Cymru Premier – great start to second phase for Caernarfon Town and Flint
CYMRU PREMIER LEAGUE
Play-Off Conference
Two North Wales teams made a great start to the second phase of the JD Cymru League season on Saturday.
Flint Town United whipped Aberystwyth Town 5-0 at the Essity Stadium, while Caernarfon Town saw off Haverfordwest County 2-0 at The Oval.
Caernarfon Town 2 Haverfordwest County 0
Report and photos: Paul Evans
One of Caernarfon’s best performances of the season gave them the early leadership of the Play-Off Conference.
Lloyd Marsh-Hughes had an early chance for the Canaries, but his low effort was smartly saved by Zac Jones.
From the ensuing corner, Iwan Cartwright rose above everyone at the far post but his downward header bounced before being tipped over the bar by Jones.
Town keeper Josh Tibbetts got in on the action in the sixth minute when he palmed away an Elliott Duggan effort and the stopper was grateful to Gruff Jones when the non-nonsense defender blocked a shot by Jack Leahy.
The hard working Marsh-Hughes went close in the 13th minute when an acrobatic overhead effort was pushed over the woodwork by Jones.
With the action pretty much end to end, it was the turn of Tibbetts to keep the match scoreless when he rushed out to block a certain goal for Ben Fawcett, who had got on the end of a Lee Jenkins header.
There was very little goalmouth action for the remainder of the half, until a late rally from the Cofis saw Gruff Jones and Ben Wynne go close.
From the hour mark, it seemed the hosts turned up the tempo and began dominating possession.
Jones had to pull off an excellent save to deny Danny Gosset’s curled effort.
Caernarfon went in front from the resulting corner after Marsh-Hughes got on the end of a Sion Bradley delivery at the far post and headed into the six-yard area where Laurie Bell pounced to hit the ball into the roof of the net.
Recent signing Rhys Alun Williams was introduced to add a sparkle up front and the striker showed his intent with his first touch, a sizzling low effort that Jones did well to palm away.
With 70 minutes on the clock, Williams’ calm and astute pass set up Darren Thomas to drill home and make it 2-0.
Caernarfon: Josh Tibbetts, Cai Powell Roberts, Laurie Bell, Gruff John, Iwan Cartwright, Danny Gosset, Noah Edwards, Ben Wynne, Lloyd Marsh-Hughes, Darren Thomas, Sion Bradley. Subs (used): Rhys Alun Williams, Rob Hughes, Cai Griffith, Osian Evans. Not used: Ryan Woods, Aaron Simpson, Jonathan Anderson-Ogbomo.
Flint Town United 5 Aberystwyth Town 0
Report by Nigel Sheen. Photo: Geoff Quinn
This was just the type of start Flint fans would have wanted to kick off Phase 2 of the 2022-23 Cymru Premier season.
Manager Lee Fowler promised his side would approach the second half of the league in an attack-minded manner and he was as good as his word, as the Silkmen recorded their biggest win of the campaign.
The home side took the lead after just four minutes. After Bobby Beaumont had won possession back on the right wing, he found Okera Simmonds who then delivered a fine early cross and Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro got on the end of it to beat keeper Matthew Turner.
Aber looked to quickly hit back, and Brandon Diau had to be alert to clear the ball from just in front of his goal line after John Owen slid a shot past glovesman Harry Allen as he came out to meet him.
The hosts extended their lead on 21 minutes, from a well-worked corner routine.
Anthony Stephens rolled the ball towards the edge of the box, and the incoming Simmonds smashed a shot through a crowd of players into the back of the net.
Any chance of a second half comeback by the visitors was dealt an almost fatal blow within a minute of the restart when Flint scored their third.
Tyler Garratt received the ball out wide from Akpa-Akpro and his cross from the left picked out Zach Clarke, who rose to head beyond the reach of Turner to claim his fourth goal in just two starts.
Akpa-Akpro converted a penalty awarded for a foul on Clarke before a great team goal rounded off the scoring for the Silkmen with a few minutes remaining.
Danny Harrison, Ben Hughes and Rhys Kavanagh all combined well to knock the ball around in a triangle on the right. Hughes then released Kavanagh, who crossed across the face of the goal, and Diau was at the far post to side-foot home.
Harvey Drazdauskas was introduced towards the end of the game, making him the youngest Flint player to appear in the Cymru Premier at the age of 16 years and 10 months.