Wednesday night round-up – Rhyl Dragons grab late winner at Caer Clwyd

NORTH WALES FOOTBALL ROUND-UP – WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17

NORTH WALES COAST EAST LEAGUE DIVISION ONE

CPD Caer Clwyd 1 Rhyl Dragons 2

Substitute Dean Hughes bagged the 88th minute decider that earned Rhyl Dragons their first win of the season.

Yet the final score left hosts Caer Clwyd scratching their heads wondering how they ended up with nothing.

Dragons started brightly and deserved to take the lead early on through Hari Griffiths.

It took Clwyd about 15 minutes to get going and a good chance saw Craig Lavery head over the bar.

Momentum started to shift Clwyd’s way and Dragons keeper Martin King made four great saves to ensure his team were still 1-0 up going into the half time break.

Clwyd applied more pressure from the restart and created chance after chance, but again King lived up to his name.

The stopper was finally beaten when a free kick was awarded and a ball whipped in by Keiran Kendrick was met by the head of Lavery, who made no mistake this time and scored to make it 1-1 in the 81st minute.

Clwyd chased a second, but some poor finishing denied them a winner.

Then Rhyl Dragons, who barely threatened in the second half, won a corner.

A moment of switching off from Clwyd allowed the visitors to deliver a nice ball into the box met by a good header from Hughes which found the net two minutes from time.

Caer Clwyd’s management said after the game: “Hard one to take. A great game for the neutral, both teams showing great fight and wanting all 3 points and eventually one of them got it.

“We created more than enough but a man of the match display from their keeper kept us out and we eventually got punished for not being able to beat him.

“All credit to Dragons who dug deep and never let their heads drop and found a winner.

“Thanks for coming back to the pub and being good sports and all the best for your next fixture.”

Caer Clwyd will look to bounce back on Saturday at fellow Division One side Y Glannau in the second qualifying round of the Welsh Cup.

TEAMS

Caer Clwyd

John Wood
Thomas Gardner
Tomos Roberts (Rhys Brown 74)
Jack Croft
Nathan Bridges
Connor Lloyd
James Williams (Lloyd Hubbard 89)
Francis Roberts (John Snape 73)
Craig Lavery
Shaun Edwards (Logan Burgess 66)
Keiran Kendrick

Rhyl Dragons

Martin King
Gareth Evans
N/A
Wayne Evans
Jake Hughes
Darryl Smith (Colin Sargerson 56 – Ian Hannah 76)
Mason Kenny (Dean Hughes 68)
Nathan Griffiths
Hari Griffiths
N/A (Marc Grief 68)
Dale Lewis

OTHER LEAGUES

FAW RESERVE LEAGUE NORTH EAST

Gresford Athletic Reserves 0 Cefn Albion Reserves 0

NORTH EAST WALES FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Premier Division
Castell Alun Colts 1 (Jack Jones 7) Penyffordd Lions 2 (Jordan Jones 28, Frederick Howarth 85)

Reserve Division
Coedpoeth United 3 (Michael Jones 26, Jacob Williams 67, Ben Thomas 90+3) Ruthin Town Development 4 (Ifan Jones 6, Seth Dolben Evans 46, Charlie Gardner 52, Iestyn Gadd 76)