CAERWYS 2

PENYFFORDD LIONS 1

IT has been a terrific start to the season for Caerwys.

They opened their programme with a midweek NEWFA Challenge Cup triumph at Bala Town Reserves.

It was evident that the cup tie had drained many of the Caerwys players as a somewhat lacklustre performance summed up the first half performance against a physical Penyffordd team, who were certainly up for Saturday's game.

Without hat-trick hero Ryan Edge and striker Elgan Hughes, there were few opportunities in front of goal.

The best of these fell to Ruari Wood, who squandered a couple of chances, and livewire John Edmonds hit the post just before the break.

Penyffordd threatened at times with their aerial superiority creating several corners, but they didn’t really test keeper Kirk Russell until the second half.

After the interval, Ruari Wood soon atoned for his earlier poor finishing when he got on the end of a John Edmonds cross to put Caerwys ahead after 46 minutes.

Edmonds, by far the best player for Caerwys, was a constant menace to the opposition with his driving runs down the left flank, but at times he lacked support up front.

After a spell of pressure from Penyffordd, which saw Drew Davies miss a sitter, Dai Booth cleared one off the line.

After this, Kirk Russell made two point-blank saves, but he could do nothing about Brad Cotton’s equaliser.

The substitute latched onto a ball played over the top and he was quick to react and fire in the equaliser from 12 yards out with 12 minutes left.

Russell was again called into action to deny Penyffordd with a decent save at close range, before his long clearance found the unmarked Tom Cumming, who calmly lobbed keeper Nick Owen with two minutes to go.

Caerwys face Nefyn Utd next Saturday in the Welsh Trophy (2.30pm).

It will be their first meeting in over 12 years, when both clubs were in the Welsh Alliance.