Holywell Town 3-1 Guilsfield

Holywell Town welcomed 2nd place Guilsfield to Halkyn Road and the Wellmen, fresh from beating neighbours Flint Town midweek were full of confidence in getting another result to round off the week.

The game started and both teams tried to get the upperhand, and the first chance came on 8 minutes as Tony Roebuck put in a cross towards Steve Lewis and Danny Drasduskas, but the ball was cleared for a corner which came to nothing. With quarter of an hour on the clock, the visitors had a chance when a good break by Jack Richards saw the ball fall to Aaron Edwards who fluffed his shot high and wide of Mike Platt’s goal.

With 20 minutes played, Town were involved in a great move as Josh Roberts fed the ball out to Roebuck whos cross found Graeme Williams who turned and shot and the ball was defelcted out for a corner. Another Steve Thomas corner was launched into the box and Tom McElmeel saw his header cleared off the line and the loose ball fell to Danny Drasduskas but his shot was also blocked on the line then cleared for another corner. The next corner saw the deadlock broken as the ball came over again and Dafydd Griffith was at the far post and headed the ball into the net to give the Wellmen the lead. It was a great spell of pressure for Holywell which paid off.

Guilsfield looked to get back into the game and Adam Jenkins had an effort blocked and deflected out for a corner off Brett Cotton. The corner came to nothing but shortly afterwards, the visitors had another chance as Mark Davies broke down the right and his dangerous cross was cleared by Brett Cotton with Jack Richards ready to pounce for the ball. Mark Davies then blasted high and wide before Town had an effort on goal as Tom McElmeel had a shot deflected and Drasduskas swung a boot at it and the keeper done well to block it with his legs. The last action of the half saw Dafydd Griffith concede a free kick on the edge of the area, but Jack Harris low free kick was gathered well by Mike Platt.

The second half started brightly for the Wellmen, Steve Thomas’ corner was met by Tom McElmeel at the far post but his header hit the cross bar and was cleared to safety. Steve Lewis was getting more and more into the game as the game went on, and on 49 minutes, he turned in and out past his marker but his cross into the danger area was gathered by the keeper. Guilsfield had a couple of efforts early in the half but took the lead in the 58th minute through Sam Litchfield, who followed up and headed home after a Guilsifeld free kick hit Mike Platt and bounced back into play where Litchfield just had to place his header home!

On 72 minutes, the dangerous Ross Ankers had a great shot across the face of goal, but the keeper was down well to parry it before it was cleared to safety with Stuart Hayes ready for the loose ball. A few minutes later however, Town took the lead. Steve Lewis was put through by Tony Roebuck and he was brought down by Ashley Roberts, the Guilsfield keeper in the far corner of the penalty area, and the referee Iwan Griffith didn’t hesitate and pointed to the spot. Tom McElmeel stepped up to take and his effort flew in to give the Wellmen the lead. The Wellmen had the grit between their teeth now and Steve Thomas flew down the left wing and beat his man and his inch perfect cross was met by Lewis who hit the ball with power and it was deflected out for a corner before cleared to safety.

Guilsifled’s Chris Catherall saw his Free Kick fly over the bar before Town wrapped the game up with 7 minutes of the 90 remaining. Lewis again involved as the ball came over the top for him to chase and he flipped the ball past Sean Jones, who brought Lewis down inside the area, and referee Griffiths once again pointed to the spot and sent Jones off, despite the protest by his team mates. McElmeel one again stepped up and made no mistake from the spot to give Town a 3-1 lead.

The referee blew for full time shortly afterwards and the Wellmen picked up their second win of the week, and the win moves Town up to 6th in the Huws Gray Alliance League. The performance wasn’t the best we’ve seen the Wellmen play but the lads will once again be buoyed by the win ahead of the local derby against Buckley Town in the Word Cup in a few days time.