Yet again Flint were left rueing missed chances, as their mini unbeaten run of three games came to an abrupt halt at home to Caernarfon. They went into this game knowing that victory would propel them several places up the table, but a lack of cutting edge up front and a momentary loss of concentration at the back meant they cam away with nothing.
The visitors started brightly, and besieged the home side, going ahead after just 3 minutes. A corner was fumbled by Jack Flint, and Paulo Mendes was on hand to bundle the ball over the line. Flint made some amends for his error on 10 minutes when he produced a fine one handed save to deny Louis Lloyd as Caernarfon continued to press.
Former Silkman Zack Clarke then had a shot deflected over as he twisted and turned inside the box, after receiving the ball on the left.,
The Silkmen belatedly responded after a quarter of an hour, when Elliott Reeves made a good run down the right channel, before cutting the ball back into the path of strike partner Florian Yonsian, whose strike saw Stephen McMullan engaged for the first time when he parried away the effort.
Just before the half hour mark the visitors’ Adam Davies hit a lob that just cleared the bar as the ball sat up nicely for him.
However, by now Flint were finally coming into the game as an attacking force and were gaining much more possession. They were rewarded with the equaliser on 38 minutes. A corner from the right was initially cleared by the Cofis defence, the ball finding it’s way back out wide to corner taker Jake Phillips, who sent in another delivery and this time it was meant by Izaack Lambert, who powered it home. A couple of minutes later, the same combination almost produced a second goal, but this time McMullan was equal to Lambert’s bullet header, as he ran across the near post to meet Phillips’ delivery.
It was from set pieces that the home side were looking dangerous, and just before the half time whistle they went close again from another Phillips corner. This time the delivery was shorter to Josh Jones, who chipped an effort into the danger area, the ball smacking the cross bar, and running out just beyond the incoming Harry Owen at the far post.
At the start of the second half Flint picked up from where they had finished off, and Jones played a low ball across the box, but no-one in black and white was able to get a telling touch on it. That was the first of a few half chances from goalmouth scrambles that the Silkmen created, but on each occasion the ball wouldn’t quite fall their way at the crucial moment.
As the half wore on, it looked increasingly likely that the game would end with honours even, but there was to be a twist in the tale in the final 10 minutes.
Clarke showed a devastating turn of pace to break on the counter on 83 minutes, and tore into the box, with Ben Hughes desperately tryning to catch him. Flint raced off his line, and stood tall, doing well to block Clarke’s shot.
Clarke was at the centre of things a minute or so later, when a through ball looked to release him, and he tumbled just inside the box under the challenge from Lambert, the referee awarding the spot kick. Clarke took the responsibility, but struck the post with the penalty as Flint guessed the right way.
Having survived that scare, the Silkmen had a glorious chance of their own. Bobby Beaumont raced through on the right, looked up and pulled the perfect ball back to the oncoming Yonsian, but he opted to try placement over power, and his sidefooted shot gave McMullan the opportunity to react and spring to his left to save, when a better option might have been to simply put his foot through it.
That miss proved pivotal, as following a trio of substitutions in the 88th minute, Flint appeared to switch off defensively from a Caernarfon throw on the right. The ball was quickly switched across the pitch, with no-one from the home side pressing it, and Darren Thomas flicked it into the path of Matty Jones who appeared on his left, strode onto it and unleashed a sweet first time shot into the corner of the net. It was a bitter blow for the Silkmen and a harsh lesson in what can happen when you fail to take your chances at the other end.
Report by Nigel Sheen. Photos by Geoff Quinn.
Line Ups :
Flint Town United – J. Flint, B. Beaumont, I. Lee, S. Fofana (R. Oakley 89), H. Owen (c), I. Lambert, J. Phillips, B. Hughes, (L. Mariette 87) E. Reeves (H. Peagram 57), F. Yonsian, J. Jones. Unused Subs – L. Murphy (GK), G. Maire, T. Mfuni, H. Cartwright
Caernarfon Town – S. McMullan, J. Faux, M. Jones, R. Sears, P. Mooney, S. Edwards, Z. Clarke (O. Evans 87), D. Gosset (c), A. Davies (M. Hill 87), P. Mendes, L. Lloyd (D. Thomas 80). Unused Subs – H. Thomas (GK), S. Downey, M. Davies, C. Williams
Flint MOM – Izaack Lambert (was unfortunate to concede the pen, but put in a great overall performance including scoring our goal)
