Nomads go down fighting, as fortress Deeside falls to Aber

Early season form was turned upside down, when pre match favourites Nomads faced an uphill battle to get back into the game after Aberystwyth had raced into a 2-0 lead within 15 minutes of kick off.

The Nomads started wth the same line-up for the fourth consecutive game. Facing an Aberystwyth side who had conceded 15 goals and only scored twice in their previous five games, the home side must have been confident of extending their three match winning run. But Aberystwyth showed from the start that they were no pushovers and they stunned the Nomads with a second minute goal from Matty Collins. An Aberystwyth free kick was floated into the penalty area and headed on towards a crowded goalmouth, but he Nomads defence failed to clear the ball properly and it fell to Collins, who hit a low shot from the edge of the penalty area into the Nomads net.

As the Nomads tried to settle into their normal passing game, they found the visitors willing to chase every ball and put pressure on the man in possession. This almost resulted in another Aberystwyth goal when a defensive error presented a goal scoring opportunity, but the Aber forward shot tamely at John Rushton who saved comfortably. The home side had a short period pressing the Aberystwyth defence, but then found themselves 2-0 down in the 15th minute when Jordon Follows scored from the penalty spot. Michael Robinson was adjudged to have pushed an Aberystwyth forward, as the ball floated into the penalty area from a free kick.

By the midway point of the first half, the visitors looked the sharper side and although Nomads worked hard to get back into the game, they  failed to creat any goal-scoring opportunities. Mike Thompson was offside when running through onto a ball from Macca and then Macca failed to take advantage of a long ball from Tigger into the penalty area, his effort being put behind for a corner. The corner was cleared by the visitors, but when it was pumped back into the penalty area, Michael Robinson headed just wide.

The remainder of the first half was played out in a similar fashion, with Nomads battling to get into their normal style of play, but being frustrated by the visitors abilty to withstand the pressure and looking to hit Nomads on the break.

The second half started with Rob Jones coming on for Mike Thompson and Nomads continued to work hard to get back into the game, but the visitors held firm against the pressure. Nomads were failing to creat  clear cut  chances and started to resort to long range shots which never really troubled the Aberystwyth keeper. The home fans thought the breakthrough had arrived in the 60th minute, but they were disappointed when Gary O’Toole’s close range shot went narrowly wide of the goal. 

Nomads were certainly seeing more of the ball and after Dean Canning replaced Ricky Evans and he earned a corner in the 72 minute, but Danny Dobbins headed over the bar from the resultant corner. The mounting pressure on the visitors’ goal was demonstrated by the number of corners the Nomads were awarded and there were something like 14 or 15 in the second half. In a ten minutes period between the 70th and 80th minute, Nomads had eight corners including four in quick succession in less than two minutes. They also had an appeal for a penalty turned down too.      

After missing the last three games, Danny Forde returned to the fray to replace  Chris Rowntree in the 79th minute and within two minutes, he almost produced a goal scoring opportunity after good interplay with Tigger. As the game moved into the final minutes, the referee ignored a foul on Tigger that allowed an Aberystwyth forward to have run on the Nomads goal, but his goal attempt was foiled by a very good John Rushton save.

A frustrating afternoon for the Nomads got worse when Neil Ebrill was sent to the stand by referee Lee Evans, presumably for something he had said. The frustration finally boiled over resulting in a straight red card for Tigger, He was judged to have reacted in a violent manner to a foul by an Aberystwyth player, but the referee’s decision looked harsh when he failed to also punish the Aberystwyth player for his part in provoking the altercation.

When the fourth official indicated there would be 4 additional minutes, this became when 7 Danny Forde required treatment for an injury. Then as the game approached the last minute, Jamie Petrie scored his third goal in two games when he met a cross from the left with a shot on the volley from about 15 yards. Unfortunately this was to prove to be just a consolation goal, as Nomads suffered their second defeat of the season.

A disappointing result for the Nomads, who came up against an Aberystwyth side clearly willing to work very hard to get their season back on track after some poor performances. 

Nomads Team: (3-5-2)
Rushton, Robinson, McGregor, Dobbins, Petrie, C Jones, Evans, Rowntree, Hooley, O’Toole, Thompson.
Subs: R Jones – for Thompson, Canning - for Evans & Forde for Rowntree.

Referee: Lea Evans.
Cards:  Craig Jones, yellow (22), red (90)
 Attendance: 165

Match Photos