Caernarfon Town FC V Colwyn Bay FC
Friday 01 August, 20:00
Cofis Kick Off Temporary Residency in Style.
Caernarfon 3 – 0 Colwyn Bay.
Caernarfon kicked off their season long residency at Llandudno’s Go Goodwin Stadium with a solid victory over Colwyn Bay in the Nathaniel MG Cup.
The Cofis have vacated their own home, the Oval, due to redevelopment and if Friday’s opener is anything to go by, they can look forward to an interesting season.
The visitors were Colwyn Bay and Mike Wilde’s team will have approached the match with plenty of confidence, having regained their place at the top tier at the first attempt last term.
Town manager Richard Davies has been busy during the summer months, bringing in no less than seven players into his squad, with five of them making their competitive debuts in the yellow and green, three of whom were in the starting eleven whilst returnee Zack Clarke also started.
Clarke was first to threaten the scoreboard when he cut inside from the left but his powerful shot was too high to trouble Bay stopper Rhys Williams.
It would be fair to say that the match was a typical early season affair during the opening quarter as the sides settled into the competitive environment but a pattern soon emerged as the Seagulls seemed happy to try and contain the hosts with a low block inside their own half and Caernarfon began dominating the ball. Clarke again went close in the twenty eighth minute but was unable to react quickly enough to meet an Adam Davies knockdown that sped across the six yard area.
The Cofis were enjoying plenty of success down the flanks with both full backs, Morgan Owen and Matty Jones, providing crosses into the danger but Bay’s defence managed to stand firm. Until the thirty eighth minute that is, when Forde brought Clarke down when he was about to tuck the ball in at the far post. The striker stepped up for the penalty and sent Williams the wrong way to core Caernarfon’s first goal of the season. Forde was given his marching orders and, with one man short for the remainder of the match, Bay were never really back in the match.
To be fair to the visitors they seemed to rally at the start of the second period without looking too dangerous up front but Caernarfon continued to probe. The midfield four of Gosset, Mendes, Lewis and Downey kept control throughout and with Davies and Clarke looking sharp up front it seemed a matter of time until they further consolidated their advantage.
There were a few close shaves in front of the Bay goal and Connor Roberts was called into real action on just one occasion to pull off a fine stop in the Cofi goal before Town eventually doubled their lead, and in some style too!
There seemed to be plenty of Bay defenders to deal with Adam Davies when Mendes found him in the box in the seventy eighth minute but the tall striker turned inside his marker and planted the ball into the top far corner of Williams’ net. An exquisite finish from the Cofi Army favourite and on this showing there may well be a few more magical moments yet from the number nine.
Connor Evans finished off the scoring when he finished from close range after Williams had parried out an Osebi Abadaki shot and the recent signing pounced to make it three nil.
Tyn Volvo Garage Man of the Match: Paulo Mendes.
Team: Connor Roberts, Morgan Owen, Matty Jones, Ryan Sears, Dominic Smith, Iwan Lewis, Sam Downey, Danny Gosset, Paulo Mendes, Zack Clarke, Adam Davies.
Subs: Phil Mooney, Darren Thomas, Connor Evans, Osebi Abadaki, Osian Ellis. Not used: Hari Thomas, Gruff John.