Damp squib on Deeside

THE Welsh Premier's match of the day turned into something of a damp squib as both sides slogged to a draw on a poor surface at Cae-y-Castell.

Nomads had a gilt-edged chance to take an early lead, but Tommy Mutton could only head weakly at Saints' keeper Gerard Doherty from Chris Sergeant's right wing cross.

The hosts made their intentions to unsettled the champions clear with some crunching tackles and Craig Hutchinson was lucky to stay on the pitch after a bad challenge which saw Martyn Naylor stretchered off with a knee injury on the half hour.

He was replaced by Carl Lamb, who should have put the visitors ahead on the stroke of half-time, but fired past the far post when one-on-one with Nomads' keeper Paul Smith.

The miss could have proved costly for TNS, who were put under pressure by the hosts in the second half. Adam Dickinson steered his shot wide of the far post and, when a poor clearance from Doherty was intercepted by Marc Limbert, the Nomads' skipper hit the bar, while Hutchinson tested the keeper with a fierce 20-yarder and Mutton almost converted from the rebound.

But Nomads couldn't find a way through and Saints' sub Oscar Gonzalez almost snatched the points with the last kick of the match, but fired just wide of Smith's post.

Report and stats courtesy of welsh-premier.com