Rhyl 1-0 Airbus UK Broughton 4 April 09
Notwithstanding this was Airbus' fourth successive defeat, all without a goal (still waiting for their record
41st in a Welsh Premier season), this was a thoroughly pleasing performance,
the whole side battling throughout against Rhyl's constant onslaught. The Lilywhites' first chance came after just two minutes, Matty Williams'
rather soft shot after a good header down to him in front of goal. Airbus
defended well then for another quarter hour, before a half clearance was
pounced on by Neil Roberts, his fierce shot parried by Chris Doran. A minute later & old boy Craig Jones crashed
a header against the bar from a fine inch-perfect Mark Connolly cross out on
the right. Airbus' first shot came on 23', a tame drive from outside the box
from Ashley Williams, easily held by Lee Kendall. There was then a scare for Airbus as the referee
mysteriously awarded a penalty to Rhyl, thankfully then showing sense as he
conferred with his linesman & gave a free kick the other way; quite what the agitated Rhyl fans were then
complaining about was equally mysterious. Up the other end Mark Cadwallader put in a
weak header that went straight at the 'keeper. Then came Rhyl's opener - a
short cross, the offside trap didn't work, Matty Williams sent a half-hit shot
past Chris Doran, the ball rolled towards goal, Mark Allen desperately tried
to claw it away but it had already crossed the line as he slammed it into the
top of his own net.
Airbus could have grabbed an equaliser shortly after the restart
as Kendall dropped a cross, Caddy not quick enough to react & an eventual
overhead kick was easily caught by the recovering 'keeper. Straight away down
at the other end they were nearly made to pay for the lethargy by Neil
Roberts, swooping into the right of the area to fire in for a great one-handed
parry from Doran with the rebound driven into the reinforced window of the
press stand behind the goal. A couple of minutes later and Matty Williams
waltzed into the box to force Doran into another save. Airbus continued to
patiently soak up the pressure and tried to work their own moves. There was
a sudden moment of space for Tom Rowlands as he found himself bursting down
the middle to tee up a promising shot that went just wide of the left post.
A
few minutes later and the away contingent held their expectant breaths as
their own Ronaldo, Giovanni Feliciello, set himself up for a curling free kick:
it was a good save but needed a bit more power as it was turned wide. The
Lilywhites' response was to race up the other end for another ex-blue, former
boss Gareth Owen, to spoon wide of an open goal with Chris Doran duelling
unsuccessfully with Matty Williams out of place outside his six yard box on
the other side of goal. Allan Bickerstaff's reward for Gaz was to bring him
off for the gazelle-like Josh Johnson in his place. In turn young Gary McConnell came on for his
debut for the Blues and showed a few nice touches and awareness of the players
around him and Airbus had a little bit of pressure without getting
anywhere. Rhyl finished things off with a handful of great chances, Neil
Roberts crashing over an open goal from a fine running cross from
Connolly then Johnson gliding through on the right to drive a dipping
graceful shot just wide of the right post before Luke Sherbon produced a
soaring, long, goal-bound shot from way out that Chris Doran matched, going
backwards to tip over with a marvellous difficult one-hander.
C Doran - R Edwards - G Feliciello
- M Woodward - G Sudlow - M Allen - A Williams - D Desormeaux
M Cadwallader - P Molyneux - M Cook.
Subs:
P Palethorpe - T Rowlands - J Rowlands - G McConnell.
ATTENDANCE: 426.
Dave 'The Fan' Sargent
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