North Wales Women’s League – great wins for Denbigh, NFA, 1876, Flint and Llangefni

NORTH WALES WOMEN’S FOOTBALL LEAGUE – REPORTS, OCTOBER 22

Denbigh Town 2 CPD Pwllheli 1

What had all the hallmarks of being the North Wales League’s match of the day turned out to be just that with Denbigh ending Pwllheli’s unbeaten record and retaining top spot with a sixth win in seven starts.

The game started brightly with chances at both ends, but defences equal to the attempts on goal.

Pwllheli’s Katie Bowe had two efforts directly from corners cleared over the bar by Jess Duff and keeper Katie Spruce.

The breakthrough was made just before the 30-minute mark when Denbigh’s Elen James Owen was fouled in the opposition’s half.

Eluned Evans delivered a great free kick into the box, which Esra Gunes managed to control and get her shot away which hit the woodwork, but Lucy Morris was quickest to the rebound to edge the hosts in front. A third goal in as many games for the youngest of the Morris triplets.

The game continued at a high tempo, and Lucy Morris had the ball in the net again for Denbigh, but was unlucky to see her effort ruled out for offside.

With both teams battling at the top of the table, it was always going to be a tight encounter and the second goal did not arrive until the 82nd minute.

Pwllheli were pushing to equalise, but Amber Hellon did well to win the ball back on the edge of her 18-yard box and pass through a number of players to Lois Roberts, who played Kathryn Jones in on goal to give Denbigh a 2-0 lead.

Pwll heads didn’t drop and they continued to press, getting their reward on 88 minutes when leading scorer Lois Thomas curled an effort from outside the box into the bottom corner, a slight deflection taking it away from the Denbigh keeper.

This made for a tense finish, and in one last effort Lois Thomas was again played through on goal but a last-ditch tackle by Llio Hafal ensured that Denbigh held on for a hard fought three points.

Llio Hafal said after the match: “A massive win for the girls today against a strong Pwllheli team. I can’t praise the girls enough, after a tough season last year we have shown immense character to be where we are now.

“The squad has stuck together and we battle for each other every week. We haven’t made massive changes and bought a load of new players in, these are the same players that turned up week in week out last season, and that just shows how far we have come as a team.”

CPDM Bangor 1876 8 Amlwch Town 0

New signing Stevie Donougher struck four times as Bangor 1876 kept up their 100 percent start to the season with an eight-goal caning of Amlwch.

It was a tough afternoon for the Anglesey side, who lost goalkeeper Ceri Pritchard and skipper Carol Lewis to injury during the match.

Ella Jones got the hosts off to a great start with goals on five and 25 minutes.

Australian Donougher added a third before the break.

Menna Evans made it 4-0 eight minutes into the second half, then Donougher grabbed a quick double to complete her hat-trick.

Jenna Allsup put away number seven on 71 minutes before Donougher notched her fourth soon after.

Llanfairfechan Town 3 Trearddur Bay 3

Ashleigh Jones bagged an 86th minute equaliser to earn a point for the Anglesey visitors.

In a six-goal thriller at the Rec, Gemma Thomas put Trearddur in front on nine minutes following a Gail Paterson-Manning assist, before Dona Leech set up Elin Jones for the equaliser on the half-hour.

Freya Davies soon put the islanders 2-1 up, benefiting from the good work of Heidi Sanderson.

Assistant-manager Sadie Richards recently made a welcome return to action for Llanfair after a long spell out through injury, and she was a key performer in the second half.

On 53 minutes Jess Roberts threaded the ball to Richards who raced into the box and lashed a fierce shot past keeper Gem Lancaster.

Then after 66 minutes a Connie Tulloch throw was latched onto by Richards on the right and her volley proved too good for Lancaster to keep out.

Four minutes remained when Ashleigh Jones maintained her fine run of scoring by making it 3-3, sub Rhian Griffiths with the assist.

Llangefni Town 4 Llanystumdwy 1

Cefni completed back-to-back home league wins with a cracking performance against Llanystumdwy at Cae Bob Parry.

The ever-flourishing up front partnership of Ellie Coulson and Jen Cox paid dividends for the home side after just 17 minutes.

Great work by Cox in the box saw her lay-off to Coulson who hit an unstoppable drive into the roof of the net for her sixth goal of the season.

Hannah Owen made it 2-0 in the 24th minute, but the visitors kept their hopes alive when Ellie Williams pulled one back before half time.

Ffion Thomas profited from a Catrin George assist early in the second half and it remained 3-1 until the 81st minute.

Cefni then notched a fourth after more superb battling in the penalty area by Cox enabled Catrin George to score her first goal for the team – a lovely composed side-footed finish.

Northop Hall 1 NFA 5

Two-goal star Ashleigh Mills was player of the match for an NFA side which completed a fifth straight league win.

Sade Benjamin put the visitors in front via a 12th minute penalty before Sarah Massey levelled for the hosts to make it one-apiece at half time.

The second half saw NFA take charge. Benjamin knocked in her 10th goal of the season on 65 minutes and the Hall then had Daisy Allen red-carded.

Ashleigh Mills made it 3-1 on 74 minutes and soon after Benajmin provided the assist for Megan Pursell to net her first goal of the campaign.

Pursell then turned provider as Mills added her second before the final whistle.

Flint Town United 4 Caernarfon Town 3

This match has already been reported on in-depth by Grassroots North Wales.

Rosie Hughes (2), Jess Collings and Talia Jones shared Flint’s goals, while Lisa Jones plundered a hat-trick for the battling Cofis.