Hotspur woes grow with Mold defeat

IN the JD Cymru North, Mold Alex made life even more difficult for bottom club Holyhead Hotspur as they beat them 3-1 with goals from Dan Warren (2) and Haci Ozlu: Dylan Summmers-jones got one back on 65 minutes but it was scant consolation.

Time is fast running out for Hotspur, now eight points adrift of safety with just five games to play, starting at home to Cefn Druids on Saturday.

Holywell Town banged in five goals to boost their confidence ahead of their top-of-the-table clash at Colwyn Bay this weekend.

The Wellmen went on the rampage at Penrhyncoch with Jake Cooke helping himself to an eightminute hat-trick before David Forbes joined in the fun to make it 4-0 by the break.

Things slowed down in the second half, with Aidan Farren adding a fifth on the stroke of time.

The home side made life even more difficult for themselves when they lost Owain James to two yellow cards in the 54th minute. They are now one off the bottom a mere two points clear of Holyhead Hotspur.

● In the Welsh Blood Service League Cup (North) semi-finals, Colwyn Bay stayed on course for a league and cup double as they beat Guilsfield 4-1 to set up a final clash with Porthmadog, who needed penalties to beat Chirk AAA after the game ended 1-1 after 90 minutes.

In the four-way race for Ardal North-west honours, Bangor 1876 returned to winning ways – and back up to second place – with a 2-0 victory at Hawarden Rangers Tom Clarke and Gethin Thomas the scorers. Next up for 1876: home to Saltney on Saturday.

● While there were celebrations at The New Saints after a 0-0 draw earned them a 15th JD Cymru Premier League title, there were commiserations at Caernarfon Town, where long-serving manager Huw Griffiths lost his job after a 1-0 defeat.

The Cofis lost ground on Haverfordwest County, 4-0 winners at home over bottom of the Play-off Conference side Airbus UK Broughton, and now face an uphill struggle to force their way into the Europa League play-offs at the end of the season.

Haverfordwest boast a four-point lead and the sacking of Griffiths comes after nine defeats in the last 13 games.

“It’s never an easy task to part ways with the manager. This season has been extremely disappointing after a promising start,” said Caernarfon chairman Paul Evans.

“Having enjoyed success under Huw’s guidance over the past two seasons, when we lost one European play off final and won last season’s play-off only to be denied a European spot due to the co-efficiency points, we felt we should give him every opportunity to get things right this term.

“I’m afraid there is no guidance book on how to run a football club and so the board felt that this was the fairest and correct way to go about things. Unfortunately, we did not see an improvement and the last two performances have been very poor.

“Although things have not worked out this season, I don’t think anyone can question Huw’s commitment to the role and pride in being our manager.

“Everyone at the Oval thanks him and wishes him the very best of luck in the future.”

Richard Davies will step up to lead the team for the final five games, which start this weekend with a trip to Conference leader Haverfordwest, who had goals from Ben Fawcett, Ioan Evans, Jamie Veale and Dan Hawkins in a game that ended as 10 a side as both teams had players sent off.

Niall Flint was the hero for the Aberystwyth Town as he came up with the only goal of the game just before the break at The Oval. Caernarfon’s chances of getting back on terms took a dent when they had Laurie Bell shown a straight red in the 54th minute.

It may not have been pretty at the Deeside Stadium, but Craig Harrison’s New Saints side ground out the draw they needed to retain their title with five games to go.

That made it 15 titles this century, along with seven second places and one third place finish to underline their total dominance of Welsh club football.

“Winning the league with five games still to go is testament to the winning mentality of this group of players and coaches,” said manager Craig Harrison.

Harrison started the season at the Nomads before returning to Park Hall. His side has lost only once all season and dropped a mere 13 points in 27 games to secure Champions League football this summer.

TNS dominated the first half in terms of possession, with Neil Gibson’s Nomads content to sit deep. That meant there were few opportunities. Ryan Brobbel went the closest in the 14th minute when his curling effort required a strong hand from home goalkeeper Andy Firth to turn over the crossbar.

Leo Smith brushed the side netting and when a shot from Declan Mcmanus appeared to strike the arm of Nomads skipper George Horan in the box, there were cries for a penalty.

It wasn’t given and the stalemate continued to the end before the champions were able to celebrate.

TNS still have the JD Welsh Cup to defend against Bala Town, while the Nomads will be hoping to stay in second place to take the other automatic qualification spot for European football.

Kane Owen was the hero for Penybont as they won 1-0 at Newtown to move to within a point of the Nomads in second.

Bala Town and Cardiff Met played out a goalless draw in the other game in the Conference.