The New Saints Women advance after Welsh Cup shootout glory

Goals: Hartley (49), Griffiths (62)
Substitutions: Staley for Hartley (51)

The New Saints Women advanced to the semi-finals of the Bute Energy Welsh Cup following a 4-2 penalty shootout victory against Aberystwyth Town at Park Hall Stadium after the game finished 2-2 in normal time.

Lleucu Mathias gave Aberystwyth a 1-0 lead going into the break. After the restart, Ella Hartley and Georgia Griffiths completed the turnaround, but there was still time for another goal, as Gwenllian Mason found the back of the net to send the game to a penalty shootout.

Shorty afterwards, Lia Lewis scored the winning penalty in the shootout following a superb save from Mackenzie Haydn-Jones.

It was a quiet game for opportunities until midway through the first-half, where Lia Lewis had a shot from range that narrowly went wide of the post.

Aberystwyth Town took the lead in the 24th minute, as Niamh Duggan played a through ball to Lleucu Mathias, who slotted the ball past Mackenzie Haydn-Jones.

Not long later, the visitors were’t far off doubling the lead through an Amy Jenkins effort from outside the box that went just off target.

Greg Draper’s team went on the attack seconds on, with a Helen Evans over-the-top-ball finding Chantelle Teare, and the number nine fired inches away from goal.

The New Saints continued to press for an equaliser past the half-hour mark, as skipper, Beth Lewis whipped in a fantastic cross that got to Evans in the 18-yard-area, where the 23-year-old just headed wide of the Aberystwyth net.

At the start of the second 45, The Saints did get a leveller, as Ella Hartley fired in shot from outside the box that went into the corner of the Seasiders net.

The Oswestry-based side thought they taken the lead just before the hour, where Evans passed a ball to Chantelle Teare, who slotted the ball in the net, but the flag went up for offside.

Draper’s side did go ahead in the 62nd minute when Georgia Griffiths smashed the ball past Margot Farnes following multiple efforts that were blocked.

In the 76th minute, Evie Williams had a magnificent long-range attempt, which was a flying shot that went just wide of the goal.

Gavin Allen’s team made it 2-2 in the 80th minute of the encounter through substitute, Gwenllian Mason, who chipped Haydn-Jones from outside the box.

The game finished all-square, with a tense penalty shootout lying in wait.

There was some clinical finishing on display from Draper’s team, who scored four out of the five penalties as opposed to Aberystwyth’s two, and booked their placed in the Bute Energy Welsh Cup semi-finals for the first time.

TNS are next in action this Tuesday (December 12th) against Rhyl 1879 in the Genero Adran Trophy round of 16 at Park Hall.