Haverfordwest County climbed out of the JD Cymru Premier relegation zone with a 2-0 victory over Bala Town at Maes Tegid on Friday night.
Corey Shephard scored an outrageous goal to put the Bluebirds ahead in the 26th minute as he spotted Joel Torrance off his line and produced a stunning volley from the halfway line.
Torrance made numerous saves to keep the scoreline down towards the end of the first half, but the Bala goalkeeper brought down Ben Ahmun inside the box just two minutes after the break and the Haverfordwest striker stepped up to score the resulting penalty.
Bala’s woes increased on 78 minutes as captain Nathan Burke was shown a straight red card for his late challenge on Kyle Kenniford. Haverfordwest are now two points clear of the relegation zone and just one point behind Bala.
JD Cymru Premier
Connah’s Quay Nomads moved up to second in the table after Harry Franklin’s brace secured a 2-1 victory over Colwyn Bay at the Essity Stadium on Friday.
Franklin opened the scoring inside just 12 minutes as he got in front of Nathan Peate to meet Marco Fregapane’s teasing cross and head beyond Alex Brown at the front post.
Bay started the second half brightly and almost equalised through Jordan Davies, whose effort from distance rattled the crossbar. However, the Nomads doubled their advantage against the run of play on 65 minutes when Callum West’s blocked effort ricocheted kindly to Franklin, who calmly slotted into the bottom corner for his seventh goal in six league games.
Aaron Williams headed home Aron Williams’ cross at the back post to half the deficit for the visitors in the 87thminute, but the Nomads saw out Bay’s late pressure as they extended their unbeaten run in the JD Cymru Premier to nine matches.
Cardiff Met climbed back into the top six as they came from behind to win 2-1 against bottom-of-the-table Llanelli Town at Cyncoed Stadium on Friday.
Llanelli took the lead in the 19th minute when veteran defender Sean Cronin met Tristian Jenkins’ cross at the back post and headed home his second league goal of the season. However, Met were level 10 minutes into the second half as Fumpa Mwandwe received a neat pass from Jake Morris, cut inside and curled beautifully into the bottom corner.
Llanelli’s hopes of picking up a first point on the road since September were dealt a blow when Cronin was shown a second yellow card for his foul on Mwandwe in the 83rd minute.
It took Met just five minutes to take advantage of having an extra man, as Joel Edwards’ floated cross was met by a superb volley from Sam Jones.
There was nothing to separate Caernarfon Town and Flint Town United in a 1-1 draw at the Go Goodwins Stadium on Friday.
The Cofis took just seven minutes to break the deadlock as Adam Davies raced onto Josh Lock’s flick-on and fired past Jack Flint into the far corner.
Paulo Mendes hit the post with a volley and Lock was denied by Flint when one-on-one with the goalkeeper, which would prove costly for the hosts as their former loanee Jake Canavan equalised for Flint with a powerful first-time finish into the roof of the net in the 80th minute.
A draw was not enough for the Silkmen to avoid dropping into the relegation zone, while Caernarfon are now winless in their last four league matches.
Weekend results in full:
Bala Town 0-2 Haverfordwest County
Caernarfon Town 1-1 Flint Town United
Cardiff Met 2-1 Llanelli Town
Connah’s Quay Nomads 2-1 Colwyn Bay
