Canaries lose top spot to County
CAERNARFON lost their place at the top of the JD Cymru Premier Playoff Conference after a 1-0 defeat at Pontypridd, combined with victories for Haverfordwest County at Aberystwyth Town, and Flint Town at home to relegated basement boys Airbus UK Broughton.
Caernarfon’s 1-0 defeat at USW Sports Park came thanks to Ben Williams-Margetson’s strike for Pontypridd five minutes before the break.
Haverfordwest climbed above Caernarfon at the top thanks to Ioan Evans scoring the only goal of the game at Park Avenue six minutes into the second half.
Flint stay third after they inflicted a 25th defeat of the season on bottom club Airbus UK Broughton.
Zack Clarke put the hosts ahead in the seventh minute at the Essity Stadium, but Joseph Palmer’s 25thminute equaliser earned Airbus parity at the halfway stage.
Flint’s winner arrived just before the hour-mark as defender Danny Harrison struck.
Caernarfon can regain top spot at least briefly with victory at home to now-struggling Aberystwyth this Friday, but with still just three points separating the top four, the pack is likely to shuffle several more times over the remaining six games. ● THE chasing pack missed a chance to cut The New Saints’ lead at the top of the JD Cymru Premier Championship Conference.
TNS saw their match against Bala delayed by the weather (see below), but their huge lead was only reduced by a point as Penybont and Connah’s Quay Nomads drew 1-1 in the battle between third and second.
Ben Nash put second-placed
Connah’s Quay ahead in the 65th minute but a penalty from Kane Owen eight minutes from time earned the hosts a point at the SDM Glass Stadium.
The match was overshadowed by a serious injury suffered by Nomads substitute Kris Owens in stoppagetime. A total of 18 minutes were added as a result of the treatment he received.
Cardiff Met missed the chance to leapfrog Penybont in third place as they were held to a 0-0 stalemate at home by Newtown.
The New Saints had to push back their 1,000th Premier League outing against Bala Town at the weekend because of heavy snowfall .
An inspection was carried out on the 4G surface at Park Hall and it was deemed unplayable.
The match went ahead a day later with The New Saints winning 2-1 in a matchup to be repeated in the JD Welsh Cup final.
Speaking before the match, TNS boss Craig Harrison said: “Colin Caton has done a great job over a long period of time at Bala and they are going to come feeling confident after their big cup semi-final win over Connah’s Quay Nomads”.
“You can look at the other scores between us this season and think it is going to be a gimme, but it is never like that against Bala.
“It is going to be a big game for the club being the 1,000th league game. I’ve been involved in more than 250 of those and it will be a proud moment for me to be part of an historic moment for the club.”
Harrison’s prediction of a tough match was borne out when Ryan Brobbell’s opener was quickly cancelled out by Nathan Peate for Bala, with TNS having to wait until the 89th minute for Ryan Astles to find the winner that took them 17 points clear, with the title now surely a formality.