Colwyn Bay cup hopes hit for six

COLWYN BAY were hit for six as they suffered a first half defensive meltdown to crash out of the Unibond League Cup on Monday night (Nov 17).
They lost 6-2 to a Skelmersdale squad which included three ex-Colwyn Bay players in Martin Crowder, Kyle Armstrong and Adam Wade, and were torn apart by Skelmersdale's pace in a calamitous first half in which they conceded five goals and were fortune it wasn't more.
In the end they hauled off an out-of-sorts Graham Branch and pulled top scorer Rob Hopley out of attack to play in the centre of defence to try and stem the tide.
He did well, to be fair, and coped much better against the threat of George Donnelly who had been creating havoc down the middle, but by then the damage had already been done.
Skelmersdale caused problems with their pace straight from the kick off but were helped by a soft looking penalty after nine minutes when Mark Houghton went down in the box and Sean McConville scored from the spot.
The Bay looked to have ridden the storm and equalised on 18 minutes when Dean Canning slid in at the far post to turn in Hopley's mishit shot after great work on the right by Danny Edwards.
But they then conceded three goals in the space of seven minutes with two for George Donnelly and one by Houghton following a corner, helped by a catalogue of defensive and goalkeeping clangers.
Steve Aspinall's trip on McConville a minute before half-time then gave the winger his second goal from the penalty spot.
Colwyn Bay reorganised at half-time and did much better in the second half with a 3-5-2 formation, pulling a second goal back on the hour with a Dean Canning header from Matty Wood's cross on the hour.
But there was never going to be a way back in to the tie and Skelmersdale added a sixth a minute later from a quickly taken free kick, as McConville crossed for Houghton to slide in and score from close range.
Overall the Bay did not play that badly at times and at least showed some determination and character in the second half, but the manager must be concerned at the way his defence fell apart against genuine pace in that first half.
Colwyn Bay: Langley, Mitchell, Wood, Branch (O'Mahoney 32mins), Challinor, McGraa (Black 79mins), Canning, Garside, Edwards, Hopley, Aspinall.