Colwyn Bay out of FA Cup

COLWYN BAY are out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle after conceding a late winner in a 4-3 defeat at Bamber Bridge on Saturday (Aug 30).
They looked to have rescued the tie by coming from 3-1 down to level the scores at 3-3 in the second half and seemed to have the home side on the ropes, but in the end they paid for some poor defending in the game.
A very disappointing first half display saw them 2-0 down at half-time.
Indecision by Neil Coverley after just six minutes allowed Mike Mason the break clear on the left and the unmarked Alex Parker scored from the cross, and then on 35 minutes Bamber Bridge skipper Glenn Steel got between Coverley and Tim Brandreth to head a second from Porter's cross.
Dean Canning and Andy Moran both had shots blocked on the line in a goalmouth scramble just before half-time when Moran really should have scored, but apart from that Colwyn Bay had hardly offered a threat, with a shot from Rob Hopley over the bar their only effort at goal.
Colwyn Bay changed formation at half-time to 3-4-3, with Karl Frost introduced from the bench to join Hopley and Moran up front, while Steve Aspinall pushed up into midfield from the back four and was much more effective.
They got a goal back after just five minutes when Hopley beat keeper Andy Banks to Aspinall's hanging cross to head into the net, but within two minutes Bamber Bridge had made it 3-1 when the Bay failed to close down Danny Mahoney just inside the area and he drilled a shot inside the far post.
But the home side were struggling against Bay's three-man attack and Colwyn Bay pulled level with two goals in the space of three minutes.
Hopley headed his second from a Aspinall free kick from the left touchline and then Frost laid the ball off for Moran to hit the equaliser with a fine shot from 20 yards.
Moran had earlier got the ball in the net from Hopley's pass but was given offside and Frost shot narrowly wide as Colwyn Bay pushed for a winner.
But with eight minutes left Bamber Bridge broke down the right and the dangerous Porter outpaced Scott Lycett in a 30 yard run before cutting inside and firing the winner past Parry.
Diasappointed manager Steve Pope said: "For the second match running we didn't turn up in the first half. We changed things at half-time and they couldn't handle us.
"After we equalised I really thought we would go on and win it, but in the end inexperience at the back has cost dearly."
For me, Scott Lycett has looked a weak link in the last couple of games and I would like to see Paul Roberts given a chance.
Any thoughts from Bay fans on that?
Also the decison to play Aspinall at the right of a back four in the first half backfired badly as he is much more affective in midfield and I think Colwyn Bay generally are much better when they look to attack teams rather than sitting deep and trying to hit the front two with long balls as they did in the first half.
Bamber Bridge certainly looked vulnerable at the back when put under pressure and it could have been a different story if the Seagulls had been more adventurous from the outset - especially as Bamber Bridge suffered a major pre-match blow with their top striker Neil Zarac pulling a hamstring in the warm-up and having to be replaced by Sean Oliver.
The two teams meet again in the league at Llanelian Road next Saturday and hopefully some lessons have been learnt.
Colwyn Bay: Parry, Hughes (Frost 45mins),Lycett, Coverley, Brandreth, Aspinall, Canning, Williams, Hopley, Moran, Wood (O'Mahoney 60mins). Subs nots used: Brown, Roberts, Colulo.

LLANDUDNO'S disappointing home form continued with a 1-1 draw against Buckley in the Cymru Alliance.
Jason Sadler got Llandudno's equaliser two minutes after Buckley had taken a 56th minute lead, but they couldn't take it on and force a winner.

IN the Welsh Alliance LLANRWST UNITED won 6-0 at Amlwch Town with hat-tricks from Bryn Jenkins and Lee Allen, GLAN CONWY beat Nantlle Vale 3-0 with an own goal sandwiched between a Howard Vaughan goal and a Shaun Shannon penalty, but CONWY UNITED lost 3-2 at home to unbeaten Pwllheli and LLANDUDNO JUNCTION drew 2-2 at Barmouth.