Llanystumdwy will be making the trip south to face Swansea City in the Bute Energy Welsh Cup this weekend in what will be a historic matchup.
Having reached this stage of the competition for the first time ever, Llanystumdwy manager Sion Parry and his squad watched the draw together and were ecstatic with the outcome.
“We were all on a zoom call watching the draw take place. It’s the first time any team from this club, men or women, has reached this stage of the Welsh Cup, and all we wanted was to play someone away from home, preferably in the south, but to get Swansea away was just massive.”
Llanystumdwy, who play in the third tier of the women’s pyramid, have had to come through two rounds to reach the Last 16 stage.
In the qualifying round, they were pitted against Genero Adran North side Berriew, and despite having the odds stacked against them, Parry’s team showed plenty of heart to come through the tie by triumphing on penalties following a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes.
“We’ve struggled to get numbers for away games this season,” Parry says. “When we drew Berriew, I knew it would be a big ask to get players down there, but we managed to travel down with eleven players. On the Friday we only had eight or nine players, and I was looking at what the consequences were if we postponed the game.
“We got the first goal, and we started to believe we could pull it off. They equalised from the penalty spot, but to go to penalties and win, the girls deserved it so much, especially when we had no subs to call on.”
Bute Energy Welsh Cup
Then in Round One, Llanystumdwy were drawn against Pwllheli, a team who play in the same division as them.
Parry explained that the club don’t have a winning past against Pwllheli, but they put that right in the first round with a 2-1 victory.
“Pwllheli for us is a local derby, and we’ve never beaten them before. We went in knowing that, if we had a full squad, we had a good chance to do well. We went two up, they pulled one back before the break, but from then on it was a case of holding on.
“We gave away a penalty and luckily for us they hit the post, but we found a way to grind it out and get through to the next round.”
Sunday, however, will not be the first time Llanystumdwy have played Genero Adran Premier opposition.
Last season saw the club take on Wrexham in Round One, and Parry says that game gave them an insight into what to expect at Llandarcy on Sunday.
Bute Energy Welsh Cup
Preview the key games in Round Two
“When we played Wrexham, we played it thinking we would never get an experience like this ever again. Now 14 months later we’re playing Swansea away! We know how difficult Sunday is going to be.
“We were two down to Wrexham around the hour mark, but then their fitness levels and quality started to show in that final period. We know the quality we’re up against, but for these girls, it’s about enjoying the occasion and the experience and, hopefully, there’ll be more to come.”
Whatever happens this weekend, it will be another huge step in Llanystumdwy’s development.
Parry is hopeful that Sunday will be another big stepping stone for women’s and girls’ football in North Wales.
“We’re hoping this will be a big springboard for us. This is only the fourth season for our women’s team. We started this off by putting on sessions, see if there was any interest, and we had some decent number every week.
“At that point, it was suggested to the girls that the club were happy to enter a team into the league, and we’ve come on massively in that short space of time. We want to offer more opportunities like this for girls in years to come.”
