If it's a football match on a cold, crisp Winter evening, then the chances are that it's a League of Wales Cup game somewhere across the country. The third competition of the domestic game, after the League of Wales and the Welsh Cup, the only competitors are the twenty clubs that play in the National League.
With that in mind, it could be expected that the Welsh Cup itself would provide the biggest shocks, as League of Wales clubs tumble to sides further down the pyramid system. However, the League of Wales Cup has the same, if not a bigger chance to provide a few upsets and a piece of silverware for an unfancied club.
The way in which clubs play for the cup has varied radically in the six years of its existence, varying between a group system before a knock-out in some years, and, in others, two-legged knock outs.
The League of Wales cup came into existence in the first year of the League of Wales, and sponsored by the LoW's inaugural sponsor, Konica Peter Llewelyn, who named it the Konica League of Wales Cup. It retained that name for three years, before the sponsorship lapsed. After spending a year under the name of the League of Wales Cup, sponsorship as resumed in 1996-97, with the support of James Gilbert Ltd, the cup was retitled the Football League of Wales Gilbert Cup.
The first season for which the competition was in operation was 1992-93. In all, twenty sides entered the competition, which was played on a round-robin basis similar to this season's F.A.W Invitation Cup. Four groups of five were created on a geographical basis, with the winner of each of the groups going forward to a knockout semi-final before a one-legged final. While the groupings provided some entertaining football, problems did occur in the initial phase of the competition. There were complaints over the number of meaningless matches being played, as each club played eight matches, yet only one qualified, and over the geographical boundaries. The make-up of the League of Wales saw the then four mid-Walian clubs split between several groups rather than having their own central Wales group. This had the adverse effect of clubs travelling long distances for away matches, rather than creating exciting local derbies.
Nevertheless, by the time that the May of 1993 had come around, there were only two sides left to play in the final of the inaugural Konica League Cup. Afan Lido had won the South West Wales group, defeating Haverfordwest, Llanelli, Aberystwyth and Briton Ferry in the group, before beating Maesteg Park Athletic 2-1 in the Semi-Final. Maesteg had won the other South Wales group, which had included Abergavenny, Cwmbran, Ebbw Vale and Inter Cardiff. In the North, Caersws had battled through to the final, after beating Bangor City, Porthmadog, Conwy and Llanidloes on the way. That was in the North-West Wales group, and they were able to beat local rivals Newtown 1-0 in the semi-final against the winners of the North-East Wales group.
This led to the first final being played on Saturday, 22nd May, 1993, where the Aberafan based club secured their first silverware in the League of Wales, beating the mid-Walian club.
The second season saw a revamp of the format, with the competition taking on a two-legged format, although it retained its geographical basis, with North and South of the country being divided. The finalists for that year were Bangor City and the holders Afan Lido. To reach the final, both sides had battled through from the first round, Bangor being fortunate to knock out Flint after extra time in the first round, before overcoming Holywell, Porthmadog and Caersws on their way to their first LoW cup final. Afan Lido, meanwhile, had to defeat Briton Ferry, Ton Pentre (whom they beat on the away goals rule), before thrashing Llanelli and making use of extra-time to beat Aberystwyth Town.
A huge crowd again assembled at Park Avenue, Aberystwyth to witness the final, with most expecting to see an easy victory for the North Walian club, who had achieved their first League of Wales championship only four days earlier. Afan Lido had narrowly avoided relegation from the LoW that season. Upsetting the form book, an inspirational performance from Dai Rees, who had been called out of retirement, and a splendid thirty-five yard free kick from Andrew Webber again brought the Konica League of Wales Cup to South Wales.
Retaining that format for the 1994-95 season, a new name in the form of Llansantffraid was going to be written on the Cup, as the mid-Walian village side battled through to face Ton Pentre in the final. Both clubs had some narrow escapes on their way to the final, whose venue was Latham Park, Newtown. Ton Pentre had earlier beaten Caersws, Maesteg Park, Cwmbran and Inter Cardiff after extra-time, while Llansantffraid had defeated local rivals Newtown, before knocking out Mold Alexandra, Bangor City and Holywell Town.
Ton had begun the match strongly, and scored midway through the first half. However, the Saints rallied in the second half, scoring twice and dominating, although they were lucky with one shot that went in off the post. The mid-Walians had a taste of cup success, which would lead them on to further glories.
In the fourth year of the League Cup, and the first in which it had no official sponsor, the competition again reverted to its league system. Accomodating the return of Caernarfon Town to Welsh football, five groups were created, again based on geography. Four of these groups were of four sides, while the fifth, the North West Wales group, had five sides. Again played on a round robin basis, the clubs played six games apiece, with the North West Walians playing eight. The winners of all five groups automatically qualified for the quarter-finals, with the other combatants being made up of the three 'best-losers'.
The final was played at Caersws, with Ebbw Vale and Connah's Quay Nomads there to provide the entertainment in a single goal final. Both sides had disposed of quality opposition in the semi-finals, the Nomads defeating Caernarfon while Ebbw Vale defeated Barry on the away goals rule, drawing 0-0 at Eugene Cross Park and then drawing 2-2 at Ninian Park (Jenner Park was unavailable due to building work preparations for the forthcoming European matches). It was Connah's Quay Nomads who won the cup, taking it all the way to North Wales for the first time in its' short history.
Again, though, discontent was expressed with the group format, and for the 1996-97 season, the newly titled Gilbert Cup was a two-legged competition. The final returned to Aberystwyth, where two of the League of Wales giants went into the arena. Both Bangor City and Barry Town had won two League of Wales championships prior to the final, although neither had taken the LoW Cup back to their respective trophy rooms.
Both clubs had been granted a bye in the first round, the criterion for which was their League of Wales position in the previous season. Bangor City could not have had better opposition for their second round tie than holders Connah's Quay Nomads. What had appeared to be a comfortable win for the Farrar Road side after their first leg 5-0 win, almost became a nightmare as they crashed 4-1 in the away leg, going through 6-4 on aggregate. From there though, Bangor crushed Rhyl 6-1 in the quarter-final, and, after a few scares, beat another previous holder of the cup, Llansantffraid 4-2 on aggregate to face the side who had taken their LoW crown.
Barry, meanwhile, had thumped Ebbw Vale 5-1 in the second round, and won a hard fought quarter-final 5-2 against the renamed Inter Cabletel. The semi-final was a nerveracking affair though, as Barry won through to the final on the same away goals rule which had knocked them out the year before, a penalty at Ton Pentre sending them through, despite drawing the tie 3-3.
At Aberystwyth, the game was nearly as exciting as the weather conditions, which saw torrential rain inbetween glorious sunshine. Barry took the lead through Darren Ryan, midway through the second half, but with time running short, Bangor eqaulised with a goal from Evans. In extra time, a Lee Clowes goal seemed to settle it for the North Walians, but right at the death, Ryan added an equalising goal for the Jenner Park side. As the match went to penalties, Craig Evans repeated the heroics of his UEFA Cup penalty against Hungarians, BVSC, netting Barry's fourth and crucial penalty to take the Gilbert Cup to Jenner Park as part of the club's outstanding domestic treble of League of Wales champions, Welsh Cup winners and Football League of Wales Gilbert Cup winners.
This season has seen the competition retain its format, but it still remains to be seen which two sides from different parts of the country will be there to battle it out for the trophy!
The Yellow Dragon
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This page maintained by the Yellow Dragon, 1998.
This material first published in the Barry Town Matchday Magazine, v Cwmbran Town,
Gilbert League of Wales Cup, semi final second leg, 24th February, 1998
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