Llandyrnog Summer League: Llandyrnog vs. Clawddnewydd

Idris Parry can actually take half decent photos

This Monday night saw the visit to Cae Nant of Clawddnewydd who were looking to avenge a 5-0 loss in the reverse fixture earlier in the season. They'll wish they hadn't. A 7-1 victory for Llandyrnog that could have been far worse for the Clawdd side.

I missed the opening five minutes of the game but am assured that I didn't miss anything important and it was still 0-0 when I arrived, not for long though, Josh Davies slotting under the goalkeeper following some comical Clawdd defending on his return to the starting line-up. To further illustrate his claim to a starting place Josh quickly added a second goal within a minute of the first when his glancing header went in off the post following an inviting ball in from Patrick Hinchcliffe.

Davies teased a first half hat-trick within moments later when he picked the ball up ten yards from goal following some great play from the inform John Jones, only to hear the referee whistle for a borderline offside call.The teaser was quickly topped by the real thing shortly thereafter as the Josh Davies show continued with the hat-trick goal all present were waiting for (there wasn't really any fans or subs from Clawdd so that statement is almost literal). The goal came off the back of a good run from Pat Hinchcliffe down the right who wriggled his way into the box before unselfishly squaring for Josh to tap in from close range for his easiest finish of the night.

The Llandyrnog onslaught continued and it was Danny Roberts with the goal as he nodded in after a rasping 25 yard effort from Patty was tipped on to the bar by the Clawdd keeper before falling nicely onto the head of Dyrny's now joint top scorer Danny. The first half didn't really see anything else too exciting, there was an extremely dodgy dive from Porter in the Clawdd box, he didn't actually appeal for a penalty but his flop to the ground was akin to a Jordan and Dane Bowers internet video (if that's too subtle for you, the way he went down was on another level). There was also a near fourth of the night for Davies when he weightsed the full back but could only fire the ball straight at the keeper with the resulting shot. The rest of the half was a tad frustrating with Llandyrnog overplaying the ball at times in key areas.

The second half saw the home side get back to sticking the ball in the back of the net though as Josh Davies added his fourth with a salmon like leap to head in from Dan Porter's superb cross.

I missed the build up to the sixth goal as I was messing with the camera all I saw was Danny Roberts finishing coolly. Fortunately Sean Roberts was on hand to write the down the following explanation for me:-

"6-0 Danny knocked ball into bottom right corner from 12 yards"

Better than anything I've ever written.

There was a moment of respite for the Clawdd goal as the Yellows ran down the pitch and snatched a goal completely against the run of play. Olly Grey sidefooting in from three yards after a good cut back from one of his team-mates. There were two things interesting about this Clawdd goal, the first is that it saw a departure from the Clawdd game plan when one of their players passed the ball. Now that isn't me being a dick, one of their midfielders actually gave the instruction "Don't try and pass it" on more than one occasion to his team-mates, whilst another player actually burst into hysterics every time they tried and failed to pass!
The second interesting point is that the ball seemed to have been carried out of play by the lad who laid it on a plate for the goal, the Dyrny defenders adamant that the ball was a couple of yards out. When the referee was prompted for an explanation for why the goal kick was not given he explained himself with such an elegant and yet nonchalant shrug of the shoulders that we were all left in no doubt that the goal stood because sometimes these things happen. I bloody love this league!

The seventh and final goal came from Tudur Morris as he indulged in a spot of being exactly where he needed to be to pick up substitute Craig Jones's knock across the six yard line to grab his fifth of the campaign. There may have been more goals in the game but with the final whistle being blown five minutes before the full ninety Llandyrnog were left to settle for just the seven.

My Man of the Match award goes to Josh Davies, who was dangerous all night and probably deserved more than the four he scored. Special mention to Pat Hinchcliffe who had an exceptional first half, Dan Porter who was excellent in wandering the pitch and beating players at will, and Dan Roberts who was involved most of the better Llandyrnog play.

The team was as follows:-
Daniel Jones
John Jones, Russ Moorcroft, Emyr Jones, Tudur Morris
Pat Hinchcliffe, Tom Evans, Chris Williams, Danny Roberts
Josh Davies, Dan Porter

Subs:- Craig Jones, Mally Hughes, Idris Parry, Luke Humphreys, Chris Evans

Photos below for your enjoyment or pity, whichever you prefer. Idris Parry took the first two aswell so if either of those end up in the Free Press, he deserves the credit. The credit is mine on any of the others though!