Connah's Quay Nomads V Caernarfon Town FC
Friday 18 November, 19:45
Cofis Disappointed with Share of the Spoils against Nomads
Connahs Quay Nomads 3 – 3 Caernarfon
A share of the spoils at the Deeside Stadium is usually an excellent result for any team. However, having outplayed the hosts for long periods on Friday evening, Caernarfon were disappointed to succumb to a late aerial bombardment that eventually saw the Nomads salvage a point in injury time.
Town manager Huw Griffiths had insisted before the match that his players were good enough to halt the hosts’ run of eleven successive victories and they certainly seemed to start full of confidence, Gruff John almost putting the Cofis ahead in the second half, his strike from twenty yards just inches too high of the target.
Caernarfon continued their good start by playing through their opponents and looking dangerous up front, where Nomads seemed to struggle with the pave of O’Rourke and March-Hughes.
Town took control of the match courtesy of a tenth minute opener, as Fidel O’Rourke got on the end of a Sion Bradley corner and headed in at the far post. Joe Faux went close to adding a second just five minutes later but his effort twenty five yard effort flew over the bar.
The Nomads had originally tried the play football at the back but Town’s quick start saw them revert to norm as they pushed centre half George Horan up front, which resulted in a much more direct approach as they looked to bypass midfield.
The change in tactics seemed to work initially as they started getting the ball into Town’s penalty area and Horan hit the woodwork with a header in the nineteenth minute. Town keeper Josh Tibbetts was then forced to tip over a Michael Wilde header before then doing the same to thwart an effort from Ryan Stratulis.
However, Caernarfon weathered the storm and, for the final third of the first half, they seemed the likeliest to score. Following a period of pressure from the Cofis, O’Rourke was frustrated to see his shot from close range deflected off a defender for a corner, from which Aaron Simpson headed wide with the goal at his mercy. O’Rourke threatened again four minutes from the break when he got on the end of a Danny Gosset cross but he headed inches wide when well placed.
The visitors were back on the front foot early after the restart and, following an excellent move in the fiftieth minute involving Gruff John, O’Rourke and Marsh-Hughes, Joe Faux picked the ball up on the right flank, cut inside his man and curled a low effort beyond the diving Andy Firth and into the far corner of his net.
Town went three ahead in the sixty fifth minute after Bradley’s cross from the left was half cleared by a defender and Marsh-Hughes was on hand to head past Firth from close range.
Shell-shocked from finding themselves three behind, the incessant aerial bombardment increased as the hosts lumped ball after ball into the Caernarfon box. They were rewarded with a Nash goal in the sixty ninth minute and set up a dramatic final quarter when Joe Malkin glanced a header past Tibbetts to pull the hosts just a goal behind.
A combination of good defending and two good saves from Tibbetts seemed to have secured all three points for the visitors but, with injury time in its fifth minute, Caernarfon struggled to deal with another cross into their six yard box, and Malkin scored from a yard out to deny the Cofis the victory.
Tyn Lon Volvo Garage Man of the Match: Josh Tibbetts.
