July 20, 2023
With Haverfordwest’s Bridge Meadow Stadium deemed not to meet UEFA’s standards, the West Wales side were forced to play their home tie at the 33,000 capacity Cardiff City Stadium, over 100 miles away, and a journey of more than 2 hours by road.
Known as The Bluebirds, Haverfordwest had finished 7th in the Cymru Premier, but qualified for Europe for the first time since 2004 by coming through the play-off system, overcoming both Cardiff Metropolitan University and Newtown on penalties, and playing away from home on both occasions.
The obvious star player in the County line-up was ex-Swansea, Fulham and Cardiff full-back Jazz Richards, who won 14 caps for Wales. Keeper Zac Jones was a New Zealand Under 19 international. There were three Englishman in their starting XI. Martell Taylor-Crossdale was an Under 20 international whilst with Fulham but was playing for Metropolitan Police last season. Full-back Oscar Borg was a youth player at Aston Villa and has played for Braintree and Stjarnan in Iceland, whilst Tyrese Owen was with Kingstonian last season.
FK Shkendija are from North Macedonia and were founded in 1929 by ethnic Albanians. They have retained an Albanian association ever since and are known as the red and blacks. Home is the 15,000 capacity Ecolog Arena in the city of Tetovo, which is located 45km west of the capital Skopje.
Shkendija have a respectable record in Europe with a decent run past Sumgayit from Azerbaijan ( A 2-0 ) and Botsani from Romania ( A 1-0 ) in 2020/21 before being eliminated by Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 at home. Their only previous visit to Wales was a remarkable tie with TNS in 2018/19 when they won the home leg 5-0 but narrowly avoided elimination following a 0-4 defeat in Oswestry.
Shkendija’s starting line-up consisted of three Albanians, three Kosovans, a Bosnian and 4 Macedonians, and looked to have a wealth of experience compared to the Haverfordwest side.
Eraldo Cinari is an Albanian Under 21 international and has played for Samsunspor in Turkey, whilst defender Klisman Cake is also an Albanian Under 21 international. Kamer Qaka has 4 caps for Albania after winning youth honours for Norway in several age groups, and has played in the top divisions in Norway, Romania and Hungary.
Striker Almir Aganspahic has played for Serbian sides Novi Pazar and Cukaricki and Sumgayit in Azerbaijan
Keeper Davor Taleski has played for Honka in Finland and captain Ennur Totre played briefly for Ukrainian side Vorskla Poltava, and has 2 caps for North Macedonia. Defender Mevlan Adili has played for UTA Arad in Romania and Lithuanian side Zalgiris
Haverfordwest were in an all dark blue kit, whilst Shkendija were in all white strip rather than their usual red and black stripes.
The match was streamed live on Sgorio’s YouTube channel with commentaries in both Welsh and English. The temperature at the 19.45 local kick-off time was 20 degrees on a sunny evening.
Bet365.com, who were also live streaming the game, remarkably made Haverfordwest 6/1 outsiders, with the draw at 17/5 and Shkendija red hot favourites at 3/10. Tickets for the game ranged between £10-15.
The first leg had ended in a 1-0 win for Shkendija, with a goal in the 47th minute from Bosnian Adenis Shala being enough to secure a first leg advantage.
The home side started brightly and a dangerous cross from Richards caused panic in the Shkendija defence before eventually being cleared.
The visitors slowly though took control of the game and the Haverfordwest keeper needed to be alert to gather a threatening cross from the right wing.
A rare flurry from the home side saw a cross from the left reach Richards in space on the right inside the Shkendija area, but the Icelandic referee halted play for a very soft foul as Albanian centre-back Cake fell to the floor as the cross flew over the penalty area.
A cross-cum-shot from the right wing had the Haverfordwest keeper scrambling across his goalmouth but the ball skidded wide, but the general pattern of the game was being disrupted as the referee was being deceived into giving soft fouls for both sides. Any minor contact was being considered worth of a foul by the overly fussy official.
Haverfordwest’s striker Ben Fawcett sent a snap shot a few feet wide to which Shkendija responded with a low shot from Cinari, which was straight at the keeper and easily saved.
The home side created their best move of the match to date as Richards put Fawcett in space down the right wing but the low cross was prodded over the bar from Kai Whitmore from 6 yards.
Shkendija’s response was a flowing move that saw Cake cross from the left but Cinari missed badly from 8 yards out. He did look well offside, but no flag was raised.
The first yellow card of the game was shown in the 45th minute as Fawcett chopped down a Shkendija attacker to ensure the scores on the night were level at the interval.
The North Macedonians showed a bit more urgency at the start of the second half as Krasniqi’s flicked header drifted narrowly wide with keeper Jones scrambling, and a great spin by Krasniqi released Aganspahic but a great tackle by Richards averted the danger.
Haverfordwest had their best chance to date in the 54th minute as a header from Watts from a short corner routine was cleared off the line, and the follow-up effort from Owen was blocked for a corner.
The game became scrappy as both sides clocked up yellow cards for petty fouls as Shkendija appeared to show little ambition to win the tie, whereas Haverfordwest appeared to lack the necessary skills to breakdown the visitor’s defence.
Shkendija’s Cinari and Cake ( pronounced Saki by the S4C commentators ) appeared to be by some distance to be the best players on the park but they were unable to put the game to bed. They were dominating possession but creating little threat to the County goal whilst Haverfordwest were unable to get into the game and appeared to lack sufficient quality in midfield to influence the game.
A decent cross from the right wing was met by Aganspahic but the header was poor and dribbled wide. Shkendija substitute Elezi then saw a long range effort pushed away by keeper Jones.
The referee’s suspect decision making continued as Hawkins saw a yellow card for a foul that didn’t seem worthy of further punishment, and the North Macedonian’s then sprung a surprise by taking off Shala, who until then had looked to be one of their most influential players.
With 10 minutes remaining, the Bluebirds keeper Jones produced a good save to keep out a powerful header from a cross from Cinari but with the Welsh side looking likely to exit the competition after a goal-less draw, County stepped up the pressure in the closing stages.
Jack Wilson won a corner but Ricky Watts could only head onto the roof of the net with a free header. Ex-Barry Town man Rhys Abbruzzesse then went on a super run only to be chopped down just outside the area. Wilson’s free-kick produced a diving save from Taleski. The ball back into the area was partially deflected, and fell to centre-back Lee Jenkins just inside the area, who was able to get a shot in on the turn, and the ball flew into the top corner for a sensational goal and to force extra-time !
At the start of extra-time, the North Macedonians went immediately on the attack but after a good cross by Cinari, Cake’s dive to win a penalty was pathetic and play continued. At the other end a header from Jenkins was partially blocked by Maksimov and Taleski had an easy save.
The visitors were having the better of the first period of extra time. Cinari sent a 30 yard drive just over and a long ball was headed past the advancing keeper by Maximov but Borg was on hand to clear. Cinari had another shot blocked and a flicked header from Aganspahic from a cross by Cake was saved by Jones.
The first chance of the second period fell to the home side but after a cross from Hawkins, Fawcett could only head at the keeper from 8 yards.
Ramadani won a free kick on the edge of the area after a stray pass from Hawkins but Cinari curled it just wide. Shkendija then created a dangerous move down the left but the shot was blocked by Richards, and Elezi sent the rebound wide.
The match was being played in a pretty good spirit between the two sides, and when Watts went down with cramp, it was Shkendija midfielder Qaka who helped out with the treatment.
The visitors piled on the pressure in the closing stages in search of the goal to avoid the lottery of the penalties. A corner was headed just wide, and from the following corner, Cake headed over. Cake, who looks a bit like Belarus midfielder Yuri Kendysh, then made a great run to the by-line but the cross was cleared, and with time just about up Limani missed from a corner as his team-mates appealed for a handball.
The last piece of action saw Cinari shoot well wide, which produced a hilarious dive from keeper Jones.
Having won two penalty shoot-outs to get into the Europa Conference, Haverfordwest must have fancied their chances, but it didn’t look good when Hawkins put the first penalty wide of the post. With Krasniqi converting, Richards’ success was important, and when Cinari’s effort was blocked by the legs of the keeper it was all square.
Wilson put the ball into the top corner so when Cake hit the post it was advantage to Haverfordwest. Whitmore’s brilliant penalty also found the top corner and although Qaka scored his penalty, Fawcett stepped up to win the tie. Unfortunately for him, he sent the ball into orbit.
Ramadani had the chance to level the shoot-out but although his attempt was decent, Jones made a diving save to his right to push the ball away and send the Welsh part-timers in to the second round, where they have a trip to the Faroe Islands to play B36 Torshavn.
Shkendija will rue this opportunity to progress, and lament the fact that two of their missed penalty were from their two best players on the night.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_giUHLGyMg
Haverfordwest County AFC : Jones – Watts ( Davies ), Jenkins, Borg ( John ) – Richards, Whitmore, Owen ( Wilson ), Abbruzzesse – Fawcett, Taylor-Crossdale ( Humphreys ), Hawkins
KF Shkendija : Taleski – Limani, Adili, Cake, Velija – Cinari, Qaka, Krasniqi, Totre ( Ramadani ), Shala ( Maksimov ) – Aganspahic ( Elezi )
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