A late Druids fightback wasn’t enough to stop Flint Town United taking all three points at The Rock this evening.
A goal in either half from Richie Foulkes and Mark Cadwallader was enough to give the Silkmen their second win in three Cymru Premier matches and ruin Bruno Lopes’ home debut.
Both sides went into the game making two changes apiece from the weekend. Alex Darlington and Stefan Edwards took the places of Cody Ruberto and Josef Faux in the Druids starting XI, while Nathan Craig and Kyle Smith started in place of Mark Cadwallader and Matthew Russell for Flint.
The game got off to a lively start with both sides looking to play attractive passing football, ultising their wing backs to good effect. Steff Edwards down the left, and Wesley Baines on the right, for Druids and Flint respectively, showed early signs of menace.
The home side had the better of the earlier exchanges and had the ball in the net early on. Naim Arsan thought he’d scored for the second game running when he tucked in a loose ball, after Alex Darlington forced a great save from John Danby with a long range curling effort. It was not to be, however, as the linesman’s flag came to Flint’s rescue.
Minutes later Arsan broke free on the right hand side and powered a shot at goal, which was well held by Danby.
It was Flint who made the break through on 26 minutes. Conor Harwood won a free kick twelve yards in from the goal line on the left side of the area and Wes Baynes whipped delivered was met by the head of Richie Foulkes to make it one nil.
Despite the bright start, Druids went off the boil and found themselves bogged down in midfield until Jamie Reed found a little space late on, only to see his shot rebound out for a corner and the sides went in with the score one nil at the break.
The second half began much the same as the first with both sides taking turns to attack, only to be thawted by well organised defenses.
Wes Baynes shook the Druids bar and the rebound fell to goalscorer Foulkes, who found Michael Jones in fine form to deny him a second. Jones then launched a counter-attack, which saw Jamie Reed denied from close range by Danby.
Moments later, Druids thought they had the equaliser as the ball was in the net. Once again, though, the flag of the assistant referee was to prove their tormentor and deny Niall Flint as he turned in the rebound from Arsan’s saved drive.
Flint brought on Mark Cadwallader on 68 minutes and ten minutes later he doubled the lead, beating the offside trap and firing past the advancing Jones into the far corner.
Cadwallader nearly put the game to bed less than a minute later but his shot was put behind for a corner.
Bruno Lopes made a double substitution with less than ten minutes remaining, bringing on Harry Fuller and Kieran Smith. Smith moved to right-back, pushing Iwan Cartwright up to right-wing.
The change bore fruit minutes later as Cartwright picked the ball up on the wing and placed it into the path of Jamie Reed, who turned it into the net with four minutes to go.
Druids thew everything at Flint in the final minutes and were adamant of a handball in the box late on. The referee signalled a corner kick instead and time eventually ran out for the home side.
An entertaining and lively encounter ended with a win for the Cymru Premier new boys.
Cefn Druids: Michael Jones, Naim Arsan, Jamie Reed, Harry Brazel, Alex Darlington, Niall Flint (Kieran Smith, 82), Iwan Cartwright, Ben Barratt, Tom Reilly, Jacob Wise, Steffan Edwards (Harry Fuller, 82)
Goals: Jamie Reed 87’
Yellow Cards: Harry Brazel 36, Ben Barratt 65, Niall Flint 66, 76,
Flint Town United: John Danby, Nathan Craig (Ben Burrows, 87), Wes Baynes (Tom Kemp, 82), Ben Nash, Brandon Burrows, Richie Foulkes, Alex Titchiner, Kyle Smyth, Callum Bratley, (Mark Cadwallader, 68), Conor Harwood, Darren Thornton.
Goals: Richie Foulkes 25, Mark Cadwallader 77
Yellow Cards:
See how Flint Town United defeated the Cefn Druids at The Rock here:
(Featured Image: John Smith)
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