Hat-trick ace Asa is at it again in Shield
ASA THOMAS made it a hat-trick of hat-tricks with his third treble in as many games when Holyhead Town romped to a 6-1 victory at Gwalchmai in the first round of the Gwynedd League Bob Owen Memorial Shield.
Craig Brodie’s men got off to the perfect start when Thomas found the back of the net after just three minutes.
The striker latched onto a pinpoint pass from Tom Hadley and calmly slotted the ball past the advancing Rhys Roberts in the Gwalchmai goal.
The Harbourmen continued to press for the second but were thwarted by a resolute home defence.
The first half ebbed and flowed but both sides failed to trouble the scoreline.
Half time saw Brodie making a change with Sean Murphy replacing Ian Williams.
Within 10 minutes the switch had the desired effect as Murphy doubled Town’s advantage with his first of the season.
Again Hadley played a pivotal role by providing a precise cross for Murphy to head home.
The next eight minutes saw Town net two more.
First it was Jordie Murphy who found the route to goal, notching up his 14th of the campaign, and next Thomas got his second with a curling effort into the far corner to make it 4-0.
Any aspirations of a clean sheet were dashed, however, when a slip from the evergreen Mike Davies led to a simple finish for Corey Sinnott to reduce the arrears.
Holyhead were still hungry for more and Jordie Murphy got his second of the afternoon.
He skipped past three would-be challengers before calmly slotting under the advancing Roberts.
With time running out the question was could Thomas grab his third hattrick on the bounce and in the 81st minute he did just that, finding the roof of the net after neat work by Luke Roberts.
Thomas now has 22 goals in just 13 appearances.
Menai Bridge Tigers took the spoils 4-3 at Talysarn Celts in another first round tussle.
On a heavy pitch, after 30 minutes two-down and forced into a pair of early substitutions, it did not look good for the Tigers. But with the Talysarn keeper having a rush of blood his hasty clearance fell to Guy Hughes, who calmly chipped in from 30 yards.
Then on the stroke of half time the keeper did the same and Andy Clarke was in a great position to roll the ball into an empty net.
The talk at the interval was to be Picture: ALED JONES more positive to get at the opposition and the half was two minutes old when a brilliant cross from Dale Owens was volleyed home by Clarke.
Menai dominated but could not get the killer fourth. Then with 10 minutes left Talysarn scrambled an equaliser.
Bridge showed great character to pick themselves up and with two minutes left Owain Roberts hit a curling shot into the top corner to win the tie.
Postponed: Bro Goronwy v Llangoed and District.