Connah’s Quay Nomads set their new record attendance for a home fixture as they earned a 2-0 victory over local rivals Flint Town United at the Essity Stadium on Friday night.
1,557 fans were in attendance and the Nomads rewarded their supporters by finding the net inside just seven minutes through Callum West, who latched onto goalkeeper Chris Renshaw’s long pass and tremendously swerved the ball into the bottom corner for his eighth goal of the season.
Flint perhaps should have equalised when an unmarked Harrison McGahey fired wide before Lee Jonas struck the post from close range, but the Nomads wrapped up all three points late on to ease all nerves as Harry Franklin’s powerful shot squirmed under Jack Flint.
John Disney’s side held on to keep their fourth consecutive clean sheet and extend their unbeaten run to nine matches.
Novira Cymru Premier
Airbus UK Broughton also triumphed in a Flintshire derby as they climbed up to fifth in the table with an entertaining 3-2 victory over Holywell Town at Barton’s North Wales Stadium.
Owen Davies opened the scoring for Holywell in the 21st minute when he steered the ball home from Caio Hughes’ cross, but Airbus completed a quick turnaround to lead at half time as Oliver Calland sent a low drive into the bottom corner from the edge of the area before George Peers spotted an unmarked Jordan Evans, who emphatically fired past Alex Swindell.
Swindell later made two quality saves to deny Evans twice from distance, but Michael Davies’ foul on Kaiden Cooke inside the area on 72 minutes allowed the Novira Cymru Premier top scorer Peers to bag his 17th league goal of the season from the penalty spot.
Holywell halved the deficit in stoppage time as Florian Yonsian converted a penalty of his own following Joe Palmer’s handball inside the area, but Airbus survived that late scare to make it five consecutive top-flight wins for the first time in their history.
Cambrian United ended their losing run as Liam Eason’s late penalty salvaged a thrilling 3-3 draw against Barry Town United at the M&P Group 3G.
Cambrian goalkeeper Kelland Absalom made some important saves for his side, while Jake Morris also struck the crossbar for the hosts as the match somehow remained goalless at half time despite numerous chances for both teams. However, the goals eventually began to fly in as Cambrian’s Danny Birch headed home from close range four minutes after the restart, only for his opener to be cancelled out by Noah Daley, who turned inside the area and squeezed his low effort beyond Absalom.
Dylan Edwards restored Cambrian’s lead as he tapped home on the line from Kieran Lewis’ clever square ball, but Barry were quick to find a response once again as Keston Davies made it two apiece with a looping header from Mikey George’s free-kick delivery.
Barry led for the first time in the game when Daley’s close range header from Dan Barton’s corner bounced down off the crossbar and back off Absalom, with that ricochet enough to take the ball over the line. However, Barton’s foul on Birch inside the area allowed Eason to rescue a point as the Cambrian striker confidently placed his penalty into the roof of the net. Liam Williams’ side remain ninth in the table, while Barry drop to seventh-place, although still 10 points inside the top half.
League leaders The New Saints maintained their six-point lead at the top of the table with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Llandudno at the Go Goodwins Stadium.
Saints had two glorious chances to take the lead in the early stages as Dynel Simeu headed over the bar from inside the six-yard box before Jordan Williams fired wide on the rebound from Isaac Jefferies’ saved effort. Llandudno’s Marc Williams then made a superb goal-line clearance to keep out Rhys Hughes’ diving header.
Iwan Cartwright made a crucial block of his own to deny Josh Lock a sight of goal from eight yards out, but Saints eventually broke the deadlock six minutes into the second half as Williams poked the rebound home from his own saved effort.
Jefferies was denied by the post when one-on-one with Shaun Pearson before TNS goalkeeper Nathan Shepperd ensured the visitors earned their eighth consecutive away win as he made a late save to deny Cammron Morris.
Ammanford secured a crucial victory at the lower end of the table as Wyn Thomas’ side triumphed 3-1 over Briton Ferry Llansawel at the Ammanford Recreation Ground.
Ammanford took the lead in the 26th minute thanks to a well-worked attacking move which saw Harri Rowe race down the byline and cut the ball back to Callum Shirt, who fired home from close range for his first ever Novira Cymru Premier goal.
Ferry striker Tom Walters then saw two headers denied by Euros Griffiths’ goal-line clearance and Tom Wright’s point-blank save, but despite threatening to cancel out Shirt’s opener, Ammanford doubled their lead late in the first half thanks to Joe Case, who received Shirt’s pass and sent a low drive into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
Ammanford found clear daylight on 56 minutes as club veteran Griffiths met Callum Thomas’ corner at the back post and headed past Will Fuller. Griffiths’ header also marked the first time Ammanford have scored three goals in a single top-flight fixture.
Ferry pulled a goal back with 15 minutes remaining as Ricky-Lee Owen flicked a header into the bottom corner from Mitchel Bates’ free-kick, but Ammanford held on to secure an impressive win and move to within just two points of safety.
Colwyn Bay climbed up to fourth in the table as they earned a narrow 2-1 victory over Trefelin at Elsey Creative Ynys Park.
The Seagulls were gifted the opening goal in the 22nd minute as Trefelin defender Jacob Jones turned Declan Poole’s cross into his own net, with nothing much Scott Coughlan could do to prevent the ball from flying past him.
Dan Roberts doubled Bay’s lead eight minutes before half time with his third goal of the season as he tucked away the rebound from Callum Bratley’s blocked effort from the edge of the area. Nathan Peate thought he had added a third goal for the away side with 12 minutes to play as he headed in from Sam Hart’s corner, but his goal was ruled out after he fouled Coughlan.
Trefelin set up an interesting finish to the contest as Lewys Ware halved the deficit with a spectacular strike into the top corner from distance, but Bay survived stoppage time to secure back-to-back away wins and move up to fourth-place.
There was a four-figure crowd on Friday night as Penybont claimed their fifth straight home win with a 2-0 victory over Caernarfon Town at the Dragonbet Stadium.
Caernarfon thought they had taken an early lead in front of the 1,113 fans in attendance when Osian Evans fired into the bottom corner, but following a VAR check, the goal was disallowed as Evans was deemed to have handled the ball before applying the finish.
Penybont hit the front nine minutes later as Chris Venables retrieved the ball from Nathan Wood’s cleared cross and watched his volley deflect off Noah Edwards and nestle into the bottom corner, leaving Connor Roberts wrongfooted.
A swift counter-attack doubled Bont’s tally four minutes into the second half as Tom Mehew beat Ben Nash to Mael Davies’ clearance, raced towards goal and squared the ball for Tyler Walker, who slotted through the legs of Roberts for his fourth goal in as many games.
Caernarfon forward Zack Clarke came extremely close to pulling a goal back for his side, but he could only watch his curling shot from the edge of the area crash off the post. Consecutive defeats for the Cofis for the first time this season sees them drop down to sixth in the table, while Penybont are still eight points behind leaders TNS with a game in hand.
Cardiff Met returned to winning ways with a commanding 3-0 victory over Haverfordwest County at Bridge Meadow.
Met needed just 17 minutes to open the scoring as Aaron Wildig’s cross was cleared but only as far as James Clarke, whose low volley crept into the net via the post. Met’s top scorer Jasper Payne bagged his ninth league goal of the season to double the advantage shortly before half time as he slammed the ball home from close range when running onto Fumpa Mwandwe’s cutback.
Mwandwe hit the post with a powerful strike in the second half, but the pacy winger would eventually have another contribution to his name as he laid the ball off to Wildig, who coolly placed his effort into the top corner for his first ever goal for the club. Mwandwe was denied by the woodwork for a second time as his clipped shot bounced down off the crossbar, but Met’s lead was hardly threatened and the Archers could enjoy their first win away at Haverfordwest since April 2022.
Novira Cymru Premier results in full:
Ammanford 3-1 Briton Ferry Llansawel
Cambrian United 3-3 Barry Town United
Haverfordwest County 0-3 Cardiff Met
Holywell Town 2-3 Airbus UK Broughton
Llandudno 0-1 The New Saints
Penybont 2-0 Caernarfon Town
Trefelin 1-2 Colwyn Bay
Connah’s Quay Nomads 2-0 Flint Town United
