The Airfield played host to Terry Boyle's Wales Under-23 side as they suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of their counterparts from Poland. The Welsh squad was made up of a mixture of players from the Blue Square Bet Premier and the Welsh Premier League - and included Airbus UK Broughton's Ashley Williams and Ryan Edwards. Unfortunately Williams was a late withdrawal from the squad while Edwards was not called from the substitutes bench.
Wales' final match of this year's International Challenge Trophy got off to a tame start as both teams tried to get the measure of each other. On 15 minutes Tamworth's Scott Barrow curled a free-kick narrowly wide and a couple of minutes later Altrincham's Robbie Williams had his header from a corner cleared off the line.
The game was played with plenty of passion with both sets of players putting in some hard challenges. Just past the half hour mark Aberystwyth goalkeeper Stephen Cann made his first save after Daniel Golebiewski fed Lukasz Hanzel in the area. At the other end Alex Darlington pf TNS volleyed just over following a corner as Wales enjoyed a lot of the possession.
Unfortunately the game's turning point occurred on the stroke of half-time when a quick break from Poland saw right-back Tadeusz Socha receive the ball in plenty of space. He raced into the area and squeezed the ball inside Cann's near post to give Poland a 1-0 lead going into the break.
Alex Darlington had another good chance early in the second-half before Cann was forced into an excellent save - aided by the woodwork - from a powerful shot. On 58 minutes Bangor City's Jamie Reed was introduced in place of Aberystwyth Town's Luke Sherbon. Minutes later though - the game was put beyond doubt.
On the hour Stephen Cann fumbled the ball in his 6-yard box and Lukasz Hanzel pounced to make it 2-0 to Poland. Cann redeemed himself minutes later with a good save from a corner. After 67 minutes Robbie Williams and Scott Barrow were replaced by Port Talbot Town's Lee Surman Neath's Chris Jones.
Wales were seeing a lot less of the ball in the second-half and Poland nearly added to their tally when Marcin Pietrowski went close. With quarter of an hour to go Port Talbot's Luke Bowen replaced The New Saints' Aeron Edwards. Into the latter stages Poland threatened again through Przemsyean Trytuo and Maciej Makuszewski before a Luke Bowen attempt was nearly spilled by goalkeeper Michal Gilwa.
In the closing minutes Barrow goalkeeper Shaun Pearson replaced Cann to join his team-mate and brother Mike Pearson in the Wales side. The last action saw Hanzel clip the bar with an impressive strike following another swift break.
Despite a spirited performance from Wales the game finished 2-0 to Poland after a fascinating night of international football at the Airfield.
Wales - 1: Stephen Cann (Aberystwyth Town) 2: Michael Pearson (Barrow) 3: Curtis McDonald (Forest Green Rovers) 4: Michael Johnston (Bangor City) 5: Rob Williams (Altrincham) 7: Aeron Edwards (The New Saints) 8: Alex Darlington (The New Saints) 9: Luke Sherbon (Aberystwyth Town) 10: Marc Williams (Kidderminster Harriers) 11: Scott Barrow (Tamworth) 14: Craig Jones (The New Saints)
Subs - 6: Lee Surman (Port Talbot Town) 12: Shaun Pearson (Barrow) 13: Ryan Edwards (Airbus UK Broughton) 15: James Owen (Barrow) 16: Luke Bowen (Port Talbot Town) 17: Chris Jones (Neath) 18: Jamies Reed (Bangor City)
Poland - 1: Michal Gilwa 2: Tadeusz Socha 3: Michal Plotka 4: Mariusz Pauelec 5: Przemyslaw Kocot 6: Marcin Budzinski 7: Waldemar Sobota 8: Jakub Tosik 9: Daniel Golebiewski 10: Lukasz Hanzel 11: Maciej Makuszewski
Subs - 12: Bartosz Kaniecki 13: Marcin Wodecki 14: Przemsyean Tryuto 15: Marcin Pietrowski 16: Arkadiusz Wozniak
By Rory Sheehan
