Strikers are sharp as Llangefni hit five in Ynys Môn derby

NORTH WALES WOMEN’S FOOTBALL LEAGUE – APRIL 2

Trearddur Bay 1 (Davies 68)
Llangefni Town 5 (Coulson 13, J Jones 17 & 31, F Thomas 73, Cox 85)

A rare tactic of employing a front three paid handsome dividends for Llangefni as each of the trio made the scoresheet.

Dan Gregg’s side added another impressive win to their record with a 5-1 success at Lon Isallt on Sunday.

Llangefni made the short journey to fellow islanders Trearddur Bay looking to make it five games unbeaten in the league.

With regular centre midfielder Catrin George missing, manager Gregg and assistant Liam Ewing took the opportunity to try a rarely used formation and play three up top – Ellie Coulson, Jess Jones and Jen Cox.

With the pitch in good condition and the wind down, Llangefni managed to start well and played some nice football pinning Bay in.

The pressure paid off after just 13 minutes when Coulson lobbed over an on-rushing Gemma Lancaster for her 11th goal of the campaign.

Four minutes later strike partner, 17-year-old Jess Jones, was played through by captain Nia Ginnelly and finished clinically to make it 2-0 to Cefni.

Trearddur settled and responded well until the 31st minute when Jess Jones bagged her brace to make it 3-0 before time and settle any derby nerves.

Bay started the second half on top and pressured Llangefni from the off. It paid off when Gemma Thomas struck well for Freya Davies to tap in and give the hosts a lifeline.

Both teams had good spells until Ffion Thomas in the 73rd minute put the game to bed for Llangefni with her 12th goal of the season.

Then in the 85th minute Cox made it 5-1 with her 21st this term, meaning all 3 strikers got themselves on the scoresheet.

Special mention for Trearddur keeper Gem Lancaster who earlier saved a penalty from Jess Jones to deny the youngster a hat-trick. Lancaster stopped the initial shot, then recovered to prevent the ball rolling over the line.

After the match, Cefni boss Gregg said: “Top performance today, really disciplined. We asked the team to play in a different formation and pointed a few things out that we’d need to adapt beforehand, and the players executed it perfectly and to see the 3 strikers get on the scoresheet just shows it worked.

“With 1 less midfielder we didn’t lose our usual work rate and Hannah Owen and Ffion Thomas showed some immense effort to tuck in and get out wide when we had possession as did the industrious Ellie Coulson.

“All areas of the team are showing such a good understanding and relationship now and we’ll need it for this run in if we want to hold on to what we have and make this a second season to remember.”

Players of the Match

Trearddur Bay: Freya Davies
Llangefni: Ffion Thomas

TEAMS

Trearddur Bay

Gemma Lancaster
Hannah Smith (Abbie Manning 85)
Clare Head (Catrin Jones 43)
Gemma Thomas
Shelley McMullan
Yasmin Wilcox
Ashleigh Jones (c)
Freya Davies
Rhian Griffiths
Sian Roberts (Stacey Evans 84)
Chloe Taylor

Llangefni Town

Jessica Marshall
Cara Hughes
Marissa George
Nia Ginnelly (c)
Ellie Coulson
Hannah Owen
Jess Jones (Sharlee Owen 86)
Megan Summers-Roberts (Mared Roberts 86)
Ffion Thomas
Llinos Hughes