Nomads take a point at Park Avenue

On Saturday afternoon, The Nomads drew 1-1 with Aberystwyth Town. Nick Rushton opened the scoring for The Nomads in the 48th minute, before Rhys Griffiths snatched the equaliser in the 91st.

The game was seen as crucial for both sides, with The Nomads looking for their third win in a row after beating Rhyl in the Dafabet Welsh Premier and Prestatyn in theWord cup.  Three points for the away side would mean a possible fifth place position in the league table, whilst Aberystwyth hoped for a victory which would see them enter the top three.

The starting sides reflected this with The Nomads including Davies, Horan and Harrison whilst Aberystwyth started the formidable names of Reed, Venables and Kellaway.  Recovering from injury, Sean Miller started on the bench for The Nomads, with former Newport County striker Rhys Griffiths on the sidelines for Aber.

The game kicked off and The Nomads were straight away on the attack, with Crowther sending a curling shot just wide of the top left corner of the goal. Les Davies then had a go from around 20 yards, his effort deflecting and hitting the post.

Craig Williams of Aberystwyth sent a free kick straight into The Nomads' area where Danby rose and caught the ball. The urge to get the first goal was apparent in both teams, with Nomads awarded a corner kick in the 14th minute and Aber in the 15th, both sides unable to find a breakthrough.

The Nomads then had another chance to go ahead in the 23rd minute, when a low shot from the left side of the Aber area was pushed away for a corner by Keeper Chris Mullock. A good display of scoring intent continued when Baynes sent a free kick into the area, allowing  Ashley Ruane to narrowly head wide.

One of Aberystwyth’s best chances of the half came in the 31st minute, when Jamie Reed sent a point blanc header towards goal, Danby showing his skill in saving the effort. The home side then could have found the breakthrough via Darren Thomas, who got clear on goal but sent the ball over from around 8 yards out.

In the final minute of the first half The Nomads had to defend two consecutive Aberystwyth corners, but nothing came of these and the game was goalless at the interval. This was a fair score line with both sides tackling each other’s attacking desire with strong defensive displays.

Despite a solid first half, it only took four minutes of the second for a goal to be scored and it went The Nomads' way. From a Wes Baynes corner, Rushton hit the ball at the near post, sending the ball towards keeper Chris Mullock in such a way that it deflected straight into the net.

This was a great start to the second half from The Nomads, who boosted by their lead, again attacked via the likes of Morris, Crowther and Ruane. After a period of dominant play from The Nomads, Chris Williams took a free kick from around 30 yards out which fell to Chris Venables in a perfect position to score, but his effort went wide of the right post.

With just over 30 minutes of play left, Aberystwyth made a change in replacing Ross Stephens with ex-Newport County striker Rhys Griffiths, a change which at the end of the game would become a vital one.

As the game went on it became ever more equal, with Aberystwyth showing great perseverance in search of the equaliser. Nomads attempted to kill the game with the introduction of Sean Miller for Ashley Ruane, yet it was Rushton who was next to break through on goal and was in doing so caught offside.

With Aber pressing, The Nomads then proved the quality of their defence with captain George Horan making a number of great tackles along with Callum Morris who cleanly dispossessed Geoff Kellaway just before he could reach the Nomads area. This was typical of large parts of the game in which both sides created well but could not finish their move before being halted by the opposite defence.
With the 90 minutes up and Thr Nomads still in the lead, just four minutes of injury time separated the team from three points.

Unfortunately for them, Rhys Griffiths took advantage of a scramble for the ball in The Nomads area and slotted the ball past Danby at close range in the 91st minute.

After the remaining minutes of injury time in which neither side was allowed to create a real chance by another, the game finished at 1-1. This was a tough result for a Nomads side who had put in one of their best performances of the season so far, displaying a large amount of quality, yet unable to take three points from it.

The Nomads' next match is on Tuesday the 6th October, when they host Bangor City FC at the Deeside Stadium in the Dafabet Welsh Premier League.