner, clipping the apex of the goal frame on the way in to make it 2-1, setting up an exciting finish.

A frantic final five minutes ensued, with Dai Webster reaching vocal pitch levels only dogs could hear, in an effort to get his team organised, defend their lead and keep the ball - before losing the ball himself.

Mr Wilcox blew the long awaited final whistle with the score at 2-1.

Smiles all round as the players shook hands and headed to the changing rooms.

Photos by the very talented Lisi Jones. Thank you Lisi.

Until next time...