Top team performance from Town.

Denbigh travelled to Alyn Park hoping to return to winning ways after two draws and a defeat in their last three games. Manager Eddie Maurice-Jones made three changes from the team that started in the home loss against Holywell.

In came young Liam Smith for Tony Davies who was not fully fit, along with Craig Pritchard and Aaron Hassall for Kieran Gaul and Andrew Swarbrick.
The change had an immediate effect with Denbigh putting strong pressure on the Mold goal in the early stages and when a loose ball landed at the feet of Jake Eyre (pictured) he coolly lobbed Mold’s keeper Williams to put Town ahead after 3 minutes play.
Minutes later a Nathan Williams cross landed at Alan Bull’s feet, but his shot was blocked by keeper Williams who was to have a busy afternoon in the Mold goal.

Mold started to get into the game and looked to use the long ball over the Denbigh defence to pose a threat on Hill-Dunt’s goal, but Denbigh held firm. The young back four partnership had a great game with Liam Smith and Ben Nash in the centre playing with maturity beyond their years and Jack Riley and Nathan Williams ably supporting them as full backs and making telling runs down the wings.
It was Liam Smith who started the move for Denbigh’s second goal as he found Aaron Hassall on the left wing. He cut inside to lay a ball onto Matthew Cook who found Jake Eyre. Eyre fired across the goal to find Alan Bull with a simple finish to give the Town a 2-0 lead on 26 minutes.
Hassall was involved again a few minutes later as he picked the ball up on half way and laid a superb ball for Eyre to run onto. Eyre still had a lot of work to do as he took the ball into the penalty area and as he shot a Mold defender got in a tremendous block to force the ball out for a corner.

Mold fielded four players within their squad who had represented Denbigh earlier in the season. Matty Hughes, Ant Williams, Owen Davies and Ade Dobson had all featured in several games for the Town and had moved onto Mold over the last few weeks. However they went in at half time 2-0 down and looking for a better second half.
It was Town again who came out of the blocks the better and Hassall was again involved as he jinked into the Mold penalty area and laid on Alan Bull for a chance which should have been finished but for a fine save from keeper Williams.
Minutes later Mold capitalised on this miss, as they pushed forward and some sloppy Town defending saw them pull a goal back against the run of play.
This proved the impetus for Town to take more control of the game and more chances came their way with Eyre and Hassall going close. Denbigh’s midfield of Matthew Cook, Gareth Partridge, Alan Bull and Craig Pritchard were now running the show. They linked together well as Cook played a ball to Bull who laid it onto Pritchard who forced Williams into another fine save. From Partridge’s corner Liam Smith came close as Williams parried the ball away for another corner.
Town’s pressure was rewarded on 67 minutes with a great team goal involving a string of passes from Hassall, Bull and Cook with Craig Pritchard on hand to finish off a fine move.
Manager Eddie Maurice-Jones saw this as a time to change things and bring on fresh legs with Andrew Swarbrick replacing Alan Bull on 73 minutes. Swarbrick was involved in a move which led to Pritchard being fouled on the edge of the penalty area after he had nutmegged a Mold defender. Pritchard himself stepped up to take the kick and it took another fine save from Williams to avoid a fourth goal as he dived to his right hand side and pushed the ball away for a Town corner.
It was Pritchard’s last input into the game as he was replaced by Kieran Gaul on 80 minutes and two minutes later Andy Thomas replaced Jake Eyre as Denbigh looked to play out the game.

A much improved performance from the Town with all players making a valuable contribution to a fine team effort. Credit must be given to the young back four, who defended so well allowing Mold’s attack only occasional shots at Hill-Dunt’s goal. Up front Hassall, Eyre and Bull were a handful ably supported by the midfield of Cook, Partridge and Pritchard.
They now move forward to a home game against manager Eddie Maurice-Jones’ former team Gresford at Central Park on Saturday 18th February, kick off 2.30pm

Teams
Mold Alex – Leigh Williams, Callum Lavelle, Lee Emberton, Matty Hughes, Alex Weatherby, Anthony Williams, Tom Allen, Owen Davies, Danny Barlow, Rhys Nash, Andreas Economides Subs; Abe Dobson, John Davies, Matty Lewis, Neil Wynne, Mike Cunningham

Denbigh Town – Jon Hill-Dunt, Jack Riley, Nathan Williams, Ben Nash, Liam Smith, Craig Pritchard, Gareth Partridge, Mathew Cook, Alan Bull, Aaron Hassall, Jake Eyre. Subs; Kieran Gaul, Andrew Swarbrick, Andy Thomas, Tony Davies

Referee – Dan Fogarty
Assistant – Nathan Wheatley
Assistant – R Ryder
Attendance – 75