Match played in memory of Mark Davies!

The Wales Veterans' Football Association accepted an invitation from Llanelli Town to play a charity match in memory of the late Mark Davies....writes Paul Richards...

The Llanelli squad were bolstered by the inclusion of Lee Trundle, Andy Legg and Angel Rangel in the Llanelli Select squad and they set the tone for a superb Vets football match.

Both sides traded early exchanges with no notable efforts testing either keeper. Wales played a high line defence which was frustrating the talented Llanelli forward line and starved them of any ball. And it was Wales who took the advantage with an excellent move from full back into midfield and then out to Steve Morgan who beat his opponent and whipped a stunning cross into the box with Anthony Ferguson’s perfectly timed run and towering header breaking the back of the Llanelli net.
The game opened up further with Lee Trundle tricking his marker and creating space to shoot but his effort flew over the bar. After a number of changes were made on both sides, Llanelli started to get at the Welsh back four with Leon Thomas pulling the strings in midfield and turning the Welsh defence to create opportunities for the ever-threatening Kevin Bartley and Trundle.

Second half started very much the way the first half ended with Llanelli seeing more possession but not able to turn that into any meaningful rewards. Wales then had two fantastic moves with Garon Davies and Geesy Rees setting up Gareth Davies who rounded the keeper Curtis but was unable to finish from a tight angle. Garon Davies then released the ball out wide, some neat interplay resulted in a fantastic ball passed back towards the on-running Ferguson who scored, but was disallowed for off-side. This really spurred on the Llanelli side and within minutes after a clever set of passes, Bartley superbly finished to bring the game all square. Llanelli continued to push forward with Rangel outstanding in the right channel providing huge energy and quality. With 4 minutes of normal time remaining, a clever ball was played into Trundle, who’s clever trick on the ball drew the Welsh defender into a lunge and took down the Llanelli forward to give the referee no alternative and award the penalty. Up stepped Trundle who’s Panenka penalty won the game for Llanelli Select.
The game was played is a wonderful spirit and one I’m sure Mark Davies would have loved to have played in. Thank you to the Llanelli Vets committee for the hospitality after the game and let’s hope we can play again this time next year

Congratulations to the following players who were selected by manager, Paul Richards....
1. Ian Davies - Barry
2. ⁠Steve Morgan - Llantwit Fardre
3. ⁠David Davey - Barry
4. ⁠Chris Harding - BFL
5. ⁠Geesy Rees - Ferndale
6. ⁠Rhys Llewellyn - Llantwit Fardre
7. ⁠Shaun Butler - Llantwit Fardre
8. ⁠Gareth Jones - Ferndale
9. ⁠Neil Teconi - Llantwit Fardre
10. ⁠Anthony Ferguson - Barry
11. ⁠Mike Walsh - BFL
12. ⁠Nathan Hosgood - Barry
13. ⁠Sean Allen - Coopers FC
14. ⁠Paul Jones - Penydarren
15. ⁠Ceri Mathias - Ferndale
16. ⁠Gavin Davies - Pontyclun
17. ⁠Garen Davies - Barry
18. Richard Taylor - Ferndale