At a rainswept Stebonheath Park, Flint completed a comfortable 2-0 win over bottom side Llanelli to make it two wins out of two at the start of Phase 2, and, for the first time this season, recorded three wins on the bounce. Elliott reeves was once again the scourge of the Reds, scoring his seventh goal against them in just three meetings this season. Darren Stephenson added the second, converting a second half penalty. In truth, the Silkmen didn’t really have to get out of third gear to win this match, and they will probably need to be a lot sharper and more clinical in some of the remaining games if they want to keep this good run going.
In a one sided first half, the chances kept coming for the away side, but their inability to convert any of them was starting to become somewhat frustrating.
Stephenson supplied a cross onto the head of Ben Wynne, but his tame header didn’t unduly trouble Alex Pennock in the Llanelli goal. Then Reeves got on the end of a good through ball and tried to square it to Stephenson who was in a great position in front of goal, but the ball across was blocked by a good defensive interception. On 16 minutes, Jake Phillips cracked a fine swerving shot from 22 yards, that Pennock did well to turn around his post. Osebi Abadaki received possession in the middle of the pitch and bundled his way through the centre before unleashing a rising shot from the edge of the ‘D’ that just cleared the bar.
Perhaps the best chance arrived on 25 minutes, when Abadaki produced a fine through ball to pick out the run of Reeves, who, from slightly wide on the left, pulled his shot across the face of goal and just wide of the far post.
Reeves then latched onto a loose ball on the edge of the box, and got in a low shot that Pennock did well to keep out but couldn’t hold, and a defender arrived in the nick of time to prevent Stephenson from following up.
Finally, the deadlock was broken on the half hour mark. Jake Canavan played a nice one-two with Stephenson, and advanced to the by-line, before standing an inviting ball up on the 6 yard line, that Reeves just had to nod home.
The home side showed a bit more purpose to their play at the start of the second half, and created their first real chance on goal after 50 minutes. A brief spell of pressure ended with Tristan Jenkins hitting a snapshot from the edge of the area, forcing the hitherto unemployed Jack Flint to react smartly, and get down quickly to fling out a strong arm and divert the ball away from the bottom corner of his goal.
The Silkmen responded well, and after a perfectly weighted long ball from Canavan picked out Phillips wide on the right of the box, he laid a pass perfectly into the path of Reeves, who placed his shot wide from 12 yards out.
Jack Thorn was in his element as Llanelli tried their best to get back on terms, and was continually breaking up their play and thwarting their attacking ambitions.
Pennock’s outstretched foot then denied Canavan who attempted to squeeze a shot just inside the post, but from the resulting corner, Flint were awarded the penalty that allowed them to score the decisive second goal. The corner was played to Harry Owen who attempted a shot on the volley, and the ball appeared to strike the arm of a Llanelli defender before being cleared from under the crossbar. It was about the third handball appeal that Flint had had inside the opponent’s box during the game, and this time it was successful. Stephenson took responsibility and smashed the spot kick into the roof of the net.
Flint continued to press, and the lively Ben Hughes, who had replaced Abadaki at the break, stole into a decent position on the by-line, before pulling the ball back to Stephenson, but his shot went straight into the arms of a grateful Pennock. Reeves then tried a speculative effort from a wide angle, the shot once again flashing the wrong side of the far post from the striker’s point of view.
Ben Woollam made a rare foray forward on 75 minutes, and hit a 20 yarder that Pennock just about managed to keep out after a bit of a scramble.
With 5 minutes remaining, a good passage of play from the home side resulted in Sam Parsons shooting from the edge of the box, but Flint got down well by his near post to smother the effort.
Our first home game of Phase 2 next Saturday sees us host Briton Ferry Llansawel, in what is another massive fixture as we continue in our quest to pull away from the bottom of the table.
Report by Nigel Sheen
Line Ups :
Llanelli Town – A. Pennock, H. Bright (M. Evans 71), L. Owen (E. Powell 82), S. Cronin, J. Lester, J. Hopkins (c), M. Powell, S. Parsons, D. Williams (J. Lloyd 61), B Gibbings (R. Booth 61), T. Jenkins (J. Farrell-Alli 82). Unused Subs – O. Williams (GK), J. Baker
Flint Town United – J. Flint, B. Woollam (O. Kilner 90), O. Abadaki (B. Hughes 46), S. Fofana, H. Owen (c), J. Thorn. J. Phillips (M. Purvis 88), J. Canavan, E. Reeves (A. Mudimu 88), B. Wynne (J. Jones 74), D. Stephenson. Unused subs – D. Szczepaniak (GK), C. Ferguson
Flint MOM – Jack Thorn (showed exactly the right spirit and commitment we will need in our battle to stay in the league)
