NEWFA Cup Preview: Gresford meet Buckley in semi final clash

The Huws Gray Alliance season may be over, but Gresford and Buckley Town’s campaigns are ongoing thanks to their involvement in the North East Wales FA (NEWFA) cup, which has reached its semi final stage. 

The competition begins with a preliminary round in January, before the first, second and third rounds come thick and fast in April.

Now in May, only four remain in the competition with the semi final fixtures meaning an all Huw’s Gray Alliance tie between Gresford and Buckley with a third tier battle set between Hawarden Rangers and Queens Park.

Gresford FC will have the right to feel up for the cup after having the best league run in the club’s history.

After losing their manager to a vacant Denbigh Town hot seat in December, Steve Halliwell was promoted from Gresford’s reserves to the first team in what would become a shrewd appointment.

Under the guidance of Halliwell, Gresford went onto to enjoy great league form rising to a third place, the club’s highest ever finish in the second tier.

Now, he is planning to top off an impressive season with some silverware.

“It’s a great chance for us to cap off a brilliant season with a trophy, and it’s very important to me that we apply ourselves properly against Buckley who will fancy there chances I’m sure under the new manager Dan Moore, all will be keen to impress and get their hands on the trophy again as traditionally Buckley have done so well in previous years,so we will need to be at our best to get through this round.

“Squad wise we are at full strength apart from Liam Walsh who is still sidelined with a hamstring injury, were a tight nit group and know each others strengths so we will be playing our free flowing attacking game and looking to defend as well as we have all season.  Max and Jack Jones have been class all year and Mike Platt in goal is having a wonderful season too.

“If we play like we know we can I’m confident in my team that we can progress to the final, but that does not mean I’m taking them lightly! It’ll be a hard game I’m sure of that.”

While Gresford look a club on the up, Buckley Town’s are a club heading down to the third tier after their relegation from the Huws Gray Alliance was confirmed last week following a dismal league campaign.

However, they were dominant in a 6-2 win over Rhydymwyn in the quarter finals, and after Dan Moore’s position as first team manager was confirmed earlier this week, the Trotters will look to turn the corner with what would be a significant semi final win.

The game kicks off at Brymbo FC at 6:30pm this evening.

Featured Image: Gresford FC