07.11.09 Carmarthen Town 2 Bangor City 2

In his programme notes manager Deryn Brace predicted an intriguing affair between two improving sides and that is what was on offer. With little to choose between the sides Town created the better chances but without being able to nail the game down. The visitors were sharp and penetrating on the counter.

Looking to bounce back from last weekend's disappointing cup exit Town created the better chances throughout with City keeper Paul Smith producing a string of fine saves to frustrate the hosts. And when Smith was beaten just before the hour by Nicky Palmer’s low shot a superb sliding clearance from Peter Hoy again denied the Old Gold as Town were forced to share the spoils with the Citizens.

Manager Deryn Brace retained the same starting line-up that performed so well without reward at Stebonheath. With one change on the bench young Ben Morris replaced his manager. City were without Mark Smyth through illness and the influential Michael Johnston was sidelined with his arm in a plaster cast.

City's last success at Richmond Park was in February 2006 but with Town looking to maintain the recent trend of home wins against the visitors they opened well with Tim Hicks turning cleverly in the box to fire past Smith on eight minutes after a good move down the left had seen Nathan Cotterrall and Craig Hanford provide from the flank.

It then took a reaction double save from Smith two minutes later, first from Mark Pritchard and then from Hicks to deny Town an extension to the lead.

A timely intervention from Mark Dodds denied a Chris Sharpe run before a last ditch clearance from Neil Smothers recovered the situation after City’s Jamie Reed was inexplicably left unmarked in the box.

But on the quarter hour City were level. Town cleared a long throw from Hoy but with Sion Edwards picking up on the clearance he played in the thrower who then crossed back in for Reid to glance the ball home.

With the game evenly balanced both sides exploited the left hand side and on the half hour Town went ahead for the second time. Paul Fowler found Cotterrall out on the left and with the wingman crossing to the back post Palmer hammered home to make it 2-1.

Smith gathered Cotterrall’s weak strike as Town again pushed forward and with about five minutes of the half remaining a crucial intervention from Jamie Brewerton cut out Cotterrall’s cross after great work by Hicks and Fowler on the flank before Hoy headed over Marc Limbert’s late flag kick.

Following the break Palmer's persistence and surging runs caused problems and with the Citizens firing long balls down the channels Sharpe and Reed proved willing targets.

With Cotterrall’s angled shot saved and Hoy’s sliding cover denying Town the Citizens pulled level on 65 minutes. Smothers was harshly adjudged to have fouled substitute Ashley Stott on the edge of the box and Limbert literally stoked the ball home past a stranded Neil Thomas.

Both sides looked for a winner. City’s subs provided momentum and with Sharpe breaking well Reed continued to be strong on the ball. Smith finger tipped over Richard Hughes’ dipping, floated cross-come-shot before palming over Pritchard’s header in the dying minutes. The result a fair reflection of the game.

Manager Deryn Brace told Y Dre ar Y We. “I think overall we have to be satisfied. It is disappointing because we could quite easily have been 3-0 up in the opening ten minutes before Bangor had strayed into our half”.

“We’ve talked about putting pressure on ourselves several times but that’s what we’ve done again today. Although we’ve come out with a point we have to put our chances away. We’ve got to be better in the last third with our crossing, with our passing, just be more decisive; otherwise we’ll have more days that’ll come back to haunt us like today”.

“Their keeper has had one of those days when he’s pulled off save after save. Again with our finishing it has to be more clinical but when it wasn’t clinical he pulled off some great saves. But Brace was pleased with his two goals and the performance of his midfield. “The first one I thought was nice link up play and a good ball into Tim. After a couple of near misses Tim’s actually shown great composure turning in the box and placing it into the far corner.

“The second goal I was really pleased about because it was neat one, two touch football into feet. Cots put a delightful ball into the box and Palms has timed his run brilliantly. It’s a fantastic finish, it’s one of the hardest finishes you will see and he’s made it look easy. Really pleasing on the football side of things.

“I thought the three in the middle of the park, Smudger, Paul and Palms did really well. I thought Palms’ running late into the box caused them all sorts of problems, Smudger just sat in the hole and used the ball really, really wisely. It takes a little bit of pressure off Paul Fowler and he can go and find some space and be that battering ram that we know he can be. So I was really pleased with them.

“Hicks is in fine form at the moment and a lot of Pritch’s work goes unnoticed but he takes a lot of pressure off players.

Describing Bangor’s goals Brace felt his side had switched off at a crucial moment.

“The first one I thought we defended the long throw, the set piece well; which we did all game. We’ve worked really, really hard on set pieces because we knew it was a weakness. And then we switched off because we cleared, they won it, put it back out wide and people forgot that there was a second job to do in terms of defending the second phase. So we switched off for the first goal”.

“The second goal was the free kick. In all fairness I thought Smudger won the ball fairly but the ref has given a free kick and unfortunately a little bit of magic from Marc Limbert has secured them a point.

Town : N Thomas, R Hughes, Smothers, Palmer (D Thomas 71'), Dodds, C Thomas, Hanford, Hicks, Fowler, Pritchard, Cotterrall Subs not used: Pierce, Morris.

City: Smith, Swanick, Roberts, Hoy, Brewerton, Morley, Reed, Limbert, Sharp, Connor (Williams 58'), Edwards (Stott 64') Sub not used: Michael Johnston.

Attendance: 314 Referee: Brian James

21.11.09 Carmarthen Town 1 CPD Porthmadog 3

Following an enforced lay off Town manager Deryn Brace had urged his side to be focused for the visit of CPD Porthmadog. But with the visitors having gained confidence from their previous week's win they secured their first away success and goals, providing a happy Richmond return for former Town manager Tomi Morgan. Manager Deryn Brace was frustrated by his side’s lack of finishing,

“Today was a bit of a Jackyl and Hyde game. I think everyone saw what we were capable of in the first half. But our finishing is still something to be sorted. How the game didn’t finish at half time four nil or maybe five nil we can only wonder.

“Second half was the horror story where unfortunately seven of the players thought that they only had to turn up and it would be just like the first. Porthmadog had other ideas and the few chances they created they took them and we were heavily punished.

Brace named an unchanged line up and with a Mark Dodds header providing an early test for Port keeper Richard Morgan it was the visitors, with their first foray into Town territory, who took a shock 6th. minute lead following a goalmouth scramble.

With Marc Evans' right wing corner held up in the strong wind Ceri James got a touch and although the ball was cleared the assistant referee signalled it had crossed the goal line and the visitors went in front.

Having conceded so suddenly the Richmond Park outfit was soon back on level terms. Nathan Cotterrall providing for Tim Hicks to equalise from 10 yards after Nicky Palmer had lain off the wing-man’s cross to Hicks.

Town went on to dominate with Cotterrall and Kris Thomas combining well down the left to repeatedly taunt the Port defence. A low shot by Hicks was gathered at the second attempt by Morgan and having cut in from the left Paul Fowler squandered a good opportunity he should have converted.

Cotterrall and Hicks both fired over when well placed and with Port’s custodian keeping out Cotterrall’s angled drive the visitors gradually stemmed Town’s flowing football down the left hand side.

Despite dominating Town couldn’t quite capitalise on their considerable possession and on the break Gareth Parry’s volley was denied by Neil Thomas’ leg before James found the back of the net from an indirect free kick which was correctly ruled out by referee Neil Morgan to leave it all square at the break.

Given the extreme weather conditions it was great credit to Town’s ground staff that the game was played at all but immediately following the restart Port took the lead for a second time and Town were left to rue their first half wastefulness.

Dan Pyrs burst through to the edge of the area before finding Roberts. With the experienced striker turning inside he sent a 20-yard thunderbolt into the top corner of the net.

With Port’s confidence high they came close to a third when Thomas’ punched clearance at a corner was sliced towards his own goal. But with the ball’s momentum held up in the mud the danger passed but Thomas was soon back in action to touch over Aden Shannon curling 25 yard free kick.

Then on 66 minutes Roberts bagged his brace and secured the result after Pyrs again provided for the front man to smash a 10 yarder into the roof of the net.

Town’s hard work to reduce the deficit was met with stiff resistance. Morgan turned away Cotterrall’s 75th. minute effort before dealing with Danny Thomas’ injury time 18 yarder as Port secured their first win at Richmond Park in 16 years. With Port now five off the bottom Town retain ninth position.

Porthmadog: R Morgan, Jones, E Roberts, Pyrs, Davies, Keegan, Shannon (Gornall 90'), James (Antionazzi 88'), P Roberts, Evans (Thompson 69'), Parry. Sub not used: Ellis (Y).

Town: N Thomas, R Hughes, Palmer, Smothers (Walters), Dodds, K Thomas, Hanford (Morris 86'), Hicks, Fowler, Pritchard (D Thomas 65'), Cotterall. Sub not used: Squires (Y).

Referee N Morgan Attendance 173.

28.11.09 Bala Town 1 Carmarthen Town 3

Manager Deryn Brace’s stinging rebuke following last week’s disappointing defeat clearly had the desired effect on his players as a solid all round Town performance recorded a well deserved win at Maes Tegid, Bala.

With the ‘Lakesiders’ on the same points as Town and only having conceded one home defeat, to highflying Rhyl, the game looked a ‘must win’ assignment for both sides. But three first half goals saw the Richmond Park outfit get back to winning ways after being rocked by an early Ross Jeffries goal for the visitors.

A sizable Town following made the journey to Bala and were rewarded with a positive and pleasing performance. And having put some daylight between Town and the League newcomers to maintain ninth place Brace was clearly delighted with the outcome.

"Today was a fantastic reaction to last week’s shocking result. It was a hard fought victory but a thoroughly deserved victory. The payers have answered the questions I've asked with another big performance".

"Yes we got off to the worst possible start but again our reaction from that was really positive and at the other end I thought we were ruthless in taking our chances well".

"Today's result was vital. It was important to get the points to close the gap between us and the top eight because now we're now breathing down their necks. But what we need to do is make sure we go on a positive run of wins".

Brace handed a midfield start to Danny Thomas at the expense of Nicky Palmer. And with Craig Hughes recovered from long-term injury he joined Ben Morris to make up a strong Town bench. The hosts were without the suspended Ricky Evans and Danny Jellico and made changes to cover the injured full backs Gethin Lloyd and John Irving.

In a bright start on a good surface Mark Harris put in a testing cross before Jeffries opened the scoring for the hosts on four minutes. An unopposed header at the back post from an Osian Jones flag kick.

Having been rocked by the early setback Town levelled on sixteen minutes. With Danny Thomas driving into the box Tim Hicks’ shot was blocked, but with Chris Thomas crossing the clearance back in from the edge of the eighteen-yard area Hicks deftly glanced the ball home to steady Town nerves.

Town could easily have taken the lead a couple of minutes later when Mark Pritchard and Danny Thomas linked up well on the edge of the box to set up Paul Fowler. But with the midfielder drilling the ball into the side netting it was left to Hicks to bag his brace and put Town ahead ten minutes later. Richard Hughes' floated ball forward picked out Pritchard who released Hicks to drive in from a tight angle.

In between goals Ross and Brett Jeffries linked well for the hosts and Steve Fisher supported well from the back as Bala mounted several good raids. But with Mark Dodds shackling the experienced John Toner, Richard Hughes and Craig Hanford worked well to ensure the hosts did not profit.

Neal Smothers anchored the midfield giving the back four some protection. A diving header from the mid-fielder saw Town’s confident shout for handball turned down. But having taken the lead Town took control. Chris Thomas, who was having one of his best games of the season, broke down the flank to deliver a confident cross. Danny Thomas cleverly controlled his namesake's delivery before producing a goal-scorers finish, turning in the box and firing beyond keeper Leon Bimpson, to give Town a comfortable half time lead.

Following the break the hosts pressed to reduce the deficit but with Town's back four in miserly mood they had little return and it took a goal saving cover clearance from Steve Fisher at the other end to deny Hicks a hat-trick after Fowler had set the front man free.

Fowler’s thunderbolt off a Nathan Cotterrall lay-off flew narrowly over and on the eighty-minute mark, with Bimpson committed and way out of his area, Cotterrall's speculative effort from the half way line went agonisingly wide of the open goal.

In between Town closed the hosts down with some tight passing and marking. And with Morris making up a full quota of replacements Town saw out the game to register a convincing first win at Maes Tegid. Manager Deryn Brace was delighted with his defensive display.

"It was important to get our defensive duties right. Neil Thomas was as solid as he has been over the last couple of months. But I thought that the back four, for the first time in a complete ninety minutes, played as a real unit which gave us the basis to attack".

And with Danny Thomas celebrating his return to the starting line-up with a goal Brace added, “Danny's had to be patient after his illness because it’s coincided with us having a good run. Every time he comes on he gives us a spark and has done very well. I felt today it was important to give him as much game time as possible so we gave him a start. It wasn't the fact that anyone else was playing badly, but he's taken the opportunity well".

Craig Hughes had a twenty-minute period following injury. “With Guppy we've not rushed him. We knew it was right to let him take his time to make sure he was over his injury. It’s been frustrating for Craig because he obviously wants to get on the park instead of watching games. As soon as he does come on he gives everyone a huge lift. Today you could see he's craving every minute of playing time but naturally he's still got a little bit of rustiness to get over”.

Bala: Bimpson, Harris, Fisher, Powell, B Jefferies, R Jefferies, Roberts, Moore, Toner (Griffiths 70'), Duckett, O Jones (Fisher 81'). Sub not used: Kennedy.

Town: N Thomas, R Hughes, Hanford, Smothers, Dodds, C Thomas, D Thomas (Palmer 81'), Hicks, Fowler, Pritchard (C Hughes 68'), Cotterrall (Morris 87').

Attendance 173 Referee Dean John