Following the Boxing Day debacle against Connah’s Quay, Flint produced the required response to lift themselves into 9th position, courtesy of a 2-0 win against opponents Newtown.
Truth be told, it wasn’t the prettiest of watches, especially the first half, where the importance of the result appeared to weigh heavily on both sides, resulting in a tepid affair, where goal chancers were at a premium.
But after surviving a couple of scares early on in the second period, the Silkmen gradually took control, and goals from Jake Phillips and Mikey Burke propelled them onto a crucial win, helped by the sending off of Newtown’s Jolyon Harries on the hour mark.
The opening 45 minutes was a largely non-descript affair, the only decent chance of note falling to the visitors’ Aaron Williams on 9 minutes, when he was picked out in space 25 yards out, and hit a shot that Jack Flint pushed around the post. The strong arm tactics of Newtown were successful in keeping the Flint attack muted, and the home side’s set plays were rather too predictable to cause the visitors defence too many problems.
It was the Robins who were in the ascendency early in the second half, and Zeli Ismael smacked a free kick against the woodwork just after the restart.
But Flint gradually began to assert themselves, and the opening goal on 51 minutes proved to be a crucial turning point in the match. Goalkeeper Jack Flint was forced to play long out of defence, as his short passing options were cut off by the Newtown press. And as it turned out, it was just as well, as he produced a great ball to pick out Jake Phillips wide on the right. Phillips didn’t have that many options available to him, but decided to take it early and hooked the ball over keeper Samuel Ussher and into the far corner of the net, to give his side the lead.
An ill advised challenge by Harries on Ben Hughes in midfield then reduced Newtown to 10 men as he was shown a straight red for his lunge.
Flint were perhaps guilty of playing it too safe with the extra man advantage, and once or twice almost got caught out in trying to play the ball around at the back. With Newtown trying to press high, the scope was there to play a through ball and beat their defensive line, but the passive approach adopted by the home side to protect what they had, stifled the opportunities.
On 64 minutes, a good chance presented itself, when Ussher fumbled the ball and failed to collect. It ran to Phillips who crossed back across goal, and with Ussher still out of position, Ben Hughes headed goalwards, only to see his chance thwarted by Shane Sutton, who cleared in front of his goal line.
Five minutes later, Flint sprang forward to good effect, as a long ball found Burke, who delivered an excellent cross from the left to find Josh Jones, but his close range effort was kept out by Ussher’s legs.
However, with five minutes to go, the game was effectively put beyond the visitors. Hughes did really well to chase down a ball, causing Ussher to come out of his area and attempt to clear, by heading it away. He could only find Burke with his clearance, who wasted no time in lobbing the ball back past Ussher and into the Newtown net, to secure the win.
Report by Nigel Sheen
Line Ups :
Flint Town United – J. Flint, I. Lambert (T. Mfuni 67), M. Burke, I. Lee, H. Owen (c), S. Fofana, J. Phillips, B. Hughes (H. Cartwright 90), E. Reeves (L. Mariette 74), B. Wynne, J. Jones (L. Sumner 90). L. Murphy (GK), G. Maire, L. Morrison
Newtown AFC – S. Ussher, R. Price (O. Sharp 86), C. Roberts, J. Harries, D. Smith, S. Sutton (c), A. Williams, R. Evans, J. Oswell (H. Boakye 71), G. Hughes, Z. Ismael (T. Hollinshead 86). Unused Subs – A. Nazaru, C. Smith, A. Roberts, R. Alfie
Flint MOM – Ben Hughes (an impressive, mature performance in the middle of the park)
