Penalty winner for Colwyn Bay, Llandudno beaten

AN injury time penalty by Steve Aspinall gave Colwyn Bay the points with a 2-1 victory over Garforth Town in their opening Unibond Division One North fixture of the new season.
And you could see by the reactions of manager Steve Pope and chairman Geoff Cartwright at the final whistle just how much victory in the opening game meant to them.
The Seagulls had led 1-0 with a 32nd minute headed own goal by Garforth's Wayne Harratt from an Aspinall free kick, but they suffered a double blow with 15 minutes left .
Goalkeeper Farai Jackson had to go off with an abdominal injury after being hurt in a goalmouth scramble which saw the ball cleared for a corner, and then from the flag kick Harratt headed the equaliser past stand-in keeper Neil Coverley.
Harratt's topsy-turvey game saw him red carded for a two-footed tackle on Colwyn Bay substitute Mark Soribow, who then headed against the bar from a corner as Bay pressed for a winner.
And in the first of six minutes of added time at the end of the game, Dean Canning was brought down as he burst into the area past Garforth defender Nick Jagger, and Aspinall coolly put away the penalty to win the game.
"Heads could have gone down after the injury to Jacko and their goal, but the players showed great character to come back and win it," said Steve Pope.
"We've instilled in the players to keep going for the full 90 minutes and they did that and got the reward, but we made it hard for oursleves. We got through them three times in the first half but failed to finish and we have to kill games off when we get chances like that."
Dean Canning shot over the bar when he was played in by Karl Frost and had a shot saved at full stretch by Garforth keeper Gavin Phillips, who also blocked two efforts from Rob Hopley in one-on-one situations.
Phillips was relieved, however, to see a lobbed shot by Steve Aspinall from the halfway line land on top of the net with the keeper out of position.
Hopley and Canning were a handful for the Yorkshire side in a hectic game, while Robbie Williams worked hard in midfield, but there were some anxious moments for the Seagulls who were fortunate that the Yorkshire side missed the target with a couple of clear cut chances.
Neil Coverley was disappointed to concede the goal after taking over from the injured Jackson. "I've played in goal three times before and that's the first goal I've conceded," he said with a smile.
Physio Colin Edwards said Jackson would be going for a scan to see the extent of his injury, but the club do have cover in Matt Parry and newly signed Chris Sanna from Chester.

LLANDUDNO suffered 2-1 home defeat to Ruthin Town in their opening game in the Cymru Alliance as Ruithin manager Adie Jones continued his good record in matches against Llandudno in recent years.
After Mike Garrod gave Ruthin an early lead, Joe Morgan equalised for Llandudno shortly before half-time, but Ruthin won it with a goal from Kevin Breeze 15 minutes from the end.

IN the Welsh Alliance Glan Conwy won the local derby 4-0 at Conwy United, while Llanrwst United drew 0-0 at Rhydymwyn and Llandudno Junction were beaten 4-1 at home by Halkyn.