A great strike by skipper Jay Owen, reminiscent of a Matt Le Tissier finish from yesteryear, made sure that Flint returned from the Oval with a well earned point. Coming from behind twice during the match, the Silkmen showed grit and determination to get back into the game, that at certain times looked as though it might be going away from them.
The home side started strongly, and Harry Allen was called into action on a couple of occasions in the opening 8 minutes. First, he pulled off a good save from a Tom Marsh-Hughes header, and followed this up a few minutes later by tipping Sion Bradley’s dipping free kick over his crossbar. But the players in front of him weren’t heeding the warnings, and sufficiently closing down their opponents. It came as little surprise when Caernarfon opened the scoring after 11 minutes. Bradley was involved in the move that led to the goal. First he slipped the ball into the path of Darren Thomas, whose shot along the ground was initially blocked, but the ball bounced up invitingly for Marsh-Hughes to head it back into Bradley’s path, who was forced wide by Allen, but had the composure to look up and chip the ball back across goal to where Marsh-Hughes was waiting to nod home.
Having gone behind, Flint started to pose more of a threat in the opposition half, and Rhys Kavanagh and Zach Clarke started seeing more of the ball and began to test the Cofis defence.
They got the equaliser in the 23rd minute. A throw in halfway in the opposition half was played back to Jordan Carroll, and he swung in a cross from the left, that was flicked on in the box by Brandon Diau, into the path of Clarke, who initially turned his defender and got off a shot that was blocked. But the ball came back out to him, and he calmly slotted the rebound into the corner of the net.
Meanwhile, Bradley continued to pose a threat for the hosts, and on 35 minutes he got onto the end of a long ball, before getting into a central position and striking the post with his effort. Just before the break, Allen was called into action once more, this time to deny Thomas, who had gotten the better of Diau.
At the start of the second half, Flint carved out a couple of decent chances in the opening minutes. First of all, Clarke got on the end of a cross, but his header went just wide, then Kavanagh raced onto a through ball, but Cofis keeper Ryan Woods parried his effort out for a corner.
But on 49 minutes, Flint were caught napping when a long ball by Cai Roberts found Bradley on the edge of the box, who slipped past Diau and was in on goal, and he slotted his shot through the legs of Allen to put Caernarfon 2-1 up.
Shortly after, from a corner, Allen palmed the ball away, but it only found Darren Thomas, whose rising shot went just over the Flint bar.
Clarke was looking the most likely outlet for Flint as they tried to respond once more, and Woods had to be alert to tip an effort from the striker around the post.
On 72 minutes, following some good build up play by the hosts, Iwan Cartwright crossed from the right to and a stretching Dan Gosset was unable to direct his header on target from 6 yards out.
With ten minutes remaining, and following some pressure from a long throw, the ball was initially cleared, before being returned into the Caernarfon box, only to be headed clear once more, but this time to the feet of Jay Owen around 25 yards out out, who casually looked up before striking a pearler into the top of the net to bring parity to the scores once more.
Flint safely saw out the remaining minutes to claim what could prove to be a valuable point come the end of the season.
Report by Nigel Sheen
Line Ups :
Caernarfon Town – R. Woods, I. Cartwright, C. Roberts, G. Williams, L. Bell, N. Edwards (c), S. Bradley, D. Gosset (R. Hughes 86), T. Marsh-Hughes, D. Thomas (D. Donohue 62), J. Faux. Unused Subs – T. Pritchard (GK), A. Simpson, B. Wynne, C. Inch, G. Jones
Flint Town United – H. Allen, B. Beaumont, T. Garratt (C. Huxley 77), B. Diau, H. Owen, D. Harrison (B. Hughes 67), J. Owen (c), R. Kavanagh (O. Ibrahim 73), Z. Clarke, J-L Akpa-Akpro. Unused Subs – A. Johnson (GK), S. El Amri, H. Drazdauskas, M. Roberts
Flint MOM – Zach Clarke (a willing worker for his side, constantly looking to unsettle defenders)
