High five sees off sorry Guils

Nomads extended their lead at the top of the Huws Gray Alliance to 10 points with a comprehensive rout of mid-table Guilsfield to heap yet more pressure on the chasing pack on an afternoon which saw the tussle between Buckley Town, Rhyl and Cefn Druids further tightened.

As the Bucks, who had started the day in second place, succumbed to a two-goal defeat at Penrhyncoch whilst the latter two sides both claimed vital away victories, Mark McGregor's leaders were intently focused on avoiding a slip-up they could ill afford ahead of a final month of four games which sees them having to play all three pretenders to the throne.

With nothing less than a win paramount, McGregor made just one change to the side that started the previous week's victory over Penrhyncoch in which left wing-back Danny Dobbins suffered a hamstring injury. The recent capture from Flint Town United was only deemed fit enough to take his place on the substitutes bench as the league's leading marksman Gary O'Toole returned from a two-game absence in a reshuffled starting pack. Rob Jones moved back into his traditional role behind the front two and Alan Hooley switched to the vacated left flank.

Guilsfield are all but assured of retaining their Alliance place for the 11th successive season with little to play for but pride, and Nomads took full advantage of a seemingly disinterested display by the visitors. With just nine minutes on the clock, in the first meaningful attack of the afternoon, Jamie Petrie skipped beyond the Guils' defence on the right flank to lay off a neat cut-back which was swept home by the on-running Rob Jones who claimed his seventh goal of the campaign.

Barely six minutes later the match became a virtual non-event as Danny Forde doubled the Deesiders' lead. After McGregor had sent a looping header narrowly over, O'Toole then saw his low effort deflected behind for a corner. Rob Jones' subsequent long delivery was knocked back into the box by Hooley and Forde prodded a first time shot beyond the despairing dive of David Littleford in the visiting goal.

Having firmly set the foundations for another three points Nomads believed they could afford to take an extended tea break for the remainder of the half. Yet the Guils' had designs of their own and, with the hosts' tools laid down, set about paving a way back into the tie. Home 'keeper John Rushton had been a mere spectator for the vast majority of the previous match and may have questioned the need to turn up this time around after watching his team-mates breeze through the opening quarter of an hour, but the fledgling stopper was soon called into action to safely parry Ian Probert's distant pot-shot away from danger in the 17th minute.

Four minutes later, after Ben Alston had expertly cut Danny Barton's tricky run into the box short, Mark Davies drove a low shot across the face of Rushton's goal from the left side of the penalty area before Barton's fierce strike on the turn was pushed clear by the now alert Nomads custodian. Guilsfield, enjoying the freedom offered to them by a Nomads side with almost two feet off the pedal, continued to press forward but a lack of quality in and around the attacking third was to prove costly.

The visitors' best chance of the half came courtesy of Alston's blocked clearance which handed Barton a clear run into the area only for Rushton to quickly narrow the angle, forcing the former Welshpool and one-time Rhyl striker to slide his shot wide of the far post. At the other end, Michael Robinson thumped a downward header wide of the Guilsfield goal from another Rob Jones flag kick as the hosts returned from their long break just in time for the scheduled interval.

Following a first half lacking in entertainment value after those two early strikes had effectively settled the contest, the home support hoped for a second period in which the defending champions could run up the type of high-scoring victory to which they are now accustomed in matches of this nature - and Nomads did not disappoint with O'Toole and Petrie testing the waters in the early stages. The former headed strike-partner Ricky Evans' right-wing cross narrowly over the bar, whilst the latter sent a looping header from the edge of the area over as Guilsfield could only partially clear another Rob Jones set piece.

With a little over 20 minutes remaining, Forde was tripped just inside the penalty area by the visitors' former Rhyl defender Sam Heenan and O'Toole converted his 20th league goal of the season from the spot with ease to finally end a stagnant period of play. Four minutes later, it was 21 for the hit-man who netted Nomads' fourth goal in controversial circumstances.

Racing across the Guils' high defensive line to latch onto a hopeful long punt, O'Toole hesitated as the linesman signalled for offside but in the absence of the referee's whistle the ruthless striker coolly lobbed the ball over the advancing Littleford from just outside the area. O'Toole had appeared to begin his run in an offside position, but despite the protests of the seething away players and dugout match official Mr. Trigg over-ruled his assistant and awarded the goal - before sending Guilsfield manager Russ Cadwallader from the sidelines to the stand for voicing his disapproval of the decision.

Needless to say, the aftermath of Nomads' fourth goal had provided the only excitement of what looked to be another pedestrian 45 but, as was the case in the previous week's comfortable win, the introduction of teenage starlet Rhys Healey sparked some life into the final quarter hour. In place of the tiring Petrie, the Academy graduate was soon into his stride - poking a shot inches past the post from fellow substitute Dobbins' cross on 81 minutes. He then forced Littleford into a rushed clearance which fell to Hooley, but the veteran shot straight at the back-pedalling 'keeper, before Dobbins blazed over when well placed following Healey's inventive dummy.

In the fifth minute of stoppage time, which could only have been borne out of the post-goal arguments earlier in the half, captain Craig 'Tigger' Jones completed the exhibition with a calmly placed strike into the bottom corner before the incensed Rob Cookson was sent off for Guilsfield after committing his second show of dissent.

For recording such an emphatic victory when never out of third gear, Nomads will have gained little more than revenge for the shock defeat in the reverse fixture back in November and, as the fixture list highlights, there is still an awful lot of work to be done in the remaining four matches if McGregor's side is to become the first in history to retain the Alliance crown. Win all four, though, and they will deservedly do just that.


NOMADS: John Rushton, Ben Alston, Alan Hooley, Mark McGregor, Michael Robinson, Craig Jones, Jamie Petrie (Rhys Healey 75'), Danny Forde, Gary O'Toole (James McIntosh 82'), Ricky Evans, Rob Jones (Danny Dobbins 68').

Substitute not used: Liam Loughlin.

Booked: -

Attendance: 98