CORWEN'S final Ardal North East League match of 2021 ended in a narrow 3-2 home loss at the hands of Penycae.

In mild conditions, Corwen made a promising start with James Davies' shot being blocked and Scott Evans' follow-up forced the first save of the day from Penycae keeper Benjamin Darlington.

Corwen did take the lead after a quarter-of-an-hour.

William Scott gave the ball away to Tom Williams, who lobbed an effort over Darlington and into the back of the net.

It was level once more after 31 minutes.

The hosts failed to clear their lines and Evan Woodall unleashed an unstoppable pile-driver of a shot into the top corner of the net from the edge of the box.

After the interval Penycae looked to take the lead from a free kick, but Jaden Jones could only send his effort whistling wide of the post.

Jones had another shot soon after, which was parried by Corwen keeper Josh Williams and he recovered to gather at the second attempt.

Penycae took the lead on 57 minutes.

Evan Woodall's corner found the feet of Kieran Smith and he fired into the net.

Woodall was in the thick of the action again four minutes later.

He played a low shot along the goal line, which didn’t look as if it had gone in.

However, an eagle-eyed linesman spotted that the ball had narrowly crossed the line before rolling back again and waved his flag to signify that a goal could be awarded.

The deficit wasn’t two goals for long, though.

Two minutes later Oliver Jones headed the ball into the back of the net from a Scott Evans corner to bring Corwen right back into the game.

It was the away side that went close to scoring next, as one of their players curled a shot at goal and it smashed against the post.

Josh Williams was called into action on a couple of occasions.

Firstly, he saved a snapshot with his legs and then he saved from Joshua Mazzarella.

In stoppage time, Scott Evans floated a free kick from the halfway line as Corwen sought a leveller, but it was gathered by Darlington.