Flint clip Bluebirds wings

The home side started the brighter, and Flint looked quite sluggish, and were finding it difficult to adjust to a difficuly bobbly pitch and a change in how the team was set up. On seven minutes, from a Caersws corner, Power missed his punch, and the ball fell to Jolyon Harries on the edge of the box, whose rising shot just cleared the bar.
With just 9 minutes on the clock, referee Martin Williams made the first of several controversial decisions of the afternoon when he produced a straight red card for the home side's Mike Collister. Collister had gone up with Stewart Carroll to challenge for the ball, and in the eyes of Mr Williams he led dangerously with his arm. Although there did indeed appear to be contact between Collister's arm and Carroll's face it certainly didn't look malicious and Collister can count himself very unlucky to receive his marching orders.
This decision enraged the home supporters and management, and they applied a lot of pressure on the officials for the remainder of the half. Indeed, there was a very real danger, that Mr Williams might look to even up the numbers, and a lack of discipline amongst certain of the Flint players did little to allay that fear. Three yellow cards were brandished to Flint as Mr Williams unfortunately became the centre of attention in a match that could hardly be described as a dirty game.
Flint had created their first real chance on 17 minutes, when Blackburn lobbed a ball in between the centre halves and Chris Brown in the Caersws goal, that Jamil Adam raced onto when Brown hesitated coming to collect the ball. just as he looked to get his shot away, however, one of the defenders got back to block the effort.
At this stage, despite the man advantage, Flint were making heavy weather of making their superior numbers tell. They had started with Tom Axon-Smith occuping an unaccustomed role at the spearhead of the midfield diamond, a position which quite frankly he struggled to adjust to. After the opposition were reduced to 10 men, Flint didn't really release the extra man forward, and many moves frustratingly came to nought as they played into the home side's hands. They also failed to test a clearly nervous looking Brown in the Caersws goal, as they tried to play through the home side defence with intricate balls.
On 25 minutes, however, they managed to fashion a good opening and it paid dividends with the first goal. For once a ball was played into space down the right hand side, and Adam galloped onto it and whipped in a cross to the far post where Stuart Hayes was waiting. His first effort was blocked by a defender, but he reacted quickly and forced the rebound over the line and into the net.
On 29 minutes Blackburn conceded a foul and picked up a booking. From the resultant free kick, John Owen had a free header in the box, but his effort cleared the Flint bar.
Into the second half, and Flint looked more at ease, although they still failed to apply concerted pressure onto the Caersws goal, and so there was always the danger of being caught out on the break. Hayes looked the more dangerous of the Flint frontmen, and on 55 minutes he expertly controlled a ball played into him on the edge of the box and let fly with an effort that Brown did well to push over the bar.
The killer second goal finally arrived after 68 minutes. Brown was all at sea when a ball was played in from the right, and could only succeed in pawing down into the path of Stewart Carroll who was lurking on the edge of the box. He calmly lobbed it back over Brown and into the unguarded net.
The home side fashioned several chances in a frantic spell on 75 minutes as they fought to get back into the game, but Power in the Flint goal was equal to everything they could throw at him. First, Mark Griffiths used some trickery to break into the box from the bye line and fire in a shot at Power's near post, but the keeper's quick reaction brought a save with his legs, he then had to quickly regain himself to get across to the other side of his goal to save from John Owen, and tipped his effort over the bar. From the resulting corner, expertly delivered by Graham Evans, Power once again distinguished himself to keep the home side at bay.
That effectively signalled the end of the Caersws goal threat, and from then until the end of the game, it was just a question of whether Flint would add to their tally.
On 85 minutes, substitute Lawson Okijemi found himself to be the latest player to fall victim to Mr Williams' booking spree, when what looked like a fair, but robust challenge was deemed worthy of a yellow card.
On the 90 minute mark, Brown redeemed himself for his earlier lapse when he pulled off a point blank save from Gareth Roberts, who had gotten on the end of a ball played across goal by Adam and looked certain to score.
There was still time for one last bit of drama, as Okijemi received his second booking, and hence a sending off, for failing to retreat the required distance at a free kick, deep into stoppage time. This means he will miss next week's trip to Penrhyncoch in the Welsh Cup.
Caersws : C. Brown, J. Parr, A. Lemon, J. Harries, T. Richards, G. Jones (c), G. Evans, L. Jones (G. Clarke 92), J. Owen, M. Griffiths, M. Collister. Subs not used : I. Humphries, E. Clarke
Flint Town United : E. Power, T. Axon-Smith, J. Hill (c), I. Hewitt (Okijemi 56), L. Camden, J. Stanley, S. Carroll, L. Blackburn, J. Adam, J. McDonald (G. Roberts 89), S. Hayes (D. Walkiewicz 73). Subs not used : A. Clements, J. Rush

Goalscorers :
Flint Town United - S. Hayes (25), S. Carroll (68)

Bookings :
Caersws - Yellow Cards : L. Jones (37), Red Card : M. Collister (9)
Flint Town United - Yellow Cards : L. Blackburn (29), J. Adam (39), J. McDonald (42), L. Okijemi (85, 94), Red card : L. Okijemi (94)

Flint MOM : Stewart Carroll