Newtown AFC V Caernarfon Town FC
Saturday 07 October, 14:30
Town Well Beaten By Robins.
Newtown 4 – 0 Caernarfon.
Latham Park has not been a happy hunting ground for Caernarfon Town and with a sole victory at the home of Newtown since the Cofis returned to the Cymru Premier League six years ago, the travelling Cofi Army will have known that Saturday’s trip to Powys promised to be a tough one.
The hosts were on a run of six victories leading up to the match, whilst Caernarfon had posted an excellent victory at Barry Town last week to continue their impressive start to the season.
Town manager Richard Davies was without Ryan Austin, Darren Thomas and Phil Mooney for the trip but was still able to field a strong side and the Cofis started well, dominating possession throughout an entertaining first fifteen minutes. Sion Bradley carried on his good form as he posed plenty of questions to the Robins rearguard early on, although it must be said that Caernarfon failed to trouble home stopper Andrew Wycherley during this period.
There was an ominous sign for the visitors in the fourteenth minute when Aaron Williams found space in the box but hit the ball directly at Lewis Webb in Town’s goal.
Caernarfon’s Louis Lloyd wanted a penalty three minutes later as his cross in the box seemed to hit Williams on the hand but his claims were turned down by referee Iwan Griffith, who had an excellent game in the middle.
Williams forced an excellent save from Webb in the twenty second minute, as Town’s keeper dived full length to his left to parry the ball wide of the upright.
At the other end, Marc Williams went close to opening the scoring when the ball landed at his feet in the ‘D’ from a clearance, and the midfielder’s first time effort flew inches over the target.
Zack Clarke tested Wycherley on the half hour mark with a low effort after he had outsprinted his marker on the way into the penalty area, but the Robins keeper was quick to get down to the ball and keep his goal intact.
The hosts went ahead in the fortieth minute when Aaron Williams got on the end of an excellent cross from Matty Jones to finish past Webb from six yards. The striker doubled Newtown’s lead in the fourth minute of first half injury time when he controlled a Ryan Sears cross and volleyed past Webb from twelve yards. The two nil scoreline probably flattered the hosts but in truth Caernarfon had not really been able to carve out much by way of goalscoring opportunities, despite some promising play.
Caernarfon started the second period on the front foot and Iwan Cartwright saw his low effort from twenty yards saved by Wycherley whilst Danny Gosset’s attempt from twenty five yards sailed wide.
Despite their best efforts, Caernarfon failed to muster much up front and whilst Louis Lloyd and Sion Bradley did provide glimpses of their threat going forward, Wycherley was not really tested for the final half hour of the match.
Any hopes Town had of getting back int the match were effectively ended in the seventy first minute when Williams scored his hat-trick and, with just five minutes remaining the Caernarfon defence was breached again when Oswell set up Sears, who struck from close range.
It was a disappointing end to another defeat at Latham Park for the Cofis and manager Richard Davies was forthright in his post-match interview:
“We were disappointing today, probably the worst we’ve been this season. We’ve set ourselves standards and we were well below that today.”
Tyn Lon Volvo Garage Man of the Match: Louis Lloyd.
Team: Lewis Webb, Iwan Cartwright, Dion Donohue, Gruff John, Sion Bradley, Daniel Gosset, Ben Maher, Louis Lloyd, Adam Davies, Marc Williams, Zack Clarke. Subs (used): Ben Wynne, Joe Faux, Cai Griffith. Not used: Tom Pritchard.