Football friendlies: victories for Rhuddlan Town and Glan Conwy

Rhuddlan Town 1 Kinmel Bay 0

Ethan Taylor’s headed goal on the hour was enough to secure Rhuddlan victory in their opening pre-season friendly.

Both sides will compete in the tier 4 North Wales Coast East Premier Division this season and on this evidence they are well-matched.

Rhuddlan started brightly in the first 15 minutes, looking to keep the ball down on the floor. Some rustiness crept in at times, which was expected after such a long lay-off without any football.

Both Town wing-backs, Josh Parry and Connor Bucknall, played with great energy early on, and put in a few decent balls from wide areas which were dealt with by a strong Kinmel Bay keeper.

Some neat football through the middle of the park by Ben Smith and Ryan Potts presented Jordan Bellham with a quick breakaway down the right, but his shot unfortunately took a bobble which resulted in him dragging the ball wide of the target.

Kinmel Bay went close on a few occasions and clipped the crossbar during the first half. They also put in some decent balls from set pieces, but the Rhuddlan defence were resolute and defended superbly throughout both halves.

Rhuddlan began the second half strongly and were rewarded after about 15 minutes when Bucknall’s well presented corner was found by the head of Taylor who got in front of his man and nodded into the net.

Tired legs started to creep in for both sides, but Rhuddlan looked the most dangerous and created several opportunities down both flanks.

However, the final product was not quite there.

Joel Poh and Ian Davenport were brought on and both became a handful for Kinmel.

Poh earned a penalty which Potts blasted off target, but Town held on for the narrow win.

A notable mention for new Rhuddlan signing Josh Brown, who caused absolute havoc on his debut.

Glan Conwy 5 Mochdre Sports 1

Lee Ellis netted a hat-trick in an impressive performance from home side Glan Conwy.

Mezz Knight was also on target for the home side, while Kai Davies was Mochdre’s sole marksman.

Both these teams will compete in the North Wales Coast East Premier Division this season.