Town come from behind to beat Llanrug

Both teams looked to take control of the game and chances were few and far between during the opening period of the first half. It was Llanrug who drew first blood in the 17th minute as Carl Griffiths broke the deadlock, firing home the loose ball after Danny Stanton made a great save off Rhys Roberts’ shot. A few minutes later, Town were unlucky not to equalise as Mark Orme’s header hit the cross bar from a Sam Jones corner. Town were beginning to create chances now and Ian Griffiths set up Tony Roebuck, but his shot was easily dealt with by Neil Perkins in the Llanrug goal. Town then thought they had won a penalty as a defender handled the ball off Sam Jones’ cross but the referee waived play on and it wasn’t given.

Disaster struck a few minutes later, Ashley Durham slipped as he was about the pass the ball back to Stanton to clear, and Rhys Roberts ran on and picked up the loose ball before running towards Stanton’s goal and firing in a shot which beat Stanton to double the visitors’ lead. The Wellmen did not let this affect them and a minute later Steve Thomas has narrowed the deficit. Sam Jones ran down the right and whipped in a great low cross which Thomas just had to touch and it flew in past Perkins. The game settled down again and Llanrug came closest to scoring for the remainder of the half, as Andrew Williams saw a header fly over the bar from a corner and the scores remained 1-2 at the break.

The teams came out for the second half and Holywell piled on the pressure. Town won an early corners which was cleared but minutes later, Town won a free kick and Sam Jones whipped the ball over to the far post and Ashley Durham made up for his earlier slip by firing the ball home past Perkins to level the scores.

This angered the Llanrug keeper who thought he had been impeded leading up to the goal and a few minutes later, he vented his frustration out on Steve Thomas, who was running through on goal and Perkins grabbed him and forced him to the ground. The referee had no alternative but to point to the spot and Perkins was lucky to only see a yellow card. Thomas picked himself up and took the spot kick which beat Perkins to give Town the lead for the first time this afternoon.

The goal gave Town the lift they deserved and Ian Griffiths went close, shooting wide from a Sam Jones free kick into the box. Thomas and Jones both had half chances but then, Llanrug scored on the break through Andrew Williams who picked the ball up on the right, ran towards goal then fired a shot which nestled into the top corner with Stanton beaten. Llanrug thought they could grab another and Williams was only inches over heading towards goal from a corner.

Town withstood the pressure and minutes later, had restored their lead through Steve Thomas. Sam Jones lay the ball off to Steve who’s first time shot flew into the top corner with the keeper well beaten to register his hat trick for the afternoon.

Llanrug looked to grab a point as Rhys Roberts fired over when in a good position and Dylan Owen saw his free kick hit the wall and go out for a throw in but Town hung on and the points were staying at Halkyn Road. It was a great win by the Wellmen who showed great character coming back from 2 goals down to record the win. The win also saw that we have scored 92 goals this season which is a great amount to score and we will be looking to add to that on Monday against Bodedern.