Caernarfon Town FC V Airbus UK Broughton
Friday 31 March, 19:45
Caernarfon 4 – 0 Airbus Broughton.
Caernarfon Town supporters will have approached Friday evening’s match with both expectancy and trepidation. The visitors to the Oval were Airbus UK, a team that has languished at the foot of the Cymru Premier League table throughout the season, and so most teams would have come to expect victory over them in recent months. However, Caernarfon have hardly been in stellar form in recent weeks and so, whilst hopes were high that manager Richard Davies can help turns things around, there may still have been a fear that a lack of confidence evidenced lately may continue to impact the players.
Thankfully, an opening goal after just seventeen seconds for the Cofis seemed to set the tone for the match and it became a rare comfortable evening at the Oval for the Cofi Army. When a Ben Wynne punt upfield was hunted down by Marsh-Hughes, it seemed a lost cause for the striker, but goalkeeper Dutton kicked the ball against him and the ball flew into an empty net, much to the delight of the nervy crowd.
The striker was put through three minutes later by Sion Bradley but this time, Dutton did well to rush out and pull off an excellent double save.
The visitor were dealt a huge blow on seventeen minutes when their captain, former Town leader Gareth Edwards, was shown the red card for a foul on Bradley as he sped into the penalty area. It was a sad last visit to the Oval as a player for the popular veteran, who received applause form both sets of supporters as he exited the action. Bradley failed to score from the resulting penalty as Dutton dived to his right to keep the ball out of his net.
The hosts’ second goal arrived on the thirty minute mark after good work on the right flank by Noah Edwards, who beat his man on the outside before squaring the ball to the onrushing Marsh-Hughes, who slipped the ball past Dutton from six yards.
The visitors, despite the setbacks, continued to work hard and it is to their credit that they fought for every ball and played well in patches, although they never seemed like getting back into the match.
A late flurry of opportunities as the first half approached its final moments saw both Marsh-Hughes and Joe Faux go close to adding a third, but the visitors held on to the break.
The Cofis added the inevitable third goal just a minute after the restart, referee Rob Jenkins awarding a penalty for a trip on Sion Bradley in the box, and this time it was Danny Gosset who took over spot kick duties. Dutton pulled off a second penalty save of the match, but Gosset was first to the rebound and struck in from eight yards.
Most of the remainder of the action took place in the Airbus half as Caernarfon enjoyed the lions’ share of possession, and Noah Edwards and Aaron Simpson going close to scoring before Marsh Hughes secured his hat-trick, this time getting on the end of a Sion Bradley cross before finishing from close range.
Dutton saved Airbus from further embarrassment with a string of decent saves, and the Cofi Army had to settle for four goals and three points as their team tries to navigate its way out of the relegation battle it finds itself in.
Tyn Lon Volvo Garage Man of the Match: Lloyd Marsh-Hughes.
