Canaries suffer 6th league loss in a row
PENYBONT added to Caernarfon Town’s misery as they hammered them 5-1.
It was a ninth game without a win in all competitions for the Canaries and a sixth defeat in a row in the top tier as their slide down the table continued.
Rhys Griffiths’ home side bossed proceedings and were three goals up by half-time. Keyon Reffell scored within nine minutes and Ryan Reynolds and Josh Yorwerth added further first-half goals.
Kostya Georgievsky made it 4-0 in the 72nd minute and seven minutes later Iwan Cartwright knocked in a consolation score for the Canaries. The final nail in the visitors’ coffin was applied by Tom Tweedy in the 82nd minute.
Caernarfon will have hoped to get back on track against surely relegation-bound Airbus last night (match played after going to press).
Above Airbus, just five points separated the other five lower-half (Playoff Conference) teams before last night’s matches, so anything between relegation and qualification for the European playoff spot that rewards 7th place is still a realistic possibility.
The New Saints were able to move even further ahead at the top of the JD Cymru Premier League thanks to their latest win and the 0-0 draw nearest rivals Connah’s Quay Nomads had at Newtown.
It means the unbeaten leaders are now 11 points clear with two games to go until the end of the league’s first phase.
They were pushed hard at Park Hall by Haverfordwest County before emerging 3-1 winners.
Having led 2-0 thanks to goals from Ben Clark and Ryan Brobbel in the opening 20 minutes, TNS found themselves under threat just past the hour mark when Ben Fawcett cut the gap after he got on the end of a Jack Wilson cross.
That made it an interesting final quarter, but star striker Declan McManus made the game safe in the 84th minute with his 15th goal in as many games in the league this season.
“At 2-0 you need a third goal to kill off the game, but we didn’t quite get that. Then they scored to get back into the game,” said McManus, who had been out injured for six weeks.”
Bala Town gained revenge for their defeat at Pontypridd the previous weekend as they ran out 3-0 winners.
Skipper Chris Venables opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a simple header. Lassana Mendes recycled a ball from Naim Arsan and then dinked a cross towards the head of Venables, who simply couldn’t miss.
The second came five minutes into the second half when Luke Wall fired in an excellent shot after Ponty thought they had cleared the danger.
Mendes added a third for the home side in the 72nd minute.
Aberystwyth Town remain in the relegation spots after claiming a point from a 1-1 draw at Flint Town United. But they ended an alarming run of five successive defeats in which they leaked 25 goals.
Everything looked to be going well when David Evans made it three goals in as many games with a 38th-minute strike.
The Seasiders held on to their lead until the 72nd minute when Flint’s teenage star Harry Owen levelled matters.
To make it an even bleaker night for the visitors, they had Billy Kirman sent off in the first minute of added time for a second yellow card.
Airbus’s bid to get their first win of the season looked promising when they changed ends at 0-0 in their home clash with Cardiff Met.
But Harry Owen broke the deadlock on the hour to edge the Archers in front.
The visitors lost Sam Jones in the 66th minute when he picked up a second yellow card, but finished things off with a 95th-minute goal from Craig Davies to make it 2-0.