Caernarfon Town FC V Haverfordwest County
Saturday 11 February, 14:30
Cofis Much Improved in Victory.
Caernarfon 2 – 0 Haverfordwest.
Caernarfon kicked off the second phase of the season in great style today as they put on one of their best performances of the season. The visitors to the Oval were Haverfordwest, who were in seventh position before the start of play, and with the Cofis in eighth, and just two points behind, it promised to be a close and hard fought encounter, which is certainly was.
The hosts could have gone in front in the second minute when Marsh-Lloyd found himself in a promising position in the box but his low effort was smartly saved by Zac Jones. From the ensuing corner, Iwan Cartwright rose above everyone at the far post but his downward header bounced before being tipped over the bar by Jones. Jones was in action again a minute later when he comfortably held on to a Benn Wynne effort.
Josh Tibbetts got in on the action in the sixth minute when he palmed away an Elliott Duggan effort and the stopper was grateful to Gruff Jones a minute later when the non-nonsense defender blocked a shot by Leahy.
The hard working Marsh-Hughes went close in the thirteenth minute when an acrobatic overhead effort was tipped over the woodwork by Jones, and the same two players were at it again three minutes later, this time the Caernarfon striker disappointed as he failed to find the power to trouble the keeper from close range.
With the action pretty much end to end, it was the turn of Tibbetts to keep the match scoreless when he rushed out to block a certain goal for Ben Fawcett who had got on the end of a Jenkins header.
There was very little goalmouth action for the remainder of the half, until a late rally from the Cofis saw Gruff Jones and Ben Wynne go close to break the deadlock.
The second period began evenly, with Caernarfon’s midfield duo of Noah Edwards and Danny Gosset gradually getting on top and, from the hour mark, it seemed that the Cofis turned up the tempo and began dominating possession.
A wild effort from Darren Thomas in the sixty first minute seemed to signal an upturn in Town’s efforts going forward and just a minute later Jones had to pull off an excellent save to deny Danny Gosset’s curled effort that had seemed destined for the bottom right hand corner of the keeper’s net. Caernarfon went in front from the ensuing corner after Marsh Hughes got on the end of a Sion Bradley corner at the far post and headed into the six yard area where Laurie Bell pounced to hit the ball into the roof of the net from five yards.
With Haverfordwest trying t get back into the match, they were leaving gaps in midfield and Darren Thomas was seeing plenty of the ball in the final stages of the match, his jinking runs from deep a highlight of the proceedings late on.
Recent signing Rhys Alun Williams was introduced to add a sparkle up front and the striker showed his intent with his first touch, a sizzling low effort on goal that Jones did well to get down to and palm away. He nearly set up Bradley with a low cross a minute later and, with seventy minutes on the clock, he set up Darren Thomas, who took full advantage of the space he was afforded in the box by beating the advancing Jones to double Town’s lead, and give them an advantage that they never looked like giving up.
Bradley nearly added a third late on, but Huw Griffiths had to settle for their two goal lead at the final whistle and, after a poor run of results the Cofi manager will hope that his side has finally turned the corner as they go in search of a play off place.
Tyn Lon Volvo Garage Man of the Match: Josh Tibbetts.
Team: Josh Tibbetts, Cai Powell Roberts, Laurie Bell, Gruff John, Iwan Cartwright, Danny Gosset, Noah Edwards, Ben Wynne, Lloyd Marsh-Hughes, Darren Thomas, Sion Bradley. Subs (used): Rhys Alun Williams, Rob Hughes, Cai Griffith, Osian Evans. Not used: Ryan Woods, Aaron Simpson, Jonathan Anderson-Ogbomo.
