Flint down Rhyl thanks to Cadwallader double

Rhyl fell to a disappointing 2-0 defeat in the Huws Gray Alliance against Flint Town United, thanks to a brace from Mark Cadwallader.

After an early Flint effort hit the cross bar, Rhyl started to create chances as they looked to turn round their recent bad run of results and Mike Pritchard was close to connecting to a Joe Culshaw cross in the 10th minute after good play in midfield.

Reece Fairhurst went close when his header from a free kick hit the bar and then a shot from Aaron Hassell was saved well by keeper Aaron Jones for Flint.

With Rhyl having a good spell of play, almost inevitably the away side were able to open the scoring.  Ex Lilywhite Mark Cadwallader hit a shot from the Flint left outside of the area which flew past Rory Crowther and into the back of the net in the 26th minute.

Four minutes later the floodlights went out temporarily which brought a delay in play for about 10 minutes as the floodlights were able to be powered back up.

Flint started the better after the slight break with Kai Wallis going close with a low shot and then Damian Kettley going close.  Rhyl’s best chance fell to Barry Torrence but the striker was unable to control his shot and fired well over.

The second half started positively for Rhyl, Torrence was played in but he was hesitant to get away the shot and was eventually crowded out.  Flint pushed forward and Damian Kettley attempted to win a foul via simulation and was rightly shown the yellow card.  A minute later a dangerous Rhyl break was prematurely ended when Tom Kemp cynically brought down Michael Pritchard with a poor challenge to nulify Rhyl’s chance of breaking.

Rhyl were pushing for an equaliser and following a good run by Kristian Pierce, James Murphy was played in but his shot went well over the bar.

Similarly to the first half Rhyl’s best spell of the game was followed by a Flint a goal.  A run down the Flint right saw the ball played across to Cadwallader and he shot home from inside the box to grab his 10th goal of the season in the 58th minute.

The goal had an impact on Rhyl who struggled to get back into the game.  Half chances fell to Pierce and Gareth Partridge but the breakthrough never came.

With five minutes to go once again Damian Kettley attempted to win a penalty and the referee had no hesitation to show the striker his second yellow for simulation and a deserved red card for his behaviour.

In injury time a Rhyl shot was blocked on the ground by a Flint arm, and to round off a disappointing night for Rhyl, Kristian Pierce’s penalty was comfortably saved by Aaron Jones.

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