RUTHIN TOWN 2

HOLYHEAD HOTSPUR 4

THEY'VE done the business against high-flying Porthmadog and Bangor City this season.

However, Ruthin Town have had plenty of trouble against basement side in the Huws Gray Alliance Holyhead Hotspur this season.

Following two cup losses earlier in the campaign, Chris Williams' charges suffered a league loss at home to the Anglesey outfit over the weekend.

Although Holyhead are propping up the table, Ruthin knew they were likely to be in for a tough contest on Saturday.

Town made a bad start to the contest and Hotspur took the lead after just four minutes.

When a free kick was awarded for a backpass offence, Tomos Clarke netted the ensuing free kick from 12 yards.

Ruthin responded and they were able to level things up on nine minutes.

A free kick was awarded for a foul on Gwion Owen and from 25 yards, skipper Ilan Hughes impressively curled the set piece into the far top corner of the net to make it one-apiece.

The game was very scrappy for the next quarter-of-an-hour, with neither side able to put any passes together.

However, the next crucial moment went in Ruthin's favour on 23 minutes.

They won another free kick and it was Ryan Jones who superbly netted the set piece to give his side the lead.

With Holyhead looking to respond, Ryan Goldston saved well with his legs from Mel McGuiness, who was proving to be a handful for central defenders Kev Evans and Tom Dyer.

At the other end, Ryan Jones nearly put Town 3-1 up on stroke of half-time when his shot from the edge of the box just cleared the crossbar.

As with the opening period, Ruthin made a poor start to the second half.

It was level again just four minutes after the restart when visiting midfielder Tomos Clarke found himself free in the box and he brilliantly curled an effort to the far corner of the net, leaving Goldston with no chance.

Holyhead went ahead two minutes later.

A scramble occurred in the box from a corner and the linesman indicated that the ball had crossed the line before Izzy Edwards cleared.

Mel McGuiness was awarded the goal.

From then on, Holyhead saw the game out quite easily.

Ruthin did have one decent chance to make it 3-3 when good work by Llyr Morris found Ryan Jones in the box, but he took too long too shoot and the chance was gone.

It was game was over with 10 minutes left.

When Town conceded the ball high up the pitch, a long ball freed Clarke to complete his hat-trick.

It wasn’t the way Ruthin wanted to finish their home campaign on what was a farewell to outgoing chairman Paddy Carney.

There's still plenty for Ruthin to play for this season and they have two away games left to play in their efforts to achieve a top-six finish.