Fresh from the early exit from the Clwyd Cup, Flint Mountain faced off against Cefn Albion for the final time this season in the rearranged NEWFA Horace Wynne Cup final. The Mountain were back up to a full compliment of players after consecutive games with no available substitutes. Mountain welcomed back Ryan Jones, Keiron Moore and Sean Wilkes to the starting line up. With Leon Pickford and Josh Griffiths ineligible and Danny Griffiths unavailable through work commitments, the substitutes bench consisted of Aaron Austin, Adam Humphreys and the returning Lewis Powell.

Both teams started well and both looked to gain a foothold in the game. There were not too many clear cut chances made until Cefn were able to break the deadlock after half an hour. With the Cefn striker breaking into the Mountain penalty area, player/manager Stuart Buxton made an error of judgement and went to ground, bringing down the striker as the referee pointed to the spot. Despite his protests, Buxton also found his way into the referee's notebook. It was left to Mountain goalkeeper Ricky Bennett to save the day, but the Cefn player sent him the wrong way. Just a few minutes later, Cefn doubled their lead. The Cefn winger picked up the ball and started to drive at the Mountain defence. He managed to skip his way past four Mountain players before being brought down on the edge of the penalty area. From the free kick, he was able to lift the ball over the wall and into the Mountain net, leaving Bennett rooted to the spot.

Despite gifting Cefn two goal in quick succession, Mountain still managed to gift another goal to them as half time approached. Cefn worked the ball into the penalty area, where midfielder Craig Jones brought down the Cefn striker as he looked to roll past Jones. The Cefn player again stepped up and although Bennett chose correctly, he was unable to keep the ball out. Mountain quickly managed to finally get into the game with an immediate reply to reduce the deficit. Straight from the kick off, the ball worked it's way back to striker Richie Hughes. Hughes spotted fellow striker Sean Wilkes advancing forward and played a long ball to him. The Cefn defender could not clear as the ball reached Wilkes, before he calmly slotted the ball past the out-rushing Cefn goalkeeper.

At half time, the Mountain players had realised that it was their own doing that had caused them to be trailing and as the second half began, they set out to end the season on a high. Cefn had other ideas though, as they looked to kill off any Mountain fightback. With ten minutes of the second half played, Mountain right back signalled to the bench that he had picked up an injury, so Lewis Powell was sent on to replace him. Craig Jones moved into right back whilst Powell took up position in a familiar central midfield role.

Flint Mountain were indebted to their goalkeeper, Ricky Bennett as he pulled of numerous fabulous saves to deny Cefn their fourth goal, allowing Mountain to keep themselves in the game. With time running out, Mountain made another change, with a straight swap in midfield as Adam Humphreys replaced Alex Millington. Cefn did, however, grab a fourth goal with ten minutes to go. Breaking down the left hand side and again avoiding several challenges, the Cefn player got towards the byline before crossing into the penalty area. Unfortunately, as defender Tom Smith attempted to clear the ball, he inadvertently turned the ball into his own net.

That goal would normally have seen the end of Flint Mountain challenge, but they were not done and made sure it was a battle to the end. With a last throw of the dice, Aaron Austin was introduced onto the right wing in place of Chris Layne. It was a cross from Austin that was expertly finished by Sean Wilkes. Wilkes' volleyed effort flew past the goalkeeper, but he was denied by the linesman's flag. Mountain did get their second of the game just after though, as Craig Jones' pass through the Cefn defence was picked up by Richie Hughes. Hughes then managed to slot the ball past the keeper and into the net to ensure that he finished the season with another goal.

Despite the result, Flint Mountain can be very proud of themselves for the display and the season in general. This match is the last game of this 2014/2015 season, but we hope to go one step further next season and clinch some silverware.

#WeAreTheMountain