Trearddur Bay sail through past Penmaenmawr Phoenix on Les Davies’ debut
Les Davies made an impactful start to his stint at Trearddur Bay getting himself on the scoresheet and notching an assist as they breezed past Penmaenmawr Phoenix in the NWCFA Intermediate Challenge Cup.
In blustery conditions at Lon Isallt, the experienced home side began brightly with a deep delivery by Morgan Rowlands arrived at unmarked Asa Thomas who instinctively forced the young Phoenix goalkeeper into an error but was able to gather himself to save the second attempt.
Alfie Caldecott for the visitors pounced on the end of some fantastic away build up play after eight minutes but fired narrowly wide of the upright.
Good work on the break by Harry Benjamin and Daniel McIlvogue should’ve opened the scoring for the visitors but the latter lacked composure and the chance went out of play.
Chances at either end midway through the half saw Caldecott arrive on the end of Mezz Knight’s delivery but he struck the ball over the crossbar before Asa Thomas was tumbled in the box for the referee to wave play on.
The deadlock was broken on 25 minutes. Davies making a strong tackle in midfield to release Thomas Lennon who quickly broke forward and unleashed a superb ball towards the left to the awaiting Thomas who cooly curled the ball into the right hand side of the net.
Pressure kept mounting from the home side with Matt Reynolds forcing a low save by Iolo Brown in the away net before another two goals came before the interval.
A well driven cross from Davies found Thomas who trickled the ball into the net prior to Thomas this time linking up with Reynolds who slotted in at the backpost on the halftime whistle.
The second half saw dominance by Bay but credit to the youthful Penmaenmawr who continued to battle in difficult conditions.
The influential Davies was working well with Thomas who almost made it four five minutes after the restart but blazed comfortably over the woodwork.
The fourth was added on 58 minutes as Davies chanced down a poor clearance by the away backline to get on the end of a loose rebound to tap the ball home into an empty net.
A fifth arrived after 69 minutes of play when Brown collected a backpass for the ref to award a freekick on the fringe of the box. Taken quickly, Gibbs added to the tally with an easy finish.
Three minutes from time, Bay summed up the afternoon when substitute Mike Edwards had too much space on the ball and rifled home from 8 yards to book the hosts into the next round.
Penmaenmawr could’ve notched a consolation goal in injury time as Jamie Jones’ strike from the edge of the D was saved well by Paul Pritchard.
