Penybont 1-2 Flint Town United: quick-fire double gives Silkmen victory

Flint Town United picked up a much-needed three points against Penybont in the Cymru Premier at the SDM Glass Stadium.

Two quick-fire goals by Sam Hart and Callum Bratley gave Neil Gibson’s side their fifth victory of the season.

Despite a late consolation by Lewis Clutton, Penybont left it too late and were unable to salvage a point and due to results elsewhere, Flint Town remain in 11^th spot.

Rhys Griffiths’ side missed out on their chance to increase the gap between Barry Town United in their game in hand.

The visitors arguably started the better of the two sides, with early pressure and intensity prominent.

Josh Amis had the first chance of the game. The Flint striker got on the end of a Sam Hart cross before heading wide of the far post.

The next chance fell to Penybont, when Kane Owen’s free-kick from wide found Kostya Georgievky in the box. The winger’s header hit the side netting.

Penybont enjoyed a fantastic passage of play around the half-hour mark and were unlucky to not create a clear-cut chance due to strong defending from the Silkmen.

The deadlock was broken when a corner from Hart ended up in the back of the net. It was unclear whether there was a touch or not, although it seemed to cross the line directly.

Flint doubled their lead just five minutes later, with a Tom Kemp cross from the right-hand side being converted superbly by Callum Bratley.

Amis nearly capitalised on a defensive mistake early into the second half, but Ashley Morris reacted well to come off his line and clear.

Play was delayed for a few minutes due to a coming-together which saw four players see yellow, with the cards being distributed evenly.

Owen fired over the crossbar from outside the box.

Half-time introduction Lewis Clutton injected pace and intensity into the Penybont side.

Amis put the ball into the back of the net just after the hour mark, but the referee blew for a free-kick against the striker on Ismail Yakubu.

Georgievsky came close to halving the deficit when he cut in from the right before shooting wide of the near post.

Less than a minute later, Amis was played through on goal before being denied by a fantastic Ashley Morris save.

Georgievsky was denied by the side netting once again in the final 10 minutes.

Nathan Wood was next to have a shot on goal, as his attempt from range flew over the crossbar.

Goal-scorer Bratley came close to doubling his tally late on, but his chipped effort was off target.

Wood then forced a fantastic diving save out of Jonathan Rushton, when his left footed shot was denied.

Clutton finished superbly in injury time, but Penybont were unable to find an equaliser.

Penybont: Ashley Morris, Kane Owen ©, Ashley Evans, Dan Jefferies, Kostya Georgievsky, Lewis Harling, Ben Ahmun (Sam Snaith 46’), Nathan Wood (Rhys Stevens 88’), Oliver Dalton (Lewis Clutton 46’), Connor Davies (Matthew Harris 46’), Ismail Yakubu (Billy Borge 83’).

Goal; Lewis Clutton (90’)

Yellow Cards: Kane Owen (54’), Lewis Harling (54’), Dan Jefferies (87’)

Flint Town United: Jonathan Rushton, Sam Hart, Ben Nash, Kai Edwards, Richard Foulkes ©, Josh Amis, Alex Jones, Callum Bratley, Conor Harwood (Tom Weir 78’), Ben Maher, Tom Kemp (Edmond Clarke 63’).

Goals: Sam Hart (36’), Callum Bratley (41’)

Yellow Cards: Ben Maher (11’), Ben Amis (47’), Conor Harwood (54’), Richard Foulkes (54’), Kai Edwards (87’), Ben Nash (89’)

(Featured image: Lewis Mitchell)