PENMAENMAWR Phoenix manager Martyn Jones reflected on a proud day for the club despite their 1-0 loss to Y Felinheli in the Take Stock Van Hire Challenge Cup final.

The Lock Stock Welsh Alliance Division Two rivals produced an entertaining affair that was decided by a late effort from Iwan Owen on 81 minutes, with Jones full of praise for the people behind the scenes following the narrow loss.

He said: “I was proud of the everyone involved with the club, it’s been some time since we have been in a final and it was nice to give the hardworking committee and our loyal fan base a day out.

“The players have worked really hard this season and it was a great to get to the final. Unfortunately, it wasn’t our day, it was a bit of a scrappy game that looked like it was going to be decided with a single goal and Felinheli got it, credit to them, deserved champions.”

Jones, who won the league Manager of the Month Award for November thanks to his side’s superb form, also said that bringing some of the region’s young talent into the first team fold has been one of the highlights of a very encouraging campaign for everyone associated with the club, and he will be looking to push the squad on further during the summer.

“It’s been a good season for us, we’ve enjoyed some big results against some very good sides and also performed really well against two sides in the league above,” added Jones.

“I feel the squad has progressed since my first season and we now need to push on again and look to improve our league position. What’s been the biggest success as far as I’m concerned is the amount of young lads we have blooded into the team this year, Benn Lundstram (16) Ethan Jones (18) and James Lansdowne (18) have been superb and played the majority of games which is pleasing and what we are all about at Pen Phoenix.

“I’ll be looking to bring in two or three players in the summer to give us more options in a challenging division and we also have a good crop of players progressing from the under 18 youth side who will progress into the senior set up.”