Penycae Football Club C.I.C.

There was limited league action with only two Premier Division games getting the green light and one was at Afoneithia between Penycae and Saltney who started the day 4th in the table with their hosts sitting in a lowly bottom place. It was not of great surprise when the Bordermen took the lead through Danny Burgess on 19 minutes. Despite their dominance, the visitors failed to capitalise on the many chances created and could not add to their tally going in to the break. Despite being under the cosh for large periods of the first half, Penycae had the belief chances would come their way and sure enough 3 minutes after the restart Saltney failed to deal with a in-swinging corner effectively and Connor Tagoe was on hand to take charge of the resulting scramble and edge the ball home and draw his team level. However, in the melee, Saltney keeper Chris Mis fell awkwardly and had to leave the game with a dislocated shoulder. Goalscorer Danny Burgess donned the gloves but without Mis and Burgess in his natural position organising the defence, Saltney struggled to find their first half form and found themselves behind only moment later through a great strike from Austin Owen. With the torrential rain not offering the players a break and the pitch now brown rather than green, it was no surprise to see the quality of football deteriorate. A scruffy end-to-end affair followed. Penycae went on to take a 4-1 lead with further strikes from Ahmed Ally and Anthony Dunleavey. With it all to do Saltney finally made an effort to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Jake Johnson pegged a goal back and then Shaun Hughes with a trademark run down the right, whipped in a delicious cross which was met by the head of Saltney’s captain Ben Evans who made no mistake in converting the opportunity to make it 4-3. The visitors threw everything at the home defence for the final 10 minutes of the match, but Penycae defence stood strong and refused to give anything else away. Saltney will be very disappointed not to have taken a chance to increase their points tally, but Penycae will be absolutely delighted as the result sees them move to within a point of second to bottom Hawarden Rangers, with 2 games in hand.