Poor First Half Display Costs Mountain

Goals from Jack Aitken and Lee Beck were not enough as ten man Caerwys win at the Northop Hall Pavilion

With defeat against Offa Athletic still fresh in the minds of the Flint Mountain players, attention returned to the league and the visit of high-flying Caerwys to the Northop Hall Pavilion. Damon Griffiths and Jack Aitken returned to the starting line up, with Mark Hughes also making a return to the starting line up.

Despite an even start to the game, it was Caerwys who opened the scoring in the eleventh minute. After losing the ball on the right, the ball was played through the defence towards goal. Goalkeeper Ryan Roberts raced out to clear the ball but was beaten to it by the Caerwys striker, who simply knocked the ball past him and tapped into an empty net. The situation got worse almost immediately, as Caerwys managed to find a second goal in quick succession. Caerwys piled forward after a Mountain defensive error, leaving a simple task of an inside pass to an unmarked Caerwys striker to score.

Flint Mountain rarely threatened in the half, despite getting into some promising positions. Just after half an hour, the misery was compounded as Caerwys added a third goal. The Caerwys striker raced clear onto a through ball and his scuffed effort beat Roberts and found the bottom corner. Flint Mountain attempted to rally and did get a goal back just before half time, thanks to some good fortune. Jack Aitken, returning to the starting line up after injury, attempted a shot from outside the penalty area, which looped up wildly and over the Caerwys goalkeeper.

The poor first half display forced manager Rob Marshall to make some changes at half time, replacing Mark Hughes and Andy Probert with Sean Wilkes and Karl Griffiths. The second half proved to be a completely different affair, as Flint Mountain flew out of the traps looking to get back into the game. Despite this, Caerwys were still proving dangerous on the counter attack, and were denied a fourth goal, due to an offside call from the referee. The player was incensed by this decision and after showing several bouts of dissent to the referee, was shown his marching orders.

Only a couple of minutes later, Flint Mountain were only a goal of their own in similar circumstances. Their bombardment of the Caerwys goal in the second half did pay initial dividends, as Lee Beck found the net for his first Mountain goal. Liam Mortimer picked out a perfect cross field ball into the path of David James Jones, just on as a substitute, who pulled the ball back into the area from the byline, where Beck was on hand to find the net from close range.

Despite the constant attacks on the Caerwys goal in the latter stages, including a fine save by the Caerwys goalkeeper to deny Dylan Roberts, the ten men held on to record the win.

Next up for Flint Mountain is the first round of the Premier Cup, where Penyffordd Lions are the visitors to the Northop Hall Pavilion.

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