The chairman of Chirk AAA, who reached their second FAW Trophy final in four seasons, believes their cup run will help the club improve their facilities.

The Colliers will face Swansea-based Penlan in the final – pencilled in for April 8 – after they beat Llangefni at Rhyl’s Belle Vue Park with Matty Thomas’s solitary goal.

Colin Hayward, who has been at the club for six years, admitted his pride at Mark Holmes’s side reaching the final and believes it’s huge for the town.

“It’s been a wonderful weekend,” he said. “I’m a proud chairman of Chirk AAA.

“This is our second final in four seasons but this time we’ve played five times away and one home game.

“We’ve done exceptionally well to get this far.

“We’ve been financially rewarded with just under £3,000 and if we win it, we’ll double that. For a club like ours, that’s a help. We don’t pay players but it will help us financially and build up our facilities.

“It’s brilliant for the town as well. It’s a prestigious cup and the highest one we can enter.”

Llangefni started the semi-final the strongest and should have taken the lead in the opening minutes when a cross was missed by the Chirk defence but the Gefni striker shot wide from a great position.

Chirk gradually clawed their way back into the game and started to dominate proceedings. Chirk were desperately unlucky on the half-hour when a powerful header from Louie Middlehurst hit a defender and struck the bar and bounced to safety.

It looked like Chirk’s dominance was going to be to no avail approaching the break but Thomas had other ideas and he hit a tremendous shot from all of 25 yards to put his side ahead on 43 minutes.

Chirk continued to have the upper hand in the second period and should have increased their lead on a couple of occasions but Gefni held firm.

They put Chirk under some pressure in the last 10 minutes in their quest for an equaliser.

The large contingent of Colliers’ supporters were ecstatic at the close of play and celebrated wildly with the players, while Joe Roberts was awarded the man-of-the-match award.

Meanwhile, Hayward revealed there’s a bit of history for both himself and Chirk when it comes to playing in the Trophy and against Penlan.

He added: “This will be my fourth trophy final – two with Chirk and two with Cefn United, so it’s a cup I’ve got a bit of history with.

“Some of our lads haven’t ever got past the quarter-finals.

“A total of 150 teams started in this cup and we’re in the last two. We actually met Penlan the last time we made a final at Holyhead Road. They were unbeaten but we beat them 9-0 and were five up at half-time.

“This time, we’ll settle for the win.”