Rampant Nomads storm to first away win of season

Friday night saw The Nomads begin September in style with their first away win of the season following a 4-0 victory over Caernarfon Town courtesy of goals from Declan Poole, Jack Kenny, Jordan Davies and Noah Edwards.

The Nomads extended their wonderful record against Caernarfon Town on Friday night with a 4-0 win in the JD Cymru Premier. The victory means The Nomads remain unbeaten against The Cofis in the last twelve meetings between the two sides.

Declan Poole got things rolling with an early strike after Caernarfon failed to deal with a long throw into the area. Jack Kenny’s header doubled our lead but just minutes later, the game was overshadowed by an unfortunate medical emergency in the crowd behind Jon Rushton’s goal. Medical staff and fellow fans attended to the person involved but luckily after a lengthy stoppage, the fan was back on their feet and we got back underway. Connah’s Quay Nomads as a club would like to express our thoughts and prayers to the fan who suffered the incident. Jordan Davies’ penalty shortly after the restart extended The Nomads’ lead to three before Noah Edwards rounded things off, netting against his former team, meaning The Nomads came home with consecutive victories and a clean sheet.

Form
The Nomads had an up and down run of results during August which began with a loss to TNS on the opening day. The Nomads got their first league win of the season against Aberystwyth in the club’s first game at The Essity Stadium but were frustrated a week later following an unlucky 1-0 loss away to Bala. However, The Nomads returned to winning ways just three days ago versus Newtown as goals from Jordan Davies, Ben Nash and Harry Franklin secured a second consecutive win at The Essity. Prior to Friday’s kick off, The Nomads sat in 6th position on 6 points.

Richard Davies’ Caernarfon have had a bright start to the JD Cymru Premier campaign, recording two wins and two draws and were unbeaten prior to tonight. The Cofis stormed to a 4-0 win away to newly promoted Colwyn Bay before picking up a 2-1 victory against Newtown. Caernarfon’s last two fixtures in the JD Cymru Premier have ended all square. Louis Lloyd’s header earned a point against Haverfordwest three days before Zack Clarke’s second half leveller saw Caernarfon pick up their first points against Colin Caton’s Bala for the first time since February 2022.

Team News
Neil Gibson named an unchanged starting eleven from Tuesday’s victory over Newtown. Andy Firth remained absent with injury so Jon Rushton kept his place as goalkeeper. Ryan Harrington made his 50th Cymru Premier start in Nomads colours. Jack Kenny and Noah Edwards both started against their former team as a returning Aron Williams was named on the bench following a nasty injury which kept him out of action for the last three weeks.

Caernarfon manager Richard Davies also named an unchanged eleven with summer signings Ryan Austin, Louis Lloyd, Lewis Webb, Marc Williams, Zack Clarke and Phil Mooney all starting after impressing in the early stages of the season. Youngsters Cai Griffith and Harry Hughes were named on the bench.

The First Half
The Nomads started strong and were ahead inside nine minutes. Jordan Davies’ long throw was nodded on by Ben Nash and a slight touch from Jack Kenny placed the ball into the path of Declan Poole who stayed onside to slot past Lewis Webb from close range and secure his first goal of the season.

The forward trio almost carved open the Caernarfon defence for a second goal as Harry Franklin’s pass through to Jack Kenny allowed the No.18 to fire back across goal in search of Jordan Davies but a sliding challenge kept things at 1-0.

The Nomads were dominating possession and Caernarfon simply had no reply. Lewis Webb came to his side’s rescue as he managed to tip away Ryan Harrington’s curling effort from around 20 yards out. Moments later, Webb was forced into another save as Callum Bratley’s low drive was clawed away to safety.

Caernarfon were struggling to test Jon Rushton in The Nomads goal and the closest the hosts came to finding the net was through a audacious Darren Thomas strike from distance which flew past the post. Louis Lloyd was nearly able to get a shot away after controlling a diagonal ball inside the area but Declan Poole tracked back and got a foot in to halt the attack.

The home side had their first shot on goal on the stroke of half time through striker Zack Clarke. A series of set pieces were looking hopeful for The Cofis but eventually, Clarke went for goal but Rushton stayed alert to make the stop and hand possession back to The Nomads, keeping his clean sheet alive and sending The Nomads into the interval with a one goal lead.

The Second Half
Caernarfon maintained a solid spell of pressure at the beginning of the second half as Danny Gosset’s cross forced Ben Nash into a crucial headed clearance to prevent Louis Lloyd from a sight of goal. The ball fell back out to Marc Williams but the midfielder’s attempt was always rising over the bar.

The hosts were outdone by a set piece from the left as The Nomads doubled their advantage in the 55th minute. Declan Poole’s corner was met by Ben Nash whose header struck the crossbar and back out to Jack Kenny who nodded home from short range.

What was to come just a few moments later was what no football fan wanted to see. An unfortunate medical emergency in the crowd behind Jon Rushton’s goal saw physios and stewards attend to the incident and after a lengthy stoppage where all players and staff awaited the referee’s outcome, the fan returned to their feet and the action got back underway.

The Nomads were awarded a penalty in the 68th minute as Lewis Webb’s clear foul on Jordan Davies left the referee no choice but to point to the spot. Davies stepped up to take the spot kick and powerfully struck the ball into the bottom corner, Webb dove the right way but the precision on the penalty was enough to beat the goalkeeper and make it 3-0.

Noah Edwards added a fourth goal around seven minutes later as Harry Franklin’s blocked shot fell kindly for Edwards whose cool finish into the bottom corner meant the three points were all but confirmed for The Nomads.

The Nomads then made four changes in the space of five minutes. Firstly, Mike Wilde replaced Harry Franklin followed by the introduction of Ryan Stratulis in place of our second goalscorer Jack Kenny. Fourth goalscorer and Sgorio’s player of the match Noah Edwards was replaced by Josh Williams just a few minutes before a slightly injured Declan Poole exited the field with a returning Aron Williams taking his place.

There was an additional 14 minutes of stoppage time to be played but Caernarfon’s task looked ever so hard way before the time was indicated by the fourth official. The Nomads were able to hold Caernarfon at bay and prevent any sort of miraculous comeback to secure a clean sheet and a first away win of the season. Tonight’s victory sees The Nomads leapfrog Caernarfon and sit in second place, four points adrift of league leaders The New Saints.

Next Fixture
Next up for The Nomads is a long trip down to South Wales as Neil Gibson’s side face Barry Town at Jenner Park in the JD Cymru Premier on Saturday 9th September with a scheduled 2:30pm kick off time. For those of you who can’t make the trip down to South Wales, you can stay tuned to our club Twitter page for live updates throughout the game.

Match Report by Adam Angerer