Graham Edwards Memorial Trophy round-up – Oswestry Takeaway and Llangollen set for final showdown

The 52nd Anniversary year of one of the longest-running charity football tournaments in the country looks set for an exciting climax today (Sunday 26th July) after the semi finals were completed earlier in the week.

The Graham Edwards Memorial Trophy is named in memory of a former promising young footballer from Gobowen near Oswestry, who sadly died of Leukaemia just six weeks after being diagnosed at the age of 21 back in 1974.

The tournament was set up in 1975 and after the Annual Anniversary Dinner in November 2025, a grand total of £202,000 had been raised for Leukaemia Research over the years which is a tremendous amount for a village the size of Gobowen.

The final group games in Group B were played last Sunday (19th July) and the first of those (with a rescheduled 10.30am kick off) between Ruabon Rovers and St Martins saw Ruabon win 2-1.

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Group-stage recap

With neither side able to qualify for the semi finals, they were merely playing for pride.

Reece Jones put Saints ahead in the 54th minute and after Charlie Mazzarella had equalised for Ruabon in the 60th minute, Dan Burnett scored Ruabon’s winner in the 72nd minute to secure the threepoints.

The 2.00pm kick off between Oswestry Takeaway FC and Llangollen Town saw both sides go into the game knowing they had qualified for the semi finals. 

However, the result would determine who won the group and who finished runners and therefore which semi final they would be in.

Oswestry Takeaway were top with six points and a goal difference of plus eight with Llangollen in second place, also on six points with a goal difference of plus seven.

A draw would have therefore seen Oswestry Takeaway win the group on goal difference but they made no mistake with a 4-0 win.

Tom Freeman put them ahead just into the 6th minute and after Freeman’s second made it 2-0 in the 40th minute, Matt Jones made it 3-0 in the second minute of added time at the end of the first half.

Freeman then completed his hat-trick with what proved to be the last kick of the game 35 seconds from the end of normal time at the end of the second half to make it 4-0.

Semi-finals

The first semi final between Group A winners West Felton and Group B runners up Llangollen Town on Tuesday night (21st July) saw Llangollen win 6-0.

Jack Goulbourn (49 and 60) put Llangollen 2-0 up early in the second half and after Will Cooke had made it 3-0 in the 67th minute, a brace from Aaron Jones (73 and 84) and Cooke’s second just into the 87th minute completed the scoring.

Then on Thursday night (23rd July), the second semi final between Group B winners Oswestry Takeaway FC and Group A runners up Cross Foxes, Gobowen saw Oswestry Takeaway FC eventually win 4-3 in an incident-packed game.

Cross Foxes only started the game with 10 men but Craig Pritchard put them 1-0 up with a second minute penalty.

Oswestry Takeaway were reduced to 10 men in the fifth minute when Tom Gale was shown a straight red card before Pritchard blotted his copybook by being red carded in the sixth minute to leave Cross Foxes with just nine men.

Oswestry Takeaway equalised through Callum Graybrook’s penalty in the 37th minute and after Andy Ford put Oswestry Takeaway 2-1 up in the second minute of added time at the end of the half, Louis Pritchard equalised for Cross Foxes just into the fifthminute of an originally indicated four minutes added time.

A quickfire brace from Tom Freeman (49th and 51st minutes) put Oswestry Takeaway 4-2 up early in the second half before Louis Pritchard’s second of the night in the 70th minute reduced Cross Foxes’ deficit to 4-3.

However, the drama still wasn’t over as Freeman, having already been booked in the first half, was shown a second yellow card in the 80th minute and sent off to leave his side down to nine men.

New name

So this year will see a new name on the trophy with neither side having won it before and it is hoped that a good sized crowd will be in attendance to support the final of this long-running and well-respected tournament.

In addition to the main final, there is also the Graham Edwards Memorial Trophy Junior tournament which is being played on the bottom pitch at Gobowen Playing Field.

The first semi final at 1.00pm is Oswestry Lions v Telford Town, the second semi final at 1.40pm is Llanymynech v CPD Dinas Wrexham.

The third placed play-off is scheduled for 2.30pm and the final is scheduled for 3.20pm.

All of the trophies this year are being presented by Carleton Leonard, the former Shrewsbury Town, Hereford United and Cardiff City defender, who is well-known around Oswestry as a publican.

READ MORE: Graham Edwards Memorial Trophy round-up – Semi-final line-up confirmed after dramatic finale