The New Saints U18s lifted local charity tournament, the Graham Edwards Memorial Trophy, for the first time on Sunday.

Facing Gobowen Celtic in the final, Lewis Wynne and Caleb Afful were both on target for the Saints, but they had to do things the hard way following a 2-2 draw after extra-time.

In the resulting shootout, Harry Clayton scored the decisive penalty to help bring more silverware to Park Hall, adding to last season’s glory in both the Cymru Premier Development League and ECFA Men’s Senior Cup.

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The tournament, which this year celebrated its 50th anniversary, features a number of teams from the wider-Oswestry area, and has been running for the last five decades in memory of local footballer, Graham Edwards, who lost his life to Leukaemia in 1974.

Since 2007, TNS have fielded a youth team in the competition every summer to help support the charity, and raise vital funds for Leukaemia Research in the process.

On their way to the final, the Saints saw off competition from AFC Weston Rhyn, Llangollen Reserves and The Keys, St Martins, before eventually triumphing against Gobowen Celtic, who had lifted the trophy in each of the last two seasons.

The win marks the start of what will hopefully be another fruitful campaign for the performance phase, with the Saints beginning their defence of their FAW National Academy North Development League title at home to Bala Town on Sunday, August 18th.