10 man Cofis beat Llanfair
CAERNARFON Town entertain Holywell Town at The Oval this Saturday knowing a win could all but clinch them runners-up spot in the Huws Gray Alliance.
The Canaries picked up another three points with a 2-1 triumph at Llanfair United last weekend.
Iwan Williams’ side had won 7-0 at the same ground in the Welsh Cup a fortnight earlier, but the return tussle was much harder.
The Cofis may have been hindered by the dismissal of Rob Jones in the 24th minute but even at that stage, the hosts had already shown a marked improvement from their previous capitulation.
Town were in the ascendency from the off and Danny Brookwell warmed the hands of Chris Brown in the second minute when he cut inside from the left flank and beat his marker before testing the keeper with a low shot.
Jamie Breese was then put through by Danny Sullivan but the striker’s attempted lob flew well over the target, while Rob Jones also found himself in a promising position as he got on the end of a long ball from Darren Thomas, but the midfielder could not quite manage to get a clean connection on the ball.
Although Caernarfon were dominating the action, Rhys Stephens’ men were steadfast in defence and also looking to use the pace of James Davies and Toby Evans on the break. They were given a boost when referee Alex Livesey gave Town’s Jones his marching orders for a tackle in midfield.
With Caernarfon forced to tweak their system, Toby Evans went close to putting the hosts ahead after a Nathan Williams clearance fell to him on the edge of the area but he scuffed his shot wide.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Caernarfon continued to enjoy plenty of possession and Gareth Edwards was a constant threat during set-pieces, the big defender twice going close to putting his side ahead as he rose well at the back post to threaten at corners.
The breakthrough finally arrived just before the interval when Llanfair failed to deal with a corner and Breese and Edwards were both involved as the ball pinged about the box before Sullivan finished from close range despite the despairing dive of Matthew Spencer on the goal-line.
Llanfair got back on level terms four minutes after the restart when Caernarfon failed to deal with a cross into the box and Paul Griffiths finished well with an excellent 20-yard effort.
Llanfair’s tails were up at this point but still they struggled with Town’s quality, and the Cofis soon regained their grip on the match, Edwards and Thomas going close to finding the target before the latter finished emphatically past Brown in the 64th minute following a smart move involving Breese and Chris Williams.
Breese went close to securing the points but missed the target by inches, while at the other end, Clive Williams came to Caernarfon’s rescue when he pulled off an outstanding last gasp tackle.