Match of the Night: Hawarden Rangers 1 Penyffordd Lions 0 (North East Wales Division 1)

Goal celebration for Hawarden Rangers

North East Wales League Division 1 – Wednesday, August 27

Hawarden Rangers 1 (Iwan Jones 47)
Penyffordd Lions 0
Attendance: 120

Report: Shaun Best

Hawarden Rangers are off the mark for the season following a hard fought 1-0 victory over Penyffordd Lions at the Gladstone on Wednesday evening.

Iwan Jones’s second half effort proved to be the difference in a tightly fought game that saw both sides reduced to ten men late on.

Coming into the game on the back of a three-game winning streak in league and cup, Lions perhaps would have been the pundits’ picks to continue their run of form.

In a cagey opening, home goalkeeper Joseph O’Connor saw a game of head tennis finish with the ball sailing over his crossbar. Penyffordd’s Matthew Bithell then sent a weak free kick straight into the grateful shot stopper’s gloves.

At the other end, Hawarden’s Thomas Bridges put the after burners on to chase down a route one clearance and force Leigh Williams to block a shot with his legs. Williams proved just as good with his hands beating away Scott Davies’s effort as the frontman advanced on goal.

Penyffordd captain Marcus Davies tested O’Connor’s reflexes with a more vicious free kick just before the break. Team-mate Luke Peters also failed to capitalise on a poor defensive header and his subsequent chip landed on the neighbouring tennis court. Not quite the set of new balls the two bewildered players were anticipating.

The breakthrough came straight after the restart. Scott Davies threaded through cleverly for Jones then continued his run. With Penyffordd anticipating a return pass, Jones ghosted through traffic and into the box, before placing a low effort underneath Williams and into the net.

Penyffordd’s Brandon Jones saw a close range header strike a post, but that was as close as the visitors came to finding an equaliser. They had to rely on Williams to run out and thwart Scott Davies again before the ‘keeper instinctively stuck out a leg to prevent Joshua Robertson’s low effort from finding the net.

Tempers boiled over late on when a coming together led to a mini melee. Hawarden’s Haydn Cartwright and Penyffordd’s Peters both saw red for their parts in the skirmish.

Despite the setback, both teams kept going but there were no more goals.