Cymru Premier: Canaries back to winning ways, defeats for Bala and Airbus, Nomads draw

Caernarfon Town 2 (Smith, Thomas)
Carmarthen Town 0
Cymru Premier – October 26, 2019

After back-to-back league defeats where they were beaten but far from disgraced, Caernarfon Town bounced back to winning ways with a 2-0 home victory over Carmarthen Town on Saturday, reports Paul Evans.

The result lifted the Canaries back up to fourth in the Cymru Premier and sets them up nicely for next weekend’s home clash with leaders Barry Town United.

Can Sean Eardley’s side become the first to beat Gavin Chesterfield’s men in the league this season? If the Cofis play to their best next Saturday, there is no reason why not.

Bottom team Carmarthen arrived at The Oval yesterday still without a league success this term in 11 attempts and by 4.15 pm their W column was still blank.

Cymru Premier Player of the Month for September, midfield dynamo Leo Smith, broke the deadlock with nine minutes on the clock.

Caernarfon broke well from defence and Darren Thomas found Smith with an exquisite delivery that evaded the Old Gold back-line, and the former Wrexham starlet did the rest, coolly slotting the ball underneath keeper Lee Idzi.

Sion Bradley thought he had doubled the lead six minutes later but visiting captain Lee Surman impressively blocked the goalbound effort.

Idzi twice denied the hosts before the break as first he rushed out to thwart Jamie Breese and then, on the stroke of half-time, he somehow got in the way of a Smith header at the far post.

There was little initial goalmouth action after the restart until Thomas made it 2-0 on 55 minutes.

Having controlled the ball well 20 yards from goal, he thundered his effort out of the reach of Idzi and into the far bottom corner.

Breese hit the woodwork on the hour mark after impressive set-up work by Danny Brookwell and, although there were plenty of threatening-looking moments from the hosts, Carmarthen worked hard to keep them from adding to their lead.

At the other end, Town’s defence was impressive to say the least, with Alex Ramsay, Nathan Craig, Ryan Williams and Gruff John proving more than a match for everything that was thrown at them.

Idzi topped off a fine personal display when he pulled off three injury time saves to deny Cai Jones, Brookwell and Thomas.

Caernarfon: Alex Ramsay, Nathan Craig, Gruff John, Ryan Williams, Jamie Crowther, Noah Edwards, Leo Smith, Sion Bradley, Jamie Breese, Darren Thomas, Danny Brookwell. Subs (played): Gareth Edwards, Cai Jones, Gareth Evans. Not played: Sam Jones, Shaun Cavanagh, Aled Williams.

Rest of the action

The New Saints 1 Bala Town 0

The Lakesiders were left to rue a missed penalty as they failed to repeat their first-ever league victory over Saints at the 33rd attempt back in August.

Town were without top-scorer Chris Venables through suspension, but were awarded a 25th minute spot-kick which Louis Robles took only to be denied by a fine Paul Harrison save.

The only goal of the match came on 56 minutes when Ryan Brobbel’s cross picked out Greg Draper, who headed into the bottom right hand corner.

A minute from time Bala had the ball in the net through Kieran Smith but his brilliant strike was ruled out for offside by the linesman.

Aberystwyth Town 1 Connah’s Quay Nomads 1

Nomads stretched their unbeaten league run to 12 matches, but were denied maximum points when Mathew Jones converted a 90th minute penalty at Park Avenue.

Jamie Insall had earlier put Andy Morrison’s side ahead with a net-finder on 38 minutes.

An end-to-end encounter featured a wealth of chances for both teams, but it looked like Nomads might hold on for the win before a spot-kick was awarded to Aber for handball against Jay Owen and Jones converted.

Barry Town United 2 Airbus UK Broughton 0

After holding the unbeaten leaders up to half time, Airbus were beaten by two goals from Barry in the second period.

Kayne McLaggon broke the deadlock with a 58th minute penalty and Drew Fahiya made it 2-0 in added time.