JD Cymru North reports – Friday, Aug 23: five in a row for Airbus, Denbigh dazzle, Bay edge it
JD CYMRU NORTH – REPORTS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 23
Denbigh Town 5 Gresford Athletic 1
Report: Ollie Beech
Nathan Brown’s stunning hat-trick was the highlight of a thumping Denbigh win at Central Park on Friday night.
Paul Fleming and Owen Davies also found the net as Town ran rampant at the expense of Gresford..
Manager Dewi Llion made one change to the side that beat Caersws a week previous as Keiron Roberts came into the XI whilst new signing from Prestatyn Town, striker Alfie Vaughan, made the bench.
Denbigh began well and after some close calls took a 26th minute lead.
Athletic goalkeeper Lewis Dutton’s poor pass out from the back was picked up by Sam Duffy who fed it to Davies, and he smashed the ball home.
Against the run of play, the Wrexham-area visitors equalised with 37 gone.
A sloppy pass from the hosts led to a Gresford break which saw fine work down the left from Haci Ozlu result in a cross for Toby Gallagher-Keenan to head home.
Close to half time, a foul in the Gresford box saw the referee point to the spot. Brown stepped up and calmly dispatched his first goal of the campaign.
Half-Time: Denbigh Town 2-1 Gresford Athletic
Three minutes into the second period it was 3-1 when a set piece caused mayhem in the box and Fleming poked home.
Brown’s free-kick from range was tipped over before he bagged his brace on 67. The dazzling talent picked up the ball from 35 yards and lashed it into the top corner.
He almost had his hat-trick three minutes later when yet another free kick had to be palmed over by Dutton.
With 15 to go Brown and Denbigh wrapped it up.
Dutton came rushing out to clear, but wasn’t convincing, and the forward wrapped his foot around the ball from 40 yards to settle it with his 49th goal in 81 appearances for the club since joining at the start of 2022-23.
Airbus UK Broughton 4 Flint Mountain 1
Five straight wins for Airbus who moved five points clear at the summit on Friday night.
A frantic start at the Hollingsworth Group Stadium saw both sides find the net inside the first nine minutes through Kaiden Cooke and Sam Molyneux respectively.
However, The Wingmakers eventually took a firm grip on the match when clinical finishes from Tyler McManus and Kieran Evans opened up a two-goal advantage by half-time.
Mark Allen’s side wrapped up victory in the 89th minute when substitute Sam Baker applied a powerful finish at the back post from Joe Palmer’s corner.
Llandudno 0 Bangor 1876 2
Second-half goals from Joe Culshaw and Corrig McGonigle (pen) earned maximum points at the Go Goodwins Stadium for Bangor.
This match was reported on in depth by Grassroots North Wales on Friday.
Llay Welfare 2 Holywell Town 5
Reigning champions Holywell Town climbed up to third as a dominant second half display earned a 5-2 win over Llay at The Ring.
The Wellmen took an early two-goal lead courtesy of composed finishes from Jake Roberts and Jamie Breese, but were left stunned on the half hour as two goals in quick succession from Bisensio Kamilo and Matthew Worrall levelled the contest.
However, Holywell went back in front just a minute into the second half through Morgan Murray, who capitalised on a goalkeeper error from Mike Jones. A brace from Jake Cooke in the final half hour secured all three points.
Mold Alexandra 0 Colwyn Bay 1
Bay extended their unbeaten run to four matches with a narrow 1-0 victory at Alyn Park.
The decisive moment arrived with 59 minutes on the clock. Seagulls midfielder Tom Creamer jumped in front of Mold goalkeeper’s Joe Smith’s attempted long ball upfield and his contact on the ball was enough to see it trickle over the line.
Prestatyn Town 1 Guilsfield 3
Prestatyn were unfortunate to end up pointless at Bastion Gardens on Friday night.
With Chris Morrell in an overseer role following the departure of manager Matty Roberts on Thursday, Town gave it everything and did everything but score in a second half where they trailed 2-1 only for Guilsfield to bank the points with a late third.
Macauley Taylor’s superb looping header cancelled out Jamie Hyne’s opener for the Guils, but the visitors retook the lead three minutes before the interval through Chris Cathrall’s stunning volley.
The home side did all they could to find another equaliser, but they were left deflated in stoppage time when the Guils added a third through Joe Haycock.
Ruthin Town 2 Penrhyncoch 3
Promoted Penrhyncoch produced a stunning late comeback to defeat Ruthin 3-2 away for their first win of the season.
Jack Edwards’ 25th-minute opener for Town was cancelled out on the stroke of half-time by Dan Owen, but Edwards restored the hosts’ lead in the 70th minute with his second of the afternoon.
Penrhyncoch captain Tomos Evans got his side level again with an equaliser in the 86th minute, before the Roosters completed the turnaround through evergreen substitute Geoff Kellaway who struck the winner in the second minute of stoppage time.