Rhyl All Stars live up to their name with victory in opening friendly

Rhyl All Stars 2 (Adam Cassidy, Simon Roberts)
Denbigh Development 0

All Stars manager Robert Cunnah was delighted with the performance of his players in Saturday’s opening friendly against a Denbigh side they lost twice to last season.

Adam Cassidy and Simon Roberts provided the goals for the Rhyl team.

“A really solid performance for our first game back today,” said Cunnah.

“A real team performance with everyone doing their bit all over the field contributing to the result.

“Many positives to take into our upcoming fixtures but also things to work on ahead of our next game against Rhuddlan.”

The first 10 to 15 minutes were understandably quite scrappy, with both teams playing their first match in eight months.

Once the game settled down All Stars started pressing the attack and applying pressure to the Denbigh defence.

The Rhyl side had several good opportunities, hitting the woodwork three times.

Denbigh also had two great chances, but were denied by fantastic saves from Ryan Bennett.

Half-time: 0-0

The visitors started the second half as they ended the first – on the attack and applying pressure to the RAS defence.

However, the home defending was really excellent with some great blocks made and solid displays in the air.

All Stars’ first corner of the half brought their opening goal with a great ball into the box by Shane Roberts headed into the back of the net by Adam Cassidy.

Following the goal manager Cunnah made a few changes. The players that came on were as solid as the ones coming off – a good sign that the boss is developing a fine squad.

In the latter stages, RAS turned up the heat.

After some great pressure forced a mistake from the keeper, Simon Roberts slotted the ball home to wrap the game up at 2-0.

Man of the match: Ryan Bennett