Nomads go top with resounding win

Connah’s Quay Nomads rose to the top of the JD Welsh Premier League with a 6-0 win over Llanelli Town on Saturday afternoon at Deeside Stadium.

Braces for Michael Wilde and Andy Owens, along with a Michael Bakare strike and Callum Morris penalty, sealed a comprehensive victory for Andy Morrison’s side.

• 20th minute Callum Morris penalty opens scoring
• Nomads go in 4-0 up at half time
• Andy Owens and Michael Wilde seal 6-0 win
• Nomads rise to the top of the JD Welsh Premier League

The Nomads came into the game knowing it was a major opportunity to go top of the JD Welsh Premier League, following the then leaders The New Saints’ 1-0 loss at Aberystwyth on Friday evening.

They were also looking to return to winning ways in the league, following a 3-0 loss at TNS and 0-0 draw at Caernarfon Town. It was their second game of the week, following a Nathaniel MG Cup clash at Bala Town’s Maes Tegid ground, where a 90th minute winner from Andy Owens secured Nomads’ place in the semis.

Llanelli Town came to Deeside propping up the JD Welsh Premier table in their first visit to Deeside since a JD Welsh Cup clash in 2013. Nomads and Llanelli had last met at Stebonheath Park in August, where Nomads opened their league campaign with an emphatic 7-0 win.

Andy Morrison made five changes to Nomads’ league cup line up, with John Danby, John Disney, Danny Harrison, James Owen and Andy Owens all returning to the starting lineup.

Llanelli Town, who were missing a number of players through suspension, named new signing Michael George in their lineup with Kai Rees on the bench.

The game began to few major chances in the opening stages, with Callum Morris seeing the ball fall to him inside the Llanelli area from a corner, but his second minute effort went wide from around seven yards out.

Nomads soon began to put pressure on the visitors, with a number of throw ins and corner kicks won as Michael Wilde and Michael Bakare hunted down balls in the final third.

After Michael Parker headed just wide from a Bakare corner in the 17th minute, Nomads broke the deadlock with 20 played.

After Jay Owen brought the ball close to the byline and tried to send it past a Llanelli defender, referee Cheryl Foster pointed to the spot for a handball.

Callum Morris stepped up and slotted into the bottom left corner in the 20th minute, sending Nomads in front and sealing his seventh goal of the league campaign.

Nomads almost scored two goals in under a minute, as then a long throw in by Andy Owens bounded by the Llanelli goal mouth, with no red shirt able to edge the ball across the line.

In the 30th minute Nomads did secure their second, when Michael Bakare ran onto a pass that split the Llanelli area, stuttered, and sent the ball under the goalkeeper from only four yards out to make it 2-0.

The floodgates were well and truly open at Deeside, with the following stages of play seeing a frenzy in the Llanelli area as Nomads’ Bakare went within three yards of scoring on three occasions, but was blocked each time by some last ditch defending.

Nomads’ rush into Llanelli end didn’t finish there, with Bakare seeing another header cleared off the line before Michael Wilde saw a header balance across the crossbar before going out of play to end around five minutes of the game played almost entirely in Llanelli’s final third.

The Nomads finally broke down the defence again in the 39th minute, when after a corner, Parker nipped behind Llanelli’s back line to head low to Wilde who slotted home at point blanc range.

And one minute later it was 4-0, when Andy Owens rose high in the area to head home and get his name on the scoresheet.

At half time Andy Morrison replaced Michael Parker with attacking midfielder Rob Hughes to aid Nomads’ push for more goals on the board.

The second half saw Nomads continue their dominance, with Rob Hughes soon trying to test the Llanelli keeper with a 22 yard effort which curled over for a goal kick.

Despite the scoreline, Llanelli’s stopper Oliver Davies enjoyed a strong individual performance, pulling off a instinctive save to deny Callum Morris’ effort from only one yard on 57 minutes, with a follow up shot from Andy Owens hitting the post.

Andy Owens again threatened in the 60th minute and was this time clinical, converting a Bakare cross in with a header-come-chest of the ball from close range.

Laurence Wilson was highly effective on the left wing for Nomads, with his darting runs down the wing and direct crosses causing headaches for Llanelli.

Nomads then made their second change, seeing Nathan Woolfe replace Michael Bakare with 25 minutes remaining.

As the game entered its final stages it was one way traffic at Deeside, as the Nomads kept looking for opportunities to extend their lead.

In the 83rd minute, goalkeeper Davies pulled off an audacious double save to deny Callum Morris and Andy Owens, both from just yards out, to deny Nomads their sixth.

But Nomads returned with vengeance in the 89th minute, and sealed a 6-0 win with a close range finish from Michael Wilde, who thought he had secured a hat trick in the 90th minute when he slotted in again, only to be found offside.

The result sees Nomads rise to first in the JD Welsh Premier League by two points, ahead of a top of the table clash against high flying Barry Town United next Saturday 10 November for a 2:30pm kick off at Deeside.

Match Photos

Match Report by Will Catterall