Momentum growing for four-star Nomads
THE Connah’s Quay Nomads’ JD Cymru Premier revival is gathering momentum and new boss Craig Harrison is hoping to make it a hat-trick of league wins at Caernarfon Town tomorrow night.
A second successive 4-0 win, this time at Bala Town, moved the reigning champions to within a point of the top half of the table and another big win tomorrow could even see them climb as high as fourth place.
“It was a fantastic result, but we aren’t going to get too excited about it,” said Harrison.
“We played really well, scored goals at important times and the penalty in the first five minutes certainly helped.
“We’ve always had a good group of players, but we’ve had some injuries and we are just starting to get everyone fit again.
“We’ve had some good results and we’re delighted to leave a tough place like Bala with three points.
“They are a hard team to play against and you don’t often go to Maes Tegid and win 4-0.
“Now we move on to Caernarfon, who are another tough side.”
The Nomads are now one point behind Bala in seventh place and will overtake fourth-placed Caernarfon if they can win at The Oval.
The Lakesiders have gone into a worrying slump and have gone five games without a win.
They head to high-flying Newtown tomorrow night.
While losing 4-0 to the Nomads was bad enough, they lost skipper Chris Venables to a second yellow card on 62 minutes and then had Kieran Smith sent off in the 76th minute for hauling down Jamie Mullan as the last defender.
Callum Morris gave the visitors a third-minute lead with a penalty before Craig Curran made it 2-0 before the break.
Ryan Harrington added a third four minutes into the second half with an unstoppable 25-yard thunderbolt and then Morris struck again on the hour mark.
Newtown went one better at bottom-of-the-table Cefn Druids as they won 5-0.
Aaron Williams notched up a hat-trick to take his tally for the season to 11. That briefly took him to the top of the scoring charts and there were also two goals for Nick Rushton. Not to be outdone, league leaders The New Saints ensured they stretched their unbeaten record to 12 games with a 6-0 hiding of Haverfordwest at Park Hall.
Having struggled to beat the Bluebirds with the only goal of a tight game earlier in the season, this was a big turnaround.
Declan McManus grabbed a hat-trick to make it a dozen goals to date, including two in three minutes in the first half, and Ryan Brobbel, Danny Redmond and Dean Ebbe scored the others to keep them clear at the top. They head to Aberystwyth next.
Flint Town United stayed seven points behind the leaders in second place thanks to a 3-1 home win over Penybont. Michael Wilde opened the scoring for the home side just before the break and then helped Jack Kenny double the lead early in the second half.
James Waite pulled one back for the visitors, who had assistant manager Martyn Giles shown a red card in injury time. His departure to the stands came moments before Kenny struck for a second time.
Caernarfon Town had a first-half goal from Darren Thomas to thank for their 1-0 win at Cardiff Met, while it ended 1-1 at Jenner Park between Barry Town United and Aberystwyth Town.
Kayne McLaggon put the home side ahead in the 65th minute before Harry Franklin levelled.