Flashback – three years ago: Bangor City suffer ‘home’ humiliation at hands of Ruthin

Bangor City 0
Ruthin Town 4 (Morris 1 & 13, Jones 44, Hughes 53 pen)
Cymru Alliance League – February 22, 2019

Looking back through their respective histories, a final scoreline of Bangor City 0 Ruthin Town 4 will not have happened too often, if at all.

However, on this date three years ago that was how a clash between the two clubs ended.

Having been demoted from the Welsh Premier the season before for failing to secure the Domestic Licence qualification, City had managed to maintain a fairly lofty position in the tier 2 Cymru Alliance in the first six months of the campaign, but off the field the club was in turmoil at the start of 2019.

Locked out of their Nantporth stadium due to unpaid bills, the once proud eight-time Welsh Cup winners and Welsh Premier champions on three occasions were having to play at other grounds.

For the visit of Ruthin, “home” was Maesdu Park, Llandudno.

Manager Gary Taylor-Fletcher was still able to field a strong-looking side, but on this day Ruthin romped to an emphatic 4-0 success.

An early two-goal blast from the league’s No 1 striker of the time, Llyr Morris, made a big difference.

The first goal came inside the opening minute as Morris slotted home via a cross from the right.

And after 13 minutes Ruthin doubled their lead. Nathan Wolland saved well but Morris was on hand to net from close range.

Already the pattern of the game was set as a physical but not dirty Ruthin side had the edge in midfield and seemed to play with more urgency and aggression.

In the middle of all this centre-half Michael Johnston took a knock from a heavy challenge.

Bangor looked most threatening when Alex Boss ran at the visitors defence but no-one could get on the end of his crosses into the box.

On 27 minutes a foul on Boss led to a free-kick taken by player-manager Taylor-Fletcher, but fired over the bar from just outside the area.

Boss and Tom Reilly had half chances for City but the Town defence were alert and snuffed them out.

On 38 minutes a blow for Bangor as Johnston was forced off by the injury suffered earlier, to be replaced by 17-year old Osian Hughes.

Then a minute before the break a Ruthin free kick on the edge of the box was curled home impressively by Ryan Jones for a near unassailable three-nil lead.

HALF-TIME: 0-3

Eight minutes into the second half it was further misery for City as a mix up in the defence led to Wolland conceding a penalty which Ilan Hughes converted confidently.

With the youthful defence under pressure it was veteran Mike Williams who stood firm to ensure there was no further damage done.

Boss continued to impress with some pacey runs which often met with heavy challenges by the Ruthin defenders.

So a heavy defeat for City who perhaps deserved a goal for their efforts but never managed to recover from that early double blast from Morris.

Bangor City

Nathan Wolland, Tom Reilly, Mike Williams, Kian Owen, Michael Johnston (Osian Hughes 38), Jordan Piggott, Alex Boss, Gethin Thomas, Sam Jones, Gary Taylor-Fletcher, Jacob Farleigh (Benn Lundstram 80). Unused subs: Gruff Evans, Dylan Summers-Jones, Luke Purcell.

Ruthin Town

Ryan Goldston, Craig Wilkinson (Tom Dyer 29), Dafydd Evans, Lewys Turner, Kevin Evans, Ilan Hughes, Gwydion Ifan (Tom Williams 68), Osian Davies (Will Owen 80), Llyr Morris, Ryan Jones, Cai Davies.

With thanks for report to Mike Smith of the Citizens Choice website