A great evening for a crunch match between two local rivals, both looking to move above the other and towards a top 5 finish. A great playing surface, nice weather and a good crowd were all present at Maes Meurig.

No less than an hour before kick off Gwalchmai were rocked by the news that keeper Kenny Hughes was unable to participate do to a thigh injury sustained at Glan Conwy. Therefore some last minute shuffling to the starting line up was required, Gerry went in between the sticks, Steve Sinclair lined up alongside his brother at the heart of the defence and Allman, Craig & Ryan made up the midfield 3, up top Scruff returned alongside Loggs & Corey.

The game got under way with both sides looking to stamp their early authority on proceedings. Some meaty tackles and an electric pace set the tone for the evening. The visitors had a clear objective to limit Marc Evans's involvement and appeared to take turns with some hard hitting tackles, the most reckless coming from their substitute not long before the break, he could have easily seen red (not my words but those of a Welsh Premier official).

Gwalchmai appeared to be the more attacking of the two sides and had a territorial advantage, where as the visitors looked to play long balls to the tireless Craig Roberts and the two busy wingers.

A simple ball over the top 25 minutes into the affair caused a mix up between the defence and keeper with Andrew Sinclair heading the ball beyond Gerry and into the path of the attacker to tap home from a yard, 0-1.

The goal saw a momentum shift in proceedings and the visitors attacked again minutes later where a cross found its way to the right winger who out jumped his man at the far post to head home and make it 0-2.

Gwalchmai reacted and began to stamp their authority again, an outstanding save by the keeper prevented a Corey Sinnott free kick, moments later Allman crossed to Craig Evans who flicked at the near post only for another last gasp save to force the ball wide. HT 0-2... we felt hard done by at the break and that we had been slightly the better side only for our own mistakes to let us down.

The harassment of Marc Evans paid off for the visitors as the horror tackle saw him play no further part than two minutes into the second period.

Gwalchmai attacked in droves but were let down by their final ball on numerous occasions, yet still enjoyed the majority of possession. The visitors looked to counter attack and use the endless energy of Roberts up front who caused havoc all evening for the home defence.

Nearing the hour mark Allman won a free kick and Corey stepped up to deliver a pin point cross for skipper Sinclair to nod home and make it 1-2, we were back in the game.

Following the goal we had the momentum and were confident of scoring another. However as the ball worked its way in from the visitors left Gwalchmai failed to close down the Glantraeth midfield and old boy Saxon hit well to lob the stand in keeper and make it 1-3.

Despite this we weren't dead an buried and went for it again. Some great work by Jon Williams down the right found Allman who crossed for Striker... whoops I mean Centre Back Sinclair to nod home his second of the game and yet again give Gwalchmai a glimmer of hope, 2-3, game on!!

Now it was all out attack by the home side and the visitors just punted the ball safe on every given opportunity. Despite this an unforced error by substitute Dyfed Evans let in the Glantraeth attacker who homed in on Gerry to make it 4-2. Despite our valiant efforts the game ended like this with the visitors coming out on top.

Tonight we played some good stuff at times, we battled well, we often dominated parts of the game yet couldn't provide that killer ball at one end and at the other our unforced errors led to us being punished catastrophically, 3 of the 4 goals were avoidable.

Having said that, nobody was to blame and we can hold our heads high. It was a good game between to very proud sides and Glantraeth took the spoils on this occasion.

Gwalchmai Man of the Match: Ryan Taylor

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