As the rain poured down in typical British bank holiday fashion, it also rained goals, as the Essity Stadium once again proved it was the place to be if you want to see high scoring games. Nine more were served up in this Easter eggstravaganza, seven of which were scored in a frenetic first half. Elliott Reeves was the Flint hero, scoring four of his side’s six goals, as Flint ultimately proved too strong for their local neighbours.
On three occasions during the first 45 minutes, Flint opened up a two goal lead, but each time Mold refused to lie down, and hit back to reduce the deficit, with a lack of concentration in the defensive third belying the attacking prowess shown at the other end by the home side.
The Silkmen went ahead after just 4 minutes. Some neat play of passing the ball in triangles around the middle of the park was followed up by an incisive pass out to Ben Hughes on the right, who raced to the bye-ine before standing the ball up over the Mold keeper Alex Swindell, and laying it on a plate for Reeves, who duly tapped it home on the line.
A couple of minutes later, Lewis Sirrell played a long clearance in the direction of Josh Jones, who hounded the last defender, and won the ball, before flicking it through to Reeves, who tried to float it past Swindell, but the Mold custodian managed to deflect it out for a corner.
It was all Flint at this point, and on nine minutes, Ben Wynne cleverly switched play to find Reeves on the edge of the box on the left. He dribbled past the defender before assuredly slotting it home across the keeper into the far side.
Just as it looked as though this was going to be a cruise for the home side, Mold hit back, out of the blue, after mounting their first real attack on 13 minutes. A swift counter produced a devastating defence splitting ball into the path of Jake Roberts, who took it on, before unleashing a shot that Rhys Williams did well to parry, Unfortunately for the Flint keeper, the ball fell invitingly at the feet of Aiden Farren, who swept it past Williams into the net.
Flint forced a corner on the quarter of an hour mark, and a Jake Phillips delivery was firmly met by Sol Forde, but his header was cleared off the line by a well stationed defender.
Mold then went close following a corner of their own. The ball was played into the near post, before bouncing up invitingly for the incoming Sam Reynolds, whose header went inches wide of the upright, and he probably should have done better with the chance that had presented itself.
Flint then went back on the offensive, and a Hughes cross from the right looked as though it was going to sneak under the bar, until Swindell managed to tip it over. Then, on 27 minutes, Jones galloped onto a lovely through ball, drew Swindell out before lobbing it past him and into the far corner to make it 3-1.
Jones successfully beat the offside trap once more on the half hour mark, and this time unselfishly squared the ball to the supporting Reeves. But his strike partner was unable to supply the finish, as he screwed his shot wide of the target.
Back came Mold once again, and reduced the arrears to 3-2 following a mad scramble in the box on 33 minutes. Sirrell had initially made a good block on the line to stop a certain goal, but the Silkmen were unable to properly clear the danger, and as the ball bobbled around, Charlie Davies got the vital touch to send it over the Flint goal-line.
The two goal lead was restored on 41 minutes, from a Luis Lacey corner to the near post which was expertly flicked into the goal by Sirrell, as he supplied a sublime glancing header to the delivery.
Mold were awarded a free kick some 30 yards out in what was almost the last action of the first half. Jake Roberts hit a speculative shot that looked to be heading straight for Williams, who opted to go for a two handed punch to clear the danger. At the last moment, the ball swerved in the air, completely wrong footing Williams, who was left with egg on his face as he missed his punch and the ball whistled straight past him.
An eventful opening 45 minutes finished 4-3 to the hosts, with the visitors somehow still in contention having made the most of their limited opportunities.
Fortunately, another strong start led to Flint re-establishing their two goal lead, at the start of the second period. Reeves was released down the right, beating the offside trap, before running in on goal and applying a cool finish which gave Swindell no chance. And this time, the Silkmen were not about to relinquish their lead.
Instead they increased it further on the hour mark. Reeves broke through the Mold defensive lines once more. With Jones haring up in support, it looked as though he was going to slip the ball across to his fellow forward, but instead he completely deceived a back tracking defender and Swindell, by firing into the net from a narrow angle on the right.
Having carved out a three goal lead, the sting was now taken from the contest and it was essentially game over. Both sides had a few half chances, but compared to the goal frenzy in the first half, the rest of the match was a relatively sedate affair. Mold’s best chance fell to Sam Reynolds on 82 minutes, who had weaved his way into the Flint box, before hitting his shot against the post.
One of Flint’s youngsters, George Maire, who had only just been introduced into the action, fed Jones with a nice through ball, and Swindell distinguished himself with a flying save to deny the striker, in the last meaningful action of the game.
Report by Nigel Sheen
Line Ups :
Flint Town United – R. Williams, J. Williams (M. Roberts 86), L. Lacey (M. Burke 68), S. Forde, L. Sirrell, B. Hughes, J. Phillips, J. Owen (c), E. Reeves (J-L Akpa-Akpro 63), B. Wynne (G. Maire 86), J. Jones Unused subs – L. Murphy (GK), H. Cartwright
Mold Alex – A. Swindell, G. Nash (c) (S. Duffy 62), C. Davies, J. Watkin, S. Watkins, C. Rogers, S. Reynolds, A. Farren (E. Durnell 62), A. Smith (R. Nash 46), J. Ormrod (I. Jones 74), J. Roberts (L. McManus 81). Unused Subs – R. Coney, D. Griffith
Flint MOM – Elliott Reeves (couldn’t be anyone else other than the four goal hero)
Postscript :
Following the match, Flint manager Lee Fowler took time out to thank the club’s fans for their support on what was his side’s last home game of the season. Asked about his thoughts on the game, he replied “We looked very rusty, especially defensively. Having our last two games postponed didn’t help us, and we looked like a team that hadn’t played for two weeks. Having gone two up relatively early, complacency set in, and that wasn’t a Lee Fowler team out there today. Although I was always confident we would outscore Mold, I was really disappointed in some aspects of our game. However, having said that, over the course of the season, I think the lads have done the club proud, and all credit to them for that. We now owe it to the supporters to keep it going to the final game of the season, and see where that leaves us”
