Williams praises Llandudno squad for “smash and grab” win
Iwan Williams praised his side for their “smash and grab” performance as Llandudno claimed three crucial points at Cyncoed Campus in what was their first away win of the season.
Llandudno managed to record their first away victory courtesy of a Toby Jones strike in the 70th minute, despite the visitors not being at their best according to the team’s manager.
“It’s one of them where it’s a smash and grab, you know we weren’t at the races.” He added. “I thought we started well, bright kept the ball and then obviously Danny (Hughes) going off injured disrupted us a bit and made us look disjointed.”
“But yeah we had a feeling we went into half time calmed everyone down and that if we kept our composure and get our noses in front, we would win the game and that’s exactly what we done.”
After winning their first away game since facing Bangor City on the 1st January, the former Caernarfon manager knew that coming to Cardiff would be no easy outcome.
“It was a very difficult game, Cardiff Met away is always going to be a tough one but we came with a game plan and that was thrown into the wind after twenty minutes after losing our captain.”
“But once we got our tails ahead I thought we sat in and defended really well. So yeah very pleased.”
Williams praised match winning goal scorer Toby Jones, who scored his first goal of the season for the Seasiders, with a thumping drive past the helpless Esa Aalto.
“Fantastic goal, but we know that Toby has got that in his locker and if gets half a yard he’ll find the top corner and he’s done that really well today.
“It’s time for Toby to kick on now because that’s his first goal of the season. So, I’ll be demanding a lot more about him going forward.”
After failing to score in their opening three games of the season, and taking four games to pick up a victory, Llandudno have now recorded back to back wins after beating Barry Town last weekend and then Met on Sunday.
“Huge encouragements you know, people have written us off since the season began really.”
“We kept going, we kept believing and we’ve got a fantastic changing room,” he added, “A camaraderie, togetherness.”
“You name it we got it and I know people looked at us when we lost to Cefn Druids. I’ve looked at things on social media saying that we could have had two points after eight games.
“With the four games we’ve had after Cefn Druids which was Barry Town at home, today (Sunday) at Cardiff Met, Connah’s Quay at home next week and Bala Town away.
“But we are not fearful of anyone. We know what we’ve got and we are up and running.”
With Jones scoring the winning goal in the 70th minute, that was the Seasiders first goal they had scored in the second half this season.
“Fantastic, that’s good to know, all the little things like that is good to know because you can work on things then going forward. Vital information like that is key for our planning and preparation.”
After bringing in players to help strengthen the team like Kai Edwards and Mike Pearson from Connah’s Quay Nomads, Williams was quick to praise his defence.
“For me best centre halves in the leagues hand down and clean sheets win games and with Shaun Pearson behind them and Stevie Thomas one side and Ieuan (Hewitt) came in today and Zyaac’s (Edwards) been playing in there. Players doing roles, unfamiliar roles and they are doing it well which again epitomises the spirit we have and we are looking forward to Connah’s Quay next week now.
