Town silence the Cofi's at the Oval

Caernarfon Town 1-2 Holywell Town

The top of the table clash between the two former Welsh Premier sides lived up to its billing and on a bitterly cold night, the game didn’t disappoint in a dress rehearsal for the FAW Trophy semi final that will be played in a couple of weeks time.

The match kicked off and the first half chance fell to Holywell Town, Paul Pritchard was put under pressure by Steve Thomas and his attempted kick fell to Ian Griffiths, but his shot was too tame and the keeper gathered well. Then, a few minutes later, Caernarfon Town broke with speed and Darren Gowans found time on the ball and his shot flew inches over Danny Stanton’s crossbar.

On 18 minutes, the visitors made the breakthrough. Ian Griffiths was put through and he chased the ball but Clive Williams showed good speed to race over to clear teh ball out for a corner. The corner was taken short, and Tony Roebuck crossed the ball into the box, and the keeper could only fumble the ball under pressure by Griffiths, and the ball fell kindly to Graeme Williams who struck the ball home to give the visitors the lead. Caernarfon nearly equalised a few minutes later. Stanton was forced to pull off a good save from a Lee McArdle free kick, and from the resulting corner, Darren Thomas was on hand to head the ball goalwards but Matty Roberts was able to clear the ball off the line to keep Town’s lead intact.

On the half hour mark, Cai Jones had a shot saved well by Danny Stanton who was having a good game in between the sticks for Holywell. Caernarfon Town were put under a bit of pressure by the visitors but we were caught a bit short as Caernarfon Town broke towards Town’s goal. Darren Thomas picked up the ball and carried it goalwards before unleashing a shot which went just over the bar. Graeme Williams could have added a 2nd just before half time, again picking up the ball just inside the box but he had more time on the ball than he thought and snapped at his shot which went over the bar for a goal kick and the score remained Caernarfon Town 0-1 Holywell Town at the break.

Caernarfon Town came out for the second half with the grit amongst their teeth and it paid off as the equalised in the 51st minute. Cai Jones broke clear down the left and beat the defender before crossing a great ball over the box to Darren Thomas who had the simply task of tapping the ball into the net for the equaliser. Another attack by the hosts a few minutes later could have produced their second goal, but a great ball across Town’s box was hit just a little too hard for the despairing lunge of Neil Thomas.

Graeme Williams and Ian Griffiths both tried to get efforts in on goal but were hampered by the defence, and Steve Thomas wasn’t getting much luck on the ball neither as the defence were able to clear the ball away from him before he could run at them. On 65 minutes, Moses Barnett had an effort go inches over after a good lay off by Neil Thomas before Thomas was penalised for a bad challenge on Danny Stanton as both went for the ball. 5 minutes later, more Caernarfon pressure saw Stanton save well from Thomas’ shot before Darren Gowans shot high over the bar.

A few minutes later however, Holywell Town were ahead again. A great cross in by Matty Roberts found Ashley Durham, who controlled the ball well before unleashing a great shot which the keeper saved really well and forced the ball out. The ball fell to Mark Orme who whipped the ball back in where Griffiths was able to head the ball in from a tight angle, much to the delight of the Holywell supporters who were stood behind that goal to restore Town’s lead.

Caernarfon Town threw everything at Holywell in the dying minutes and came close on a couple of occasions, hitting the crossbar with one shot before Stanton saved well again from another effort.

As the referee blew for full time, Holywell Town had won all three points and in-turn, clawed some back on Caernarfon Town, who are now only 4 points ahead of us, and have played 2 more games than us. It was a pleasing result for all Holywell Town supporters who had made the trip down to Caernarfon.