Denbigh Town 6 Buckley Town 5 – a game which will be talked about for a very long time

JD CYMRU NORTH – SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

Denbigh Town 6 (Kershaw 6, Worrall 11 & 61, Brown 13 & 51, Pritchard 72)
Buckley Town 5 (Hamilton 6 & 20 pen, B Lockley OG 18, Driscoll 55, Littler 66)

Report: Ollie Williams

This game is likely to be talked about for many years to come.

Ten-man Denbigh moved up to fourth in the Cymru North after edging an 11-goal thriller at Central Park.

Yet this bizarre affair almost never came to being with a huge downpour putting the game in doubt in the afternoon before easing and quashing any fears of a postponement.

Within four minutes of kick-off it was Buckley who had the lead, when Asa Hamilton popped up to poke home a simple finish.

Town rallied and within two minutes were level as a corner routine straight off the training ground found Ryan Kershaw on the edge of the box to rifle home a tremendous effort.

In the 11th minute, the hosts were in front when Matty Worrall received the ball following a break from Nathan Brown and lashed home via a deflection from the edge of the box.

Two minutes later and Brown was in on the act with a beautiful lobbed finish from the left.

However, things took a turn when a free-kick for the visitors found the head of Ben Lockley, who scored an own goal. Lockley soon conceded a penalty which Hamilton dispatched to make it three-apiece.

Just before the break tempers boiled over as Harry Lockley was barged into the advertising hoardings. An off the ball incident in the aftermath saw the left-back sent off with yellow cards also shown to Worrall and Buckley’s Josh Dunroe.

Half-Time: Denbigh Town 3-3 Buckley Town

With Worrall denied twice in the first two minutes of the restart, Brown made no mistake on 51 as he cut in from the left before scooping the ball over Ryan Goldston.

However, the lead lasted just four minutes as Liam Driscoll’s shot from 20-yards flew into the top left corner.

Just after the hour mark Worrall netted his second. Brown again down the wing this time forced the keeper into a stop before Worrall was there to tap in

Buckley again restored parity just five minutes later via Connor Littler – 5-5.

The game felt like it needed a moment of magic in the horrendous downpour to decide it, and it was duly delivered by Craig Pritchard. He picked the ball up in the middle of the park on 72 minutes and beat everyone in his path before slotting the ball home to make it 6-5.

Denbigh almost wrapped it up with a seventh through substitute Olly Hansen, who drew Goldston into a superb save, whilst Ben Lockley’s header from a corner clattered the crossbar.

It’s now five wins on the trot in all competitions for Denbigh and three wins in a row in the JD Cymru North.