Caernarfon Town avoid banana skin at Ammanford to reach JD Welsh Cup fifth round

The Canaries’ put a run of poor form behind them to reach the fifth-round stage at the expense of JD Cymru South opposition, with more than 1,2000 attending a fixture that was also shown live on S4C Sgorio.

Sean Eardley’s men now have the weekend off to gear up for the JD Cymru Premier Championship Conference tilt, which begins at home to Bala Town on February 7.

A bobbly pitch made it difficult for the visitors to get the ball down and play their usually expansive football in the early stages, but they managed to gain a crucial breakthrough on 25 minutes when Sion Bradley delivered a powerful strike into the corner after good work in the build up from Gareth Evans and Ben Clark.

Midfielder Leo Smith went close to doubling their advantage on two occasions in quick succession on the half hour mark, but they did not have to wait much longer for their second which came courtesy of mercurial talent Darren Thomas.

The man dubbed ‘Cofi Messi’ by the club’s loyal fanbase produced another moment of magic by making some space for himself before unleashing a thunderbolt that flew into the net off the crossbar.

After the break saw the visitors continue to dominate possession and carve out openings and all-but sealed their passage to the next stage of the competition during the opening exchanges when some neat trickery from youngster Sam Jones presented a simple chance to Noah Edwards, who made no mistake with a close range finish on 55 minutes to treble their cushion.

Credit to the home side, who kept plugging away despite the deficit and almost attained a consolation on 75 minutes when a Euros Griffiths header rattled the woodwork from inside the six-yard box.

There was still time for the Cofis’ to rub further salt into the hosts’ wounds, and once again it was their talisman Thomas who was once again the difference, steering in his second of the tie following outstanding approach play from Bradley.