Match of the Day 2: Ardal North West League – Llay Welfare 2 Llangefni Town 1

ARDAL NORTH WEST – SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23

Llay Welfare 2 (Lloyd 64, Taylor pen 70)
Llangefni Town 1 (M Jones pen 85)

Llay maintained their fantastic league form as they leapfrogged Llangefni into top spot with Saturday’s win over the Anglesey side at The Ring.

Since losing their opening Ardal North West match of the season at Flint Mountain by a narrow 2-1 margin, the Wrexham-area team have gone unbeaten in six.

Wins over Brickfield Rangers, Holyhead Hotspur, Hawarden Rangers, Saltney Town and now Llangefni, plus a draw with Llanrwst, see them heading the table.

A tremendous 3-0 home triumph over CPD Y Rhyl 1879 in the League Cup only added to the feeling of well-being at the club since former Gresford Athletic boss Steven Halliwell became joint-manager alongside Mike Gadie.

Saturday’s game was a battle of the top two and after a goalless first half, Welfare took the lead when Rhys Lloyd reaped reward for an all-action performance by netting the opener on 64 minutes.

Six minutes later, Llay won a penalty which Jared Taylor smashed home to double the lead.

After that, the hosts sat back a little and Llangefni produced a big finish, pulling one back through a Matty Jones spot-kick.

However, the hosts held on for a cracking win which further boosted the positive air at the club this season.

Joint-manager Halliwell said: “Although we were missing three first team starting players today, I felt we absolutely dominated the game from start to finish.

“Unfortunately, our lack of killer instinct in the final third looked like it was going to cost us the three points, but getting the lads in at half-time, regrouping, and giving them the instructions of what we actually wanted proved decisive in the end result.

“Rhys Lloyd worked his socks off all game and got his reward with a goal, and then Jared Taylor smashed a penalty away to give us the 2-0 lead.

“As with many teams with a lead with 10 minutes ago, we sat back and invited the pressure and Llangefni capitalised, earning their own penalty and putting us under a lot of pressure for the final five minutes, but we were able to withstand that and hold on for a well-deserved victory.”

• Today was a fitting victory for a miners institute considering the anniversary of the Gresford mining disaster of September 22, 1934 when an explosion and underground fire killed 266 men.  The minute’s silence at the Llay game in their honour was respected impeccably.

LLAY WELFARE

Kyle Flower
Ryan Dacey (Dean Bryan 59)
Jared Taylor
Max Peate (c)
Adam Williams
Matthew Thompson (Dan Lloyd 71)
Kian Turton (Michael Wright 71)
David Macintyre
Rhys Lloyd (Tom Wells 71)
Cavan Daley
Owen Roberts (Will Nevitt 60)

LLANGEFNI TOWN

Steve Sinclair
Gari Owen (c)
Jack Williams
Alun Roberts
Ieuan Lloyd
Dylan Thomas
Gerwyn Roberts
Jack Smith
Matty Jones
Cameron Jones (Osian Tomlinson 87)
Harry Galeotti (Iwan Sawicz 89)