Caernarfon Town’s women strike late to edge seven-goal thriller

NORTH WALES WOMEN’S WEST LEAGUE – FEBRUARY 4

Trearddur Bay 3 (McMullan 14 & 45+2; Thomas pen 43)
Caernarfon Town 4 (Brown 4, Evans, L Jones 74, Murphy 90+7)

Lauren Murphy’s 97th minute goal clinched a dramatic win for Caernarfon who recovered from 3-1 down at half time to make it back-to-back league victories on Sunday.

Back in October, the Cofis had lost to Trearddur Bay by the same score at The Oval, so the return brought sweet revenge for Owain Jones’ side.

Whereas Town were in action the previous weekend, celebrating a 2-0 home win over Llanystumdwy, Trearddur were playing their first match in four weeks.

With just the bare 11 available, Caernarfon took a fourth-minute lead against the run of play, Llinos Hughes setting up Amber Brown to find the net.

Trearddur still felt confident they would get back into the game, attacking with the wind on their side.

They applied pressure and won lots of free kicks and corners. In the 14th minute, Shelley McMullan took a corner and the wind helped the ball end up in the back of the net for the equaliser.

From here, the hosts took control and created lots of chances.

Gemma Thomas hit a free kick from just inside Caernarfon’s half, which forced a good stop from Luned Williams.

The keeper got a leg to the ball and the rebound fell to captain Ashleigh Jones, who blasted over the bar from inside the six-yard box.

The Anglesey side maintained the heat, striker Amelia Roberts chasing down every loose ball.

On 43 minutes, Trearddur were awarded a penalty when a Caernarfon player believed she had won a free kick inside her box, handled the ball, but a spot-kick was given against her.

Thomas stepped up and made no mistake, smashing the ball into the bottom right corner.

Bay were fired up at this point, keen to use the wind to their advantage and get another goal before the interval.

Thomas won the ball in midfield and found striker Roberts, who showed good skill before firing at goal, Williams parried out, but McMullan followed up and was rewarded for her hard work with a simple tap in to make it 3-1 at half time.

Half-time: Trearddur Bay 3-1 Caernarfon Town

Bay were under more pressure in the second half, playing against the strong wind.

Great defending was shown at times by three at the back; Chloe Taylor, Clare Head, and Catrin Jones, who worked well together.

Caernarfon’s second goal was deemed slightly controversial by the hosts as their midfielder Thomas was down with a head injury, but the referee allowed play to go on, resulting in Manon Evans making it 3-2.

Bay opted to bring on fresh legs. Head, who was returning from injury, was taken off for Abbie Manning, and Sarah Flower was replaced by Saffron Williams.

Trearddur had some good chances, through Freya Williams making lots of tricky runs, winning free kicks.

Thomas took a one such set-piece just outside the box, but dragged it wide.

Caernarfon used the wind well, and equalised in the 76th minute when a quick ball over the top led to a throw-in, which was taken repidly, and resulted in a goal for Lisa Jones to make it three-apiece.

The last 10 minutes were very competitive, with neither team settling for a draw.

Caernarfon’s effort paid off at the end when a high looping ball cleared everyone, including goalkeeper Gemma Lancaster, and found the net courtesy of Lauren Murphy.

Trearddur pushed for an equaliser, which almost came when Rhian Griffiths found herself free on the right and crossed in a wicked ball, but Abbie Manning was millimetres from getting on the end of it.

Bay will feel disappointed to have ended up pointless, but credit to Caernarfon for battling until the end.

Town manager Jones said: “I’m beyond proud of the ladies to say the least!”

Woman of the Match for Caernarfon was Manon Evans once again!

TREARDDUR BAY

Gemma Lancaster
Chloe Taylor
Freya Davies
Gemma Thomas
Shelley McMullan
Ashleigh Jones (c)
Catrin Jones
Amelia Roberts
Rhian Griffiths
Sarah Flower
Clare Head
SUBS
Abbie Manning
Stacey Evans
Saffron Williams

CAERNARFON TOWN

Luned Williams
Bethany Pritchard
Jess Lane
Anest Parry
Amber Brown
Llinos Hughes
Manon Evans
Lauren Murphy
Lisa Jones
Cara Owen
Jasmin Hughes