Caersws beaten by Bulgarians

Graham Evans gave Caersws a 17th minute lead

Uefa Intertoto Cup first round, second leg

Caersws 1-1 FC Marek Dupnitsa (1-3 agg)
at Park Avenue, Aberystwyth

Caersws bowed out of the Intertoto Cup this afternoon when they failed to beat Marek Dupnitsa in the second leg of their first-round clash at Aberystwyth.

The League of Wales team returned from Bulgaria last week on the back of a 2-0 defeat at the Bonchuk Stadium.

A second-half double from Vladislav Vladov giving Marek the upper hand in the tie.

FC Marek Dupnitsa 2-0 Caersws

But the part-timers wasted little time to cut the deficit in half against the professional Bulgarian outfit at Park Avenue.

Evans proved a handful for the Marek defence

Graham Evans put the home side ahead on 17 minutes with a cool headed finish.

Despite putting the visitors under severe pressure, the Welshmen could not further their advantage before the interval.

And all their hard work was undone just three minutes into the second period when Marek took a decisive 3-1 aggregate lead.

The visitors had been starting to dominate the midfield as the first half had worn on, but it was a moment of individual skill which brought them level after the restart.

Rumen Shankulov smashed the ball past a hapless Matthew Griffiths with a stunning volley which delighted the handful of Bulgarians who had made the long journey to north-west Wales.

To their credit, Mickey Evans' team did not lie down and continued to take the game to Marek.

Tempers flared as Caersws complained of Marek's play-acting

Man of the match Evans was continuing to menace the visitors' defence.

The 22-year-old forced a fine save from the Marek goalkeeper Armen Ambartsumian and also had an effort chalked off for a foul on a defender.

The young striker, once at Aston Villa, then had a great chance to put his side ahead when he was clean through on goal - but the goalkeeper stood up well.

Tempers boiled over towards the end as several players got involved in a scuffle, but Marek held out to secure a comfortable aggregate win.

They will now play Irony Ashdod of Israel in the second round.