Caernarfon Town FC V The New Saints
Tuesday 11 February, 19:45
Narrow Defeat for Battling Cofis.
Caernarfon 0 – 1 The New Saints.
Cymru Premier League leaders, The New Saints, visited the Carling Oval on Tuesday evening and were given a tough evening against an inform Cofis side that looks more than capable of finished the season strongly.
Richard Davies’ side were without loan signings Jake Canavan, Josh Lock and Blaine Hudson for the fixture as they were not allowed to play against their parent club but with an otherwise full-strength squad to call on, the manager fielded a strong looking side for the challenge.
As so often happens against the full time visitors, Town found themselves carrying early rearguard action but they seemed up for the battle and some solid defending, including one point blank save from Cofis number one, Ben Hughes, to deny Danny Davies, saw the hosts remaining on level terms until the twentieth minute, when Adam Wilson scored for the visitors with an excellent strike from the edge of the penalty area.
There were very few goalscoring opportunities for the remainder of the first half until late on, when Clarke headed wide for the visitors and at the other end Adam Davis did well to turn his man in the TNS area but could not quite manage to put enough power into his effort, which was comfortably saved by Connor Roberts. The hosts seemed to have a stonewall penalty claim turned down a minute before the break when a Louis Lloyd corner was met by Davies, whose goalbound header cannoned off the outstretched hand of Redmond.
Caernarfon had another strong penalty claim turned down by the referee just after the restart as Davies was brought down just inside the box by McGahey, but a free was awarded on the edge of the area, and Lloyd’s effort from set play was inches wide of the upright.
The Cofis gave as good as they got for the remainder of the half but could not breach the New Saints defence and, despite the narrow defeat, the Cofi Army stayed on after the final whistle to show their appreciation for a stirring performance from their team.
Tyn Lon Volvo Garage Man of the Match: Ben Hughes and Morgan Owen (joint).
Team: Ben Hughes, Morgan Owen, Phil Mooney, Ryan Sears, Gruff John, Danny Gosset, Sam Downey, Paulo Mendes, Louis Lloyd, Adam Davies, Joe Faux. Subs (used): Darren Thomas, Matty Jones, Matty Hill. Not used: Hari Thomas, Ryan Austin, Caron Williams, Osian Ellis.