Holywell Town were victorious in Boxing Day’s Flintshire Derby as goals from Morgan Murray and Jake Cooke saw Johnny Haseldin’s side defeat Buckley Town 2-1 at Deeside Stadium.
The Wellmen got their reward after posing an attacking threat early on in the match when Cooke fired home on the turn for his 12th goal of the season in the 11th minute.
Buckley responded perfectly after going a goal down as Josh Allen found the net in the midst of a goalmouth scramble to level the scoreline shortly after the half hour mark, but Cooke went from goalscorer to provider for Holywell in the second half as he set up Murray to earn the victory.
It means that the Wellmen will end 2023 without an away league defeat all year, while they also closed the gap on JD Cymru North leaders Airbus UK Broughton who were held to a 0-0 draw by Gresford Athletic.
Wingmakers forwards James Davies and Jordan Evans were both denied by the woodwork in a frustrating afternoon for Mark Allen’s side. The Gresford defence will be proud of their performance as they became just the third side to stop Airbus scoring in the league this season.
Second-place Flint Town United are now just one point behind the Wingmakers following their convincing 5-1 victory over Llandudno at the OPS Wind Arena.
The match was even until midway through the first half when a magical five-minute spell saw Flint race into a two-goal lead with Elliott Reeves and Sol Forde finding the net.
The goals continued to fly in at the start of the second half as Josh Jones added a third for the Silkmen five minutes before Rowan Davies headed in his first ever senior goal for Llandudno.
Flint restored their three goal cushion as Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro skilfully brought the ball down to find the far corner and make it 4-1.
Things went from bad to worse the Seasiders as Harvey Bennett received a straight red card for denying a goalscoring opportunity, resulting in a Flint penalty which Anthony Stephens fired wide. It was five for Flint soon after though as Luis Lacey netted a cheeky backheel.
Denbigh Town recorded their largest ever club attendance and the biggest crowd in the JD Cymru North this season as 1,145 people watched Paul Fleming net a late winner to secure a 2-1 win against Vale of Clwyd rivals Ruthin Town.
Struggling Ruthin took the lead just before half-tme through Llyr Morris, who scored for the first time since September. However, Denbigh produced a second half comeback as Nathan Brown found the equaliser on 56 minutes before captain Fleming slammed the ball home in stoppage time to send Central Park into raptures.
There was another impressive crowd at Y Traeth as 723 fans watched Bangor 1876 storm to a stunning 4-0 victory over Porthmadog.
The division’s top goalscorer Corrig McGonigle didn’t take long to cause danger as he put the away side ahead in the 18th minute before fellow in-form forward Sam Jones grabbed the second soon after half-time. Craig Whelan and substitute Cameron Barry found the third and fourth goals to add to Porthmadog’s woes.
Also hitting four were Guilsfield who were inspired by a stunning 34 minute hat-trick from Iwan Matthews to prevail 4-0 against bottom-of-the-table Chirk AAA at Clos Mytton.
Jamie Hyne scored his sixth league goal of the campaign to put the home side ahead in the first half before substitute Matthews then tore apart the Chirk defence by scoring his treble, which included two spot kicks and a deft finish to send Guilsfield into the top half.
Rhys Hesden’s brace proved to be the all-important difference as Caersws extended their unbeaten run to six games with a 3-1 win away to fellow Powys side Llanidloes Town.
The Daffs were on top for some spells in the first half, but lacked end product and were eventually punished when Hesden’s double had Caersws two goals to the good on the hour mark against the run of play.
Llanidloes finally got themselves on the scoresheet through Jamie Breese but they were unable to stage a late comeback and were caught out on the counter attack as substitute Craig Harris wrapped up all three points for Caersws.
JD Cymru North results
Denbigh Town 2-1 Ruthin Town
Airbus UK Broughton 0-0 Gresford Athletic
Buckley Town 1-2 Holywell Town
Guilsfield 4-0 Chirk AAA
Llandudno 1-5 Flint Town United
Llanidloes Town 1-3 Caersws
Porthmadog 0-4 Bangor 1876
