Nomads Romp Hits Bucks for Six

Nomads joined league leaders Rhyl at the top of the table after demolishing Flintshire neighbours, and early season championship rivals, Buckley Town by six goals to one in front of a bumper crowd on Deeside.  

The Friday night fixture was surprisingly billed as a crunch encounter, owing to the visitors' tremendous start to the season, and both sides were looking to take advantage at the top of a fiercely competitive Huws Gray Alliance. Victory for Gareth Thomas' men, who started the evening in second place, would see them leapfrog Rhyl by two points for a few hours whilst a Nomads win would draw them level on points with the leaders.

With almost 350 spectators in attendance, including the entire Nomads' Academy setup, there was an electric atmosphere under the Deeside Stadium floodlights and the club's Under 12 team led McGregor's charges out onto the field prior to kick off.   

There was just one change to the home side that began the previous Saturday's 3-1 defeat at Guilsfield. Ben Alston replaced Jack Rowlands in defence as player-boss Mark McGregor handed his players an opportunity to make amends for a below par performance at the Recreation Ground - where the Bucks had also fallen just three days previously in a bid to take hold of the division.

Nomads had been rocked by their previous result and made sure they were quickest out of the blocks in the early stages, attacking with intent and purpose. Former Bucks hitman James McIntosh led the line alongside the pacy Jamie Petrie, who was once again deployed as a striker with Gary O'Toole serving the first of a five-match ban for his third dismissal of the campaign last weekend.

The makeshift front two made early in-roads with McIntosh sending a cross fizzing across goal and Petrie seeing a weak 20-yard drive comfortably gathered by Jamie Hulse in the Buckley goal. Rob Jones, operating as the midfield creator just behind the attack, was then bitterly unfortunate to see his squirmed shot cleared in front of the goal-line after jinking past three red shirts and firing under the on-rushing Hulse.

Buckley boasted a frontline consisting of the highly-sought after Mike Burke and former Prestatyn, Fleetwood and Airbus UK Broughton forward Andy Moran but the assured displays of McGregor and the increasingly impressive Michael Robinson at the heart of the Nomads defence restricted the visitors to wayward long-range efforts.    

Robinson, a summer capture from Llangefni Town, has proven impressive enough to keep more established names out of the team this season and his calm interceptions and possession passing from the back provided a platform for the home side's potent attacking waves.

It was his lofted pass along the left touch-line inside the 17th minute which was neatly flicked on by the boot of McIntosh to release Petrie, who cracked a powerful angled drive from all of 25 yards which cannonned off the foot of the post and out of play. Minutes earlier, Petrie had wasted a glorious opportunity by chipping wide after being put through on goal whilst McIntosh saw his shot on the turn held low down by Hulse following a neat interchange involving Rob Jones, Danny Forde and Petrie.

Nomads continued to pile on the pressure and were eventually rewarded in the 25th minute in the most bizarre of circumstances. Petrie was flagged offside attempting to reach a high ball but referee Martin Williams overruled his assistant and waved play on - this, despite the ball carrying off the field for a Buckley goal kick. With the man on the line still signalling, the Bucks 'keeper played the ball forward for a free kick, only for Petrie to collect and roll into an unguarded net.

Confusion reigned amongst the Buckley contingent as the referee awarded a goal and the visiting players' vehement protestations resulted in a yellow card for defender Lee Atherton. Controversial it was, but Nomads had drawn first blood and finally had a lead their early dominance deserved.

With the visitors riled Nomads sought to press home their advantage. Robinson and Petrie both miscued free headers from a couple of testing Rob Jones deliveries before, 11 minutes after the opener, the lead was doubled. Following good hold-up play by McIntosh, Ben Collins forced a corner on the left which Rob Jones swung towards a crowded back post where Forde bundled the ball over the line.

Barely three minutes later, the same player had the ball in the net once more but was harshly adjudged offside after firing a first-time shot on the run beyond Hulse from Petrie's in-swinging cross. The hosts finished the half as they started, with only Neil Wynne on Buckley's left flank attempting to change the tide with a handful of intricate, though slightly overhit, through balls.

Forde, on a roll, headed wide from Alan Hooley's cross to complete another free-flowing passing move before Hulse made a trio of stops to deny Petrie one-on-one, captain Craig Jones' strike from distance and Forde's ambitious 45-yard lob to draw the first half to a close. That cleared the way for the club's Under 10s and Under 11s to take part in an entertaining mini-match during the half time interval.

Buckley looked a pale shadow of the side that have turned heads on their march up the division, though that owed largely to Nomads' impenetrable defence which refused to give their opponents an inch. A well-timed Hooley header denied Wynne a clean run at goal in the visitors' best opportunity of capitalising on their spell of pressure at the start of the second half.

Indeed, the Bucks were soon on the back foot once again and McIntosh drove narrowly wide with a first-time shot from Forde's dangerous whipped cross before Petrie glanced a header across the six-yard box from another Rob Jones set piece. It was only a matter of time before the home side found the killer third goal, though in typical clinical fashion a five-minute goal glut took the game well and truly away from the Globe Way outfit who befell a similar fate to Ruthin Town in Nomads' previous home game.

A minute before the hour mark a sweeping move from back to front ended in a disguised pass by McIntosh to pick out Ben Collins who raced onto the loose ball on the left side of the area, before taking a touch and picking his spot low beyond the out-stretched arm of Hulse for the third goal.

Just three minutes later McIntosh had the goal his hard work against his former employers deserved, slotting in via the 'keeper after meeting Petrie's through ball down the centre of the Buckley defence. Then, within another couple of minutes Petrie added a fifth when he cut inside from the left and saw his deflected strike loop over the stranded Hulse and into the bottom corner. 

The tireless speed merchant's second goal of the evening strengthened a semblance of dominance to the scoreline, though the visitors soon registered a consolation goal of their own after John Rushton had been called into action for the first time to claw away a teasing corner kick. Buckley were awarded a free kick virtually on the 18-yard line on 68 minutes and substitute Wes Brereton proceeded to fire a fierce shot through the wall to leave Rushton rooted to the spot.

A goal the visitors scarcely deserved but it was not to be the only blotch on Nomads' resounding victory as Craig Jones became the second player to be dismissed in as many matches in the 72nd minute. Having been booked barely two minutes earlier, 'Tigger' was caught out in possession by Wynne on the Nomads right and the two players became embroiled in a minor scuffle in which the talismanic Nomads skipper hauled his opponent to the ground. He could have little complaints after receiving his second caution in as many minutes.

Amazingly, Buckley's man-advantage was annulled less than three minutes later when towering centre back Gareth Edwards was also shown a second yellow card following a late challenge on Rob Jones inside the Nomads half - though the Bucks' man was a tad unfortunate to see the ball taken away from his reach at the vital last second.

With both sides forced to play the remaining quarter of an hour with ten players, and with Nomads cruising at 5-1, the action began to peter out. Former Chester City youth player Jack Rowlands was brought on at left back for Nomads to appear against his former club, in place of the hard-working Hooley, whilst Petrie made way for recent new signing Dave Dempsey who dropped back into midfield.

Dempsey almost had an immediate goal but narrowly failed to connect to a sweeping McIntosh cross from the right before the latter was replaced by teenage starlet George Baxter who was handed another opportunity to make his mark in the dying stages.

With the clock ticking down, Nomads still found time to complete the rout through Forde's sublime solo run into an open Buckley penalty area to cap yet another neat passing move with a sixth goal before Dempsey almost added a seventh right at the death but he could only see his curling effort plucked out of the top corner by an over-worked Hulse as Nomads finished the match exactly as they started, and played throughout.

It was an emphatic victory - one which perhaps nobody could have predicted before kick off - that lays down a marker for the rest of the championship-chasers: Mark McGregor's side will not give up their crown easily.
 
NOMADS: John Rushton, Ben Alston, Ben Collins, Mark McGregor, Michael Robinson, Craig Jones, Jamie Petrie (David Dempsey 78'), Danny Forde, Rob Jones, James McIntosh (George Baxter 90'), Alan Hooley (Jack Rowlands 78').

Substitutes not used: Sam McNutt, Rhys Healey.

Booked: Craig Jones (2)

Sent off: Craig Jones

Attendance: 341