After the thrills of last week’s Welsh Cup semi final success, this was very much a case of “After the Lord Mayor’s show” as Flint got involved in a scrappy, attritional game that wasn’t very pleasing on the eye. Nevertheless, the end result meant that we preserved our 7 point advantage over 11th placed Bala, with just 4 games remaining, and maintained our unbeaten run in phase 2.
This was a must win game for the visitors, and a must not lose game for the home side, and Bala started meaningfully, taking the play to Flint. They had the ball in the net after 7 minutes, from a Jordan Billington free kick wide on the right that was met Cameron Ferguson, but a marginal offside decision denied the ex-Silkman as he headed home.
A good move by the visitors then saw Billington get into a shooting position after a nice 1-2, but he dragged his shot just wide of the target.
Flint then started to show a bit more bite up front, and on 22 minutes took the lead from a Jake Phillips corner. He swung it towards the near post area, and Jack Thorn darted to meet it, and produced a glancing backwards header that flew into the net.
Set pieces were proving to be the most rewarding bits of play for the home side, and a long throw by Phillips took a deflection off a defender’s head, before the ball set up nicely for Jake Canavan who hit it on the volley, but it went straight down the throat of Joel Torrance in the Bala goal who held on comfortably.
The game was becoming a ragged, untidy affair, with the final ball from Flint all too often going awry, and with the press from Bala forcing the Silkmen into playing long balls that were well dealt with by the centre back pairing of Will Bell and Ross White, meaning that chances for the Silkmen’s strike duo of Elliott Reeves and Darren Stephenson were few and far between.
The Lakesiders pulled level on 50 minutes following a scramble in the Flint box with the home defence failing to clear the danger and paying the price. A free kick was launched into the area, and the ball was bobbling around for what seemed like an eternity with no Flint player able to hack it clear, before it landed into the path of Ferguson, whose shot looked as though it was heading wide, before striking Ben Woollam, who diverted it into his own goal.
That buoyed the visitors and they generally had the better of the rest of the game, forcing several corners and putting the home side on the back foot.
However, Flint did put a nice move together on 52 minutes, when a neat flick from Stephenson sent Canavan away, and he drove his shot across the goal and just wide of the post.
Thorn came to his side’s rescue when he headed off the goal line, following a corner that was met by Ferguson.
Up the other end, Bala survived a penalty shout, when a Phillips free kick was swung over towards the back post towards Lee Jonas. As he ran to meet it, Bell had a handful of Jonas’s shirt, and the Flint player tumbled to the ground, but the referee, who was well positioned, was unimpressed and waved play on.
Jack Flint then pulled off a terrific double save from another Bala corner to stop his side going behind. Bell met the cross with a powerful header, and Flint did well to claw out that first effort, before Bell then struck a follow up attempt, but Flint displayed lightening speed to recover, spread himself and block the second strike.
The game was then petering out to its seemingly inevitable conclusion, when, in added time, Flint substitute Ben Wynne received a straight red card for a misjudged very high boot that caught the head of Liam Higgins. Fortunately the Bala player emerged reasonably unscathed, but the referee was left with little choice but to give Wynne his marching orders.
Report by Nigel Sheen. Photos by Damon Mead.
Line Ups :
Flint Town United – J. Flint, B. Woollam, M. Burke, S. Fofana, L. Jonas, J. Thorn, J. Phillips, B. Hughes, E. Reeves (O. Abadaki 74), J. Canavan (B. Wynne 81), D. Stephenson. Unused Subs – D. Szczepaniak, J. Jones, M. Purvis, A. Mudimu, Cal. Ferguson
Bala Town – J. Torrance, H. Dean, L. Hall (C. Fisher 74), R. White (c), W. Bell, D. McGiveron (C. Evans 84), S. Billington, O. Ibrahim (L. Mendes 28), J. Tarasenko (T. Kelly 74), C. Ferguson, L. Higgins. Unused Subs – J. Owen, T. Dogan, B. McKeown
Flint MOM – Jack Flint (displayed good handling throughout and pulled off an amazing double save to earn his side a vital point)
