Ten man Nomads pick up hard fought point after controversial penalty

Saturday evening saw The Nomads salvage a well deserved point thanks to Byron Harrison's volley as The Nomads played the second half with 10 men.

• Kayne McLaggon converts dubious penalty after George Horan red card
• Byron Harrison's stunning volley is enough to give Nomads a point
• Kai Calderbank-Park impresses in just his second league start
• The Nomads' clean sheet run comes to an end after eight league matches without conceding

The Nomads come into this game in staggering form as prior to this game, Nomads kept an astonishing eight consecutive league clean sheets. The most recent of these came in a 3-0 victory over already relegated Cefn Druids as well as a vital win against Aberystwyth earlier in the month.

As for Barry, they have also seen themselves have a turn in form as their narrow home victories over Cefn Druids and Cardiff Met has seen them keep up the fight to stay in the JD Cymru Premier.

The Nomads made one change from the comfortable win at Cefn Druids during midweek as goalkeeper Ollie Byrne picked up an injury, seeing Kai Calderbank-Park make his third league appearance.

Barry made three changes from their win over Cardiff Met as Clayton Green, Jon Hood and Evan Press returned to the starting eleven as Callum Sainty and Jordan Cotterill dropped to the bench with Aron Davies absent.

Barry came close to taking an early lead within the first ten minutes as Rhys Abbruzzese looked to curl one into the top corner before Calderbank-Park made a crucial diving save to prevent the opener.

Kayne McLaggon saw himself control the ball before going down inside the area but Bryn Markham-Jones was not persuaded and waved away the penalty shout.

Danny Holmes' long throw then fell into the path of Declan Poole whose volley reached Aeron Edwards but his low effort towards goal was straight forward for Micheal Lewis in the Barry goal.

Kai Calderbank-Park made another impressive save as Rhys Abbruzzese's cross almost caught out Calderbank-Park as the ball looked to be dipping into the top corner but Calderbank-Park was able to tip it behind for a Barry corner which Nomads cleared.

Theo Wharton then latched onto a through ball which saw him deliver a low ball across the face of goal, looking for Jon Hood but Calderbank-Park was able to come out and claim at the vital moment.

Just before half time, the decisive moment of the match came as Kayne McLaggon got past George Horan but as McLaggon looked to have touched the ball with his hand, Horan was deemed to have pulled back McLaggon and Bryn Markham-Jones gave Horan a red card for a last man tackle, putting Nomads down to ten men.

Kayne McLaggon stepped up for Barry and converted from twelve yards out, narrowly putting the ball past Calderbank-Park, to give Barry a 1-0 lead at half time in this crunch clash.

The Nomads started the second half brightly as Declan Poole had a great opportunity to level the scoring but his volley was over the bar. However, Nomads were seeing dominant spells of possession in the final third.

As we just passed the hour mark, Nomads found themselves an equaliser as a long ball saw Declan Poole flick back into the area where Byron Harrison wonderfully volleyed home the leveller into the bottom corner to cancel out McLaggon’s first half penalty.

The Nomads made their first substitution of the evening which saw Mello come off for Jamie Insall as Craig Harrison looked to provide more attacking threat and seek another important three points.

This was shortly followed by Nomads' second substitution as Ryan Harrington was introduced in place of Kris Owens, who picked up an earlier yellow card for stopping a Barry counter attack. Barry also made a double change as Jon Hood and Marcus Day came off for Jordan Cotterill and Nat Jarvis.

With just ten minutes to go, Byron Harrison spotted the darting run of Neal Eardley down the right hand side but Eardley's thunderous long range effort sailed past the post and the scoreline remained level.

Nat Jarvis went close for Barry in the latter stages of the match as he connected with a cross from the right before heading towards goal which saw Kai Calderbank-Park make another stop to frustrate Barry and ensure he marked his second league start with an impressive performance.

The full time whistle went and after being with ten men for the whole of the second half, The Nomads had managed to grab a hard fought point after Byron Harrison's superb strike was enough to cancel out McLaggon's dubious penalty.

The Nomads therefore are still in a relegation battle and turn their attention to Easter weekend with a return to Deeside Stadium. This will see Nomads take on Cardiff Met where the only time these two sides were separated was in the Nathaniel MG Cup earlier this season, where The Nomads prevailed thanks to Ollie Byrne's heroics. This match is scheduled to take place on Friday 15th April with a 2:30pm to be held.

Match Photos

Match Report by Adam Angerer