Penybont 1-1 Caernarfon Town: Honours even as Jones cancels out Wood
General View of Bryntirion Park during the warm up. Penybont v The New Saints in the JD Cymru Premier at Bryntirion Park on the 11th September 2021. Credit: Lewis Mitchell
Penybont draw 1-1 at home for the fourth successive time this season as Cai Jones cancels out Nathan Wood’s opener at the SDM Glass Stadium.
Nathan Wood opened the scoring after 35 minutes, before Cai Jones equalised in the second half.
Penybont were totally dominant in a rainy first half, but failed to make the pressure count beyond Wood’s goal. The home side will be left to rue a host of chances, including a penalty that was saved.
The game started with a very high tempo, and it was the home side who got the first chance of the game. James Waite chipped a cross into the box, which Wood then headed to Sam Snaith. However, Snaith’s header was deflected over for a corner.
Snaith then had another opportunity shortly later. This time Wood created the opportunity with some great trickery to get past Gruff John, but Snaith headed the cross over.
Mael Davies had showed plenty of glimpses of his talent and trickery to get past defenders throughout the first half, and it paid off after Davies broke into the box, and Mike Hayes slid in with a mistimed tackle, leaving Rob Jenkins with no choice but to point to the spot.
There was more drama to come however. Kane Owen aimed his penalty to the right corner, but Jakub Ojrzynski guessed correctly and parried the penalty away.
Ten minutes before half-time, Penybont finally made their dominance count. The ball was headed around the box from a free kick, and it eventually landed at star man Nathan Wood’s feet. The winger kept his composure to fire the ball through a sea of legs and into the goal.
With the rain clearing up, Caernarfon started the second half much better, although this didn’t instantly translate to clear chances. Rob Hughes had two opportunities from free-kicks, one of which was saved by Morris, and the other was over the bar.
The away side thought they had equalised with 25 minutes left, after Darren Thomas’ shot was deflected in by Cai Jones. However, the linesman’s flag went up as Jones was offside.
There was however no doubt about Jones’ equaliser, just a minute after the disallowed goal. Rob Hughes played the ball to Jones’ path, and he fired it past Morris to level the scores.
Both sides were desperate find the winner in the final 20 minutes, but were unable to find the killer ball.
Wood continued his excellent performance, switching to the right-wing by the end of the game. However, it seemed he had a lack of support on occasions, and was left to do everything himself.
Darren Thomas was a bright spark for Caernarfon, and he nearly got onto the scoreboard after the ball fell to him from a corner. Unfortunately for Caernarfon, his volley failed to hit the target.
After failing to win, Penybont have slipped down to ninth in the table. Caernarfon have stayed in fourth place.
Player of the Match
Nathan Wood – Penybont
Caernarfon right-back Gruff John will probably be having nightmares tonight of Wood running at him. Wood’s trickery and pace caused endless problems for Caernarfon’s defence, and with more support from his team-mates he may well have added an assist as well.
Line-Ups
Penybont: Ashley Morris, Kane Owen (C), Ashley Evans, Dan Jefferies, Mael Davies, Lewis Harling, Nathan Wood, James Waite (Keane Watts 77’), Sam Snaith (Ben Ahmun 69’), Jack Evans, Ryan Reynolds
Unused substitutes: Sam Goodwin, Liam Walsh, Shaquille Wynter-Coles, Billy Borge, Tom Tweedy
Goal: Nathan Wood 35’
Yellow card: Ashley Evans 61’
Caernarfon: Jakub Ojrzynski, Iwan Cartwright, Gruff John, Dion Donohue (C), Mike Hayes, Darren Thomas, Rob Hughes, Noah Edwards, Aaron Simpson, Ryan Williams (Bobby Beaumont 46’), Cai Jones
Unused substitutes: Tyler French, Calum Huxley, Gwion Dafydd
Goal: Cai Jones 68’
Yellow cards: Noah Edwards 13, Aaron Simpson 33, Rob Hughes 62’
