South Wales claimed a narrow advantage in the first leg of the UEFA Regions’ Cup Play-Off, as a Liam Eason brace secured a 2-1 victory over their North Wales opponents at Ynys Park.
The game was played at a frantic pace from the outset, with Nathan Leonard’s North Wales side adopting a direct approach while the South Wales defence stood firm under pressure. Both sides created opportunities before Eason broke the deadlock just before half-time to give the South a 1-0 lead.
After a long throw caused problems in the box, North Wales could only partially clear their lines and the ball fell to Cam Strinati on the edge of the area who picked out Eason at the back post, who cooly finished at the goalkeeper’s near post.
North Wales responded quickly after the restart and found an equaliser through Jamie Hyne. South Wales looked to have dealt with a dangerous free-kick into the area, but after Harry Johnson saved an initial long-range effort, the Newtown talisman reacted quickest to convert the rebound and level the score.
With under 20 minutes remaining, Eason produced a moment of quality to restore South Wales’ lead, curling a superb free-kick from 25 yards into the bottom-right corner.
North Wales were unable to find another response before the full-time whistle, leaving South Wales with a slender 2-1 advantage heading into the second leg next Saturday.
“It’s important to go up there with the advantage, but these games can go either way like a toss of a coin,” South Wales boss Andy Hill said afterwards. “We’ll go up there with the preparation that it’s 0-0 and we’ll try and win the game for sure and won’t sit on anything. That’ll be the game plan.
“If we can get the job done Saturday and go away again, hopefully we’ll have that experience to go a little further.”
“I thought the lads were tremendous last week considering the lack of time we’ve had together,” North Wales boss Nathan Leonard said of the first leg. “The work rate and desire was there to see and we just got done by two bits of quality.
“We are really looking forward to Saturday, hopefully we can get as much support as possible to help push the lads on.”
The second leg will take place at Airbus UK Broughton’s Hollingsworth Group Stadium on Saturday 9 May (KO 15:00). Entry costs £5 for adults and £2 for concessions.
The winning side on aggregate will represent Tîm Rhanbarthol Cymru in the UEFA Regions’ Cup intermediate round in Bosnia-Herezegovina this September.
