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3-1 in the cup against Bangor

18th February 2009

A good return to form in this 3-1 home win in the Cup and another home tie to come against Llandudno. A fair crowd considering there was little advertising and whilst Bangor brought a mix of players from their various teams, we paid them the respect deserved by fielding a strong squad.

Pitch had held up well and we started towards the club house at our usual pace with Darren and Melv taking the game to them and creating a lot of chances, with Bangor relying on counter attacks but producing few shots towards goal. On the half hour mark with yet another corner a well placed Chris Williams cross was met firmly by Grahame Austin to open the scoring, in fact he could have had a hatrick on the night with one grazing the woodwork and another cleared off the line. We continued to attack and just before half time Melv McGuiness ran from his own half to chase down a 50/50 ball and score under the outcoming keeper, only for it to be disallowed for apparent offside; half time 1-0.

2nd half Bangor made changes and came more into the game early on and on the hour mark a loose clearance was well taken for the equaliser. Whitfield was making good use of our width and Ywain Gwynedd took it wide right and a neat cutback to Jon Peris-Jones (on for Chris Williams), for him to slam home from 12 yards. 75 minutes saw a penalty given for a push at a set piece but Melv looking to score against his old club shot tamely at the keeper. As we pressed more and created more chances Darren Thomas took a good ball wide left from Kev Roberts, cut inside to beat three men and shot across the keeper for reward for his constant efforts; final score 3-1 to set up a home match with Llandudno.

This was by no means a one sided game with both teams performing well and playing good football, but the chances and goals all fell to us on the night.

A good moral boosting result against our near neighbours and whilst we recognise that it was not their entire first team squad, you can only play the team in front of you and in fairness to them they played some neat football, built well and some of their younger players will come into Nev Powell's reckoning in the near future no doubt.

1-1 away at Denbigh

15th February 2009

Our poor run of form continued with a disappointing 1-1 draw at Denbigh, mssing our 3rd chance to return to the top of the table.

With our missing players back in the squad, but Gibbs missing from a freak training ground accident which left him with a badly gashed eye.

On a reasonable surface to start, we came out of the blocks at pace and dominated the first quarter hour, with chances falling to Darren, Mike and Melv, but all spurned. They then came back into the game more and matched us throughout the half although neither team really created any more clear chances, we had a lot of the ball but gave it away cheaply and allowed them to play it around us; 0-0 at half time.

We came out with more determination, with the first attack coming wide to Mike Edwards, who beat his defender for pace to the byeline and hit a suberb cross that cleared the keeper for Darren Thomas to head into the empty net under pressure. This should have been the signal to go on and secure the game, but we sat back and in fact they dominated the 2nd half from that point but with the breakaway chances falling to us with Darren firing narrowly wide, Iwan going close and Ows also having chances. They bossed the middle through their 8 and 6 spraying the ball wide with a cross dropping niceley for what should have been the equaliser but for a point blank stop from Whitfield.The longer it went the more nervous we looked as we defended very deep in numbers. In the last minute we failed to clear the ball again and it fell for an incoming player to shoot past our keeper for the equaliser and with no time to respond it ended 1-1.

Certainly not the performances we saw before Christmas and the deteriorating pitch not suiting us, but no excuses here the draw is probably what we deserved today and leaves us well off the pace and our destiny in other hands for now;  alot of crucial games throughout the league yet to be played, but we need to get back to our best and perhaps next week's clear date will help.

1-0 loss @ home to Ruthin

7th February 2009

A bad day at the office as our dip in form continued with a poor 1-0 reverse at home to Ruthin giving  them a double over us this season.

A changed lineup with Rich Higham and Jon Peris Jones unavailable, Geraint Mitchell still ill (but on the bench), and Warren Gibbs returning from injury.

We started as usual at great pace creating several opportunities that went begging or made too easy for their keeper Siddy Williams, but they settled into an expected containment formation setup to cut out the supplies to our wide men and forcing us into the less effective middle ground. Whilst they relied on breakaways to the lone striker. They forced a few corners and on 17 minutes one picked out an unmarked defender to hit a header against the underside of the bar with the rebound going in and then forced home to make sure. We redoubled our efforts with Melv McGuiness and Darren Thomas causing a lot of problems in the approach, but foundering on a resolute defence and the wide balls being cut out, or the pace leaving players out of touch. Their keeper was called on for 2 or 3 long range attempts but was not unduly troubled; 1-0 at half time.

We came out in the 2nd half up the pitch and continued with good work up to the byeline, deep crosses but many falling close to the keeper or missing our players out. They added another central defender to keep it tight and kept 5 in the middle to stifle our play and unfortunately it paid off. Ady Glo came on for Richard Hughes, Mitchell for Chris Williams and Dylan Owen for Ywain Gwynedd, all during the last 15 minutes to try to open them up, but it was not to be and in contrast Whitfield was rarely in action throughout the game; 1-0 final score.

A game that we would have expected to win, but like last week they came with a game plan, well organised and effective; an opportunity missed with Holyhead losing too to Guilsfield to leave Bala and Flint in the driving seat for now, but a lot to come and possibly on pitches better suited to our style and with a full squad.

Disappointing but not disastrous.