Gogs down champs: P39 Canaries battle for point at Barry Town
Port suffer second Flint Town defeat
CAERNARFON Town gained a creditable draw at Jenner Park and denied a Barry Town United victory that would see them reach an alltime Cymru Premier total of 900 points.
After losing to The New Saints on the opening weekend, Caernarfon’s form has improved and they won their first league game at Airbus UK last time out.
Jamie Breese had the best chance of the game for the Canaries, looking to chip home goalkeeper Michael Lewis from inside the box but the stopper kept it level.
Momodou Touray returned for the home side and nearly made himself a hero late-on but squandered a great opportunity to win the game for Barry in the closing stages.
Barry aimed to try and pass their way through the visitors’ defence and Cardiff loanee Sion Spence combined with Kayne McLaggon to cause problems for Sean Eardley’s side.
The visitors were intent on catch- ing the hosts on the break and were finding success on the wings.
Arguably the best chance of the half went begging for the Canaries, as Gareth Evans weaved his way into the Barry penalty area only for his low effort to fly past the post from a promising position.
Caernarfon keeper Alex Ramsey was called into action when he had to save as Spence directed his header goalwards.
The home side looked for the long-ball at the start of the second period and found success with McLaggon’s pace in behind the Cofi’s back-line.
The forward burst into the area from the right after latching onto a ball over the top, slamming a halfvolley towards goal but Ramsay was equal to it, pushing the ball away from danger down low.
Barry Town looked the more likely side to clinch all three points in the second half but Caernarfon nearly went ahead when a mix-up in the back line saw Breese one-onone with Lewis.
The visiting number nine tried to chip the stopper, but a strong hand meant that the home side were able to clear.
As chances continued to go begging for both sides, substitute Touray nearly stole three points for Barry in added time.
A quick counter-attack found McLaggon on the right, as the forward once again used his pace to cause havoc for the Caernarfon defence.
Switching the play superbly to find Touray just inside the area, the substitute worked himself some space before blasting an effort well over the bar from a strong position.
Caernarfon will be happier with the point and are sixth as they return home to play Penybont next weekend.
When asked after the game by the club’s official Twitter account if he was happy with a point, boss Eardley said: “At the start of the day we would have settled for a point being realistic, always a very, very tough place to come.
“Barry have got some great quality players and I’ve said in the past about their management team, I’ve got a good relationship with them, they’ve got a fantastic set of players to work with every week.
“But at the same time, so have I and I thought the players to a man today were brilliant, when our backs were against the wall we defended resolutely.” PORTHMADOG suffered their fourth successive defeat at the start of the season as they were beaten 3-1 at Flint Town United.
Having been put to the sword by Flint just a month ago in a Nathaniel MG Cup tie, it was with some concern that supporters ventured to Cae Castell once more.
Their worst fears were realised within the first half hour as August Player of the Month, Mark Cadwallader helped himself to a hattrick.
Things, at that stage, looked even bleaker than on the last visit but Jay Gibbs led the fight back with a goal on the stroke of halftime.
Port dug their heels in and a much improved second half performance meant that they kept parity during the second period with no more goals coming in the second 45 minutes.
After six minutes defensive woes struck again with the Port offside trap receiving no approval from the linesman which allowed Cadwallader to score from close range.
Things got worse for Port on 16 minutes when Cadwallader chased forward getting a toe poke to the ball ahead of the advancing Paul Pritchard which was enough to find an empty net.
With 28 minutes on the clock Cadwallader completed his hat-trick this time with a looping effort from just outside the box going over Pritchard’s outstretched arms.
Late in the half Port staged a fight back with a dangerous Gethin Thomas cross being diverted away by keeper Danby’s fingertip save. Then in the final minute of the opening half Gibbs cut the deficit when his powerfully struck 25 yard free kick took a huge deflection which left the home keeper stranded.
Gradually Port were picking their game up gaining far more possession and were forcing Flint back.
When Tony Davies brought down Gibbs the midfielder, who was turning in an outstanding performance, took the free kick himself and it needed an excellent save from the keeper to keep him out.
Telor Williams then followed up with a shot which went close and the improvement for Port continued but the elusive second goal refused to materialise.
The search for the first points of the season continues, but boss Sion Eifion Jones and the supporters will be encouraged by the second half fightback against strong opponents.