Congratulations to Presteigne Reserves who won the Builth Spa Cup on Saturday, 25 May when they beat the host side, Builth Wells Reserves 2-0 at Lant Field.
Ultimately, Presteigne Reserves deserved their win because they took their chances – one in each half – while Builth enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in the second half, but ultimately didn’t get in too many shots on goal.
The game was an entertaining affair with both sides trying to get the ball down and play and it was a credit to both teams coming, as it did, at the end of a long, hard season.
Presteigne started brightly but it was Builth Reserves who came closest early on when, on 10 minutes, a Builth player got away down the right-hand side and his fierce cross-shot clipped the top of the bar before going away for a goal kick.
Mark Weiland’s side went ahead on 34 minutes with a very well worked goal. Alan Stocker’s through ball picked out Tom Watkins who held off the challenge of a couple of Builth players and did very well to lay the ball into the path of Duane Anning.
Duane still had a lot to do as the Builth keeper was closing him down, but he kept his composure to chip the keeper and put Presteigne ahead.
This lead could have been doubled five minutes later when, from a corner, the ball was clipped in at the second attempt and Alan Stocker got on the end of it only to head narrowly wide.
Into the second half, and Builth started to raise their game as they pinned Presteigne Reserves back in their own half for long periods, although they still didn’t produce too much in the crucial final third.
On a very warm day, it must have been a concern to the Builth management team that their side could start to wilt, given they had played in the Penybont Cup final on the previous evening, but there was little sign of this happening.
Presteigne Reserves certainly needed a second goal if they were to make the game safe and, when it came, it was courtesy of a really well-taken free kick from Ioan Hughes.
The free kick was on the edge of the Builth area and Ioan appeared to drill the ball low past the wall and low to the goalkeeper’s right to double Presteigne’s lead.
It was a really good finish, although no doubt the Builth management team would have been conducting something of an investigation as to just how the wall was set up to defend the free kick.
Builth took the game to Presteigne over the closing stages and thought they were back in at 2-1 when a ‘goal’ was ruled out for a foul on the goalkeeper.
Duane Anning then headed off the Presteigne line to ensure the two-goal advantage was maintained, while, right at the death, it looked as though Builth would get the consolation goal they probably deserved on the balance of play.
There was an extended run of ‘pinball football’ in the Presteigne box that ended when a Builth shot cannoned off the underside of the bar and was finally scrambled away.
Congratulations to Mark Weiland, Barry Williams and the squad and many thanks to all those Presteigne supporters who made the trip to watch the game.
Our thanks, too, to Builth Wells for their excellent hospitality in the clubhouse after the game.
If you click on the image at the top of this story, you can see a brief video of the presentation of the Trophy