Dismal display by Colwyn Bay

STEVE ASPINALL failed to put away an injury time penalty which would have rescued an undeserved point for Colwyn Bay in a 1-0 home defeat to Bamber Bridge on Saturday (Sept 6).
And his miss put the tin hat on one of the most inept displays I have seen from a Colwyn Bay side for quite some years.
They gave a display totally devoid of confidence, devoid of quality and devoid of ideas and were only saved from a much heavier defeat by the second half heroics of keeper Matt Parry.
Steve Pope and Paul Ogden have a lot of head scratching to do after this, because quite honestly it would have been embarrassing if they had escaped with a point.
Despite playing with the strong wind at their backs in the first half they created hardly anything, relying far too often on long punts upfield from deep in their own half which invariably ran through harmlessly to Bamber Bridge keeper Andy Banks or out of play for a goal kick.
The only threat the home side created was a Dean Canning header which went narrowly past the far post from an Aspinall free kick.
A long range shot from Canning which Banks gathered comfortably was their only other effort on goal, while they were lucky to escape when Alex Porter shot wide of an open goal after Parry had dropped the ball under challenge as he came off his line to try and collect a left wing cross.
Bamber Bridge played a much more controlled game with the wind in their favour in the second half after taking a 48th minute lead with a far post goal from Sean O'Neill from a corner. They played the ball to feet to get themselves within shooting range before bringing the best out of Parry.
He tipped shots from Dave McCann and Alex Porter over the bar, dived to his left to save another Porter shot, and then produced two magnificent flying saves to turn goalbound efforts from Porter and Ryan Zico-Black round the post as Bamber Bridge forced six corners to Bay's one.
Colwyn Bay's s only threat was a shot from Robbie Williams that was deflected over the bar following a Luke O'Mahoney cross, while Hopley and Moran were starved of any sort of decent service up front and with no threat coming from the wings.
Yet incredibly the Bay were handed a chance of a point right at the death when they were awarded a penalty for an innocuous push on Moran in the box, but Banks dived to his left to save Aspinall's poorly hit spot kick.
Losing Karl Frost with a hamstring injury after 30 minutes and new signing Wayne Corden at half-time after a distinctly unimpressive first half debut, can be no excuse for a performance that must have dismayed Bay supporters.
We know Colwyn Bay can play much better than this, but the team seems to be going backwards at the moment and the manager urgently needs to arrest that trend.
Colwyn Bay: Parry, Aspinall, Lycett, Coverley, Brandreth, Corden (Roberts 45mins), Canning, Williams, Hopley, Frost (Moran 30mins), O'Mahoney (Wood 79mins). Subs not used: Brown and Pope.