Flint got their first points of the season with a thoroughly deserved 2-0 win at Aberystwyth, Elliott Reeves opening his goalscoring account with both goals for the Silkmen.
From back to front, all of the Flint players were on song, a compact defence, a tenacious battling midfield and a potent forward line. It was also clear that lessons had been learned from the capitulation at Barry the previous week, when a 2-0 lead was let slip. There was never any danger of a repeat of that, once the 2-0 lead had been secured, instead it looked as though Flint might add more to their tally.
The opening 10 minutes of the game saw both teams trying to gain a foothold, and master the bounce on what looked like a tricky surface, with Flint generally gaining the upper hand in terms of possession. In the 11th minute, Josh Jones showed a turn of pace to escape on the right, and provide a low inviting cross, but Florian Yonsian was unable to turn the ball home under pressure from an Aber defender. The ball ran out to Jake Phillips, who saw his shot blocked by Jack Thorn. Yonsian tried to turn provider in the 20th minute, getting to the bye-line and cutting a ball back, but he was unable to find teammates who waiting in the centre of the goal, as defenders on the near post were able to block the delivery. At this stage of proceedings, Flint were much the dominant team, but were unable to find the cutting edge or telling ball when it mattered.
They did have a let off in the 23rd minute, though, when a long ball found Jon Evans. As it bounced up, he stretched to make contact, and although he did connect it wasn’t the cleanest of touched and he only succeeded in firing wide of the Flint goal. But he was looking Aber’s most dangerous outlet down the right, and shortly after he screwed a shot wide of Jack Flint’s goal.
Having weathered the mini-storm, the Silkmen composed themselves once more, and started to get their passing game going. They took the lead in the 34th minutes as the ball was switched out to the left and Ben Wynne took possession. He ran into the box, skipped around one challenge and then got a shot away as a defender tried to close him down. Reeves showed great presence of mind to get across and flick the ball on and past Dave Jones in the Aber goal.
Harry Owen did well to connect with a header from a corner on 41 minutes, heading it down into the ground. The ball bounced up nicely for Jones to safely parry away the effort.
The second goal arrived on 51 minutes. Frankie Ealing tried to run the ball out of defence, but got robbed by the alert Ben Hughes, who in turn found Yonsian on the left side of the box. He looked up and delivered a fine ball into the path of the incoming Reeves who connected sweetly and flashed a shot into the net.
Reeves could have claimed his hat-trick a couple of minutes later, cutting inside from the left before unleashing a shot that was well blocked by the leg of a defender.
Flint were looking quite comfortable at this stage of the game, and were dominating the midfield area, Sidi Sanogo-Fofana, impressing in a holding midfield role on his full debut. Aber made three substitutions, and were playing with effectively four forwards, resorting to the long ball to try and get them in behind the Silkmen’s rearguard. But time and time again, Owen and Izaack Lambert repelled the danger, comfortably winning their aerial duels.
Flint’s injury curse struck once more, when Mikey Burke, who was also enjoying a fine game up to that point, was forced off when he took a blow to his knee. Aber took advantage of the reshuffle in the Flint back line to put a bit more pressure on the away goal, and forced a few corners. From one of those, in the 83rd minute, they had their best chance of pulling a goal back, when an effort was scrambled off the line in the nick of time. Phillips doing well, under pressure from Evans, to get something on the ball.
After that mini scare, the Silkmen regained their composure and comfortably saw the game out for their first victory of the season.
Report by Nigel Sheen
Line Ups :
Aberystwyth Town – D. Jones, L. Walsh (A. Darlington 58), R. Davies (Z. Hartley 33), L. Bradford, F. Ealing, J. Thorn (c), J. Evans, I. Lewis, N. Flint (S. Davies 58), J. Owen (D. Torry 58), H. Anison (R. Patterson 84). Unused Subs – T. Mason, G. Davies
Flint Town United – J. Flint, S. Fofana, M. Burke (B. Beaumont 70), I. Lambert, H. Owen (c), F. Yonsian (L. Mariette 85), J. Phillips, B. Hughes, E. Reeves (H. Peagram 90), B. Wynne, J. Jones. Unused Subs – L. Murphy, G. Maire, T. Mfuni, R. Oakley
Flint MOM – Elliott Reeves (two well taken goals ensured his side earned their first points of the season)
