Flint were left to rue missing several good chances as they were hit by two late sucker punches at the Oval, to extend their winless run in the league to six games.
The opening period saw the Silkmen press the home side, and on 11 minutes Okera Simmons stood the ball up invitingly at the far post, but Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro was just unable to connect to force it over the line. The two combined again shortly after, when Akpa-Akpro laid the ball off to Simmonds, who burst through the defensive line only to shoot just wide of the target.
Just past the halfway point in the half, Simmonds got on the end of a long ball, made space for himself to get a shot away, but was denied by the outstretched foot of Cofi’s keeper Josh Tibbetts when a goal looked almost certain. Then as the ball came back into the box shortly after, Tibbetts was able to scramble it away at the far post under pressure.
The home side had, up to this point, largely been restricted to to long range shots that hadn’t really troubled Flint goalkeeper Harry Allen. But they gradually were gaining more possession, and attempting to get players in behind the Flint wing backs with balls dropped over the top into the wide areas. They began to look dangerous when cutting in from the right flank, in particular. They had a couple of hopeful shouts for a penalty from just such moves, but on each occasion the referee quickly dismissed the claims.
On 44 minutes, Fidel O’Rourke burst through from the right side once more, and pulled the ball back to Noah Edwards, who was unattended inside the box. His shot wasn’t the cleanest, and Allen did well to scramble it away to safety. In added on time, Flint mounted a swift counter attack, with the ball finding it’s way to Akpa-Akpro, but Tibbets pulled off a fine reaction save to ensure that the sides remained deadlocked at half time.
Caernarfon came out more purposeful in the second period, and Flint initially struggled to regain their rhythm, and were pinned back into their own half. But some good tackles and clearances meant that Allen was still relatively untroubled in the Flint goal.
A long ball sent Simmonds haring away in the 59th minute, and he closed in on goal from the left side, getting away a shot that Tibbets stood up to and pushed out from a corner. This instigated a mini period of Flint pressure, and from a second corner the ball was eventually lobbed into the path of Brandon Diau who was clear on goal from 6 yards out, but he dragged his shot wide of the target as another great chance went begging.
Joe Faux broke well for Caernarfon on 63 minutes, cutting in from the left before unleashing a long range effort that Allen had to get his fingertips to, to divert the shot around the post.
A few minutes later a quick free kick from Flint set Larnell Cole away. He centred the ball to Diau on the far post, but as the ball dropped to him, he couldn’t sort his feet out in time, and the ball was hastily knocked out from a corner. The resulting inswinging delivery beat Tibbetts and was just begging to be tapped in at the back post, but alas, there was no Flint player in attendance to apply the finishing touch.
Caernarfon took the lead on 82 minutes, and unsurprisingly it came from a ball played in behind the left side of the Flint defence, which was latched onto and quickly swept into the box. Allen dived down low to block, but could only beat it out into the path of O’Rourke, who gratefully smashed it into the net.
Things got worse for Flint a few minutes later, when a misplaced pass in the middle of the park gifted possession to Cofi’s captain Dion Donohue. Having received the ball in his own half he was allowed to surge through the middle, before eventually slipping a pass to Ben Wynne who slotted home to put a somewhat flattering picture on the final score from a Caernarfon point of view.
Report by Nigel Sheen
Line Ups :
Caernarfon Town – J. Tibbetts, I. Cartwright, G. Williams, A. Simpson, L. Bell, D. Donohue (c), T. Marsh-Hughes (B. Wynne 63), D. Gosset, F. O’Rourke, N. Edwards, J. Faux (S. Bradley 73). Unused Subs – T. Pritchard (GK), H. Essien, O. Evans, R. Williams, A. Mudimu
Flint Town United – H. Allen, B. Beaumont, T. Garratt, A. Stephens, H. Owen, D. Harrison (O. Ibrahim 84), L. Cole (J. Hindle 84), J. Owen (c), B. Diau, J-L Akpa-Akpro (J. Carroll 64), O. Simmonds. Unused Subs – D. Szczepaniak (GK), H. Brindley-Peagram, E. Akobeto, M. Roberts
Flint MOM – Bobby Beaumont (enjoyed a solid game against his former club)
