WINNING RUN IS UP TO EIGHT
WITH an 11-point lead at the pinnacle of the Huws Gray Alliance, things are looking good for Llandudno as they target a ninth straight league win at struggling Penycae this Saturday.
Tudno will be more than happy with a repeat of their 5-1 scoreline they achieved at home to the Wrexham area side last September.
Alan Morgan’s men kept their title quest bubbling with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Porthmadog last Saturday. Although it was a close contest at Maesdu Park, Seasiders assistant-boss Richard Hinds felt the final margin could have been more emphatic.
“A fantastic result, I’m really pleased for everyone, I thought we thoroughly deserved it,” said the former Hull City defender.
“I think sometimes from the outside it looks like the opposition had a lot of possession, but we created a lot of chances and I think we could’ve scored more.
“If we‘d come off the field with a 3-0 victory I don’t think that would have been a surprise.”
Llandudno started strongly and created an early chance when Toby Jones drilled the ball into the box, but Gareth Evans could not adjust his feet in time to launch an effort at goal.
Port’s defence made life tough for the hosts, but Tudno went close when a 20-yard curler from Lee Thomas was brilliantly saved by Richard Harvey.
Josh Hartrick had an opening for the visitors when he was through one-on-one with keeper Connor Wearing, but a perfectly- timed tackle from James Joyce foiled the Port striker.
On the hour the leaders suffered a blow when Toby Jones went on with an ankle problem to be replaced by new signing from Mold Alexandra, Lewis Buckley.
And Buckley played a part in the game’s only goal on 69 minutes.
The former Mold man showed good control before finding Danny Hughes and he set up Marc Evans, whose shot was touched by Harvey, but carried enough power to find the net.
It was Evans’s 24th goal of the campaign in all competitions.
Porthmadog rallied strongly and the hosts were indebted to defender Arran Pritchard for a vital goal-line clearance late on after Wearing had saved from Josh Davies.
Tudno held out for a 17th league win in 21 starts which includes 10 clean sheets.
Llandudno: Connor Wearing, Joe Williams, James Joyce, Arran Pritchard, Richard Hinds, Tom Dix, Gareth Evans, Danny Hughes, Lee Thomas (Leo Riley 73), Toby Jones (Lewis Buckley 61), Marc Evans (Peter Jones 82).