Football: Rhyl FC have extra reason to be up for City clash

Feb 3 2010

Rhyl versus Pontardawe

IF Rhyl’s visit to Bangor City this Sunday needed any more spice it has certainly been provided by striker Lee Hunt’s decision to switch from Belle Vue to Farrar Road on transfer deadline day.

And Hunt is expected to face the Lilywhites in the much-awaited Welsh Premier League battle, provided he came through his planned debut for Neville Powell’s side against Airbus UK Broughton on Tuesday night unscathed.

Hunt, who returned to Rhyl this season after a spell with Blue Square Conference Premier club AFC Barrow, was released from his contract by the Welsh Premier champions at the weekend by mutual agreement.

He now goes back to where his WPL career began in 2002/03, having spent a season and a half at Bangor before joining the Lilies in December 2003.

Hunt was one of three top names to quit the champions this week, captain and centre-half George Horan and utility player Greg Stones also moving on as a result of the club’s financial crisis.

But on the plus side, Rhyl have managed to find the funding to keep midfield maestros John Leah and Mark Connolly on board for the rest of the campaign and resisted a late bid from Conference North outfit AFC Telford to entice striker Matthew Williams away from Belle Vue.

New faces arriving at Rhyl before the transfer window closed were young defenders Andy Owens and Andy Pearson from Altrincham, midfielder Philip Ojapah, formerly of Oldham Athletic but who had been at Stalybridge Celtic on loan, ex-Salford City defender Russell Courtney and winger Joe Dixon from Chorltonians of the Lancashire and Cheshire AFL.

Sunday’s derby at Farrar Road promises to be quite an occasion with both sides including a number of players who did not feature in September’s encounter at Belle Vue, which Rhyl won convincingly 5-1.

The Lilywhites were flying at the time but have since dropped to third in the Welsh Premier and look unlikely to retain their title.

Bangor, after a poor start to the season, are much improved of late and a win over Airbus on Tuesday would have lifted them to seventh.

This weekend will bring the 32nd Welsh Premier meeting between City and Rhyl and the Blues lead by 17 wins to 14 with remarkably no draws. While behind overall, the Lilywhites have had much the better of the argument over recent seasons.

Meanwhile, Rhyl tuned up for their crunch encounter by thrashing Pontardawe Town 7-0 on Saturday to reach the quarter-finals of the Welsh Cup where a tasty trip to neighbours Prestatyn Town awaits.

Welsh League Division One side Pont posed a couple of early threats before new first team captain Leah fired the hosts in front with a 16th minute beauty.

Only a fine save by Paul Pritchard off Andrew Stokes prevented an equaliser, but then on 32 minutes a fabulous run and cross down the left by the departing Stones was headed home by Connolly.

A Connolly chip was tipped on to the bar by Pont keeper Ben Hopkins before a minute prior to the break Leah curled in another cracker.

In the second half the Lilies were in the comfort zone, Rob Turner heading home a Martyn Naylor free-kick before Connolly drilled in his 21st goal of the season.

Turner unselfishly set up Tyrone Kirk to make it 6- 0 before Leah completed his hat-trick with a lethal finish from an acute angle.

"We were excellent," said manager Strong. "I was thrilled to bits with the football we played; the attitude and commitment were spot on.

"It was great to see the goals going in. We’ve been creating lots of chances all season and I’ve been saying for a while that someone is going to get a hiding soon."