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Saturday 21st March 2009
League Match



Holyhead Hotspur 0 - 3 Blaenau Ffestiniog Amateurs

..................................................................................................Gareth Roberts 38
...................................................................................................Kieron Ellis 75
..................................................................................................Geraint Owen 85

HOLYHEAD HOTSPURS 0 BLAENAU AMATEURS 3.

Last season the Amateurs were well and truly thumped by 8-1 on their visit to Holyhead where they actually finished that game with only 9 players thanks to a sending off and injuries but it was a different tale on Saturday as the Teejac Gwynedd League leaders took control of this encounter but had to rely on two late goals to seal the win. In fact the Amateurs are making it a habit of scoring late goals lately having done so in the last 4 matches. Again injuries forced the Amateurs to start without the backbone of the team with keeper Geraint Hughes, defender Aled Owen and striker Ceri Roberts all out though the latter was a substitute but wasn't called upon. Blaenau had Kevin Lewis in goal and he had very little to do as his defenders dealt admirably with the home side's strikers which included the experienced Nigel Moore but he was to be substituted late on after making little impression on the Amateurs back four of the Reynolds brothers Dafydd and Neil, Euron Roberts and Terry Hughes. The home side were certainly up for this one from the start but once their initial burst was over it was the visitors that played the best football without touching the heights they have played in some matches this season. The first clear chances fell to the visitors with Geraint Owen going close with two efforts before the pace of Gareth Roberts got him clear of the home defence and he slotted the ball wide of home keeper Bryan Roberts for the opening goal on 26 minutes. Then Gary Hughes saw his powerful 30 yard drive crash back of the crossbar with Roberts well beaten. The visitors went close on other occasions but were happy to lead at the break. With only a goal lead one felt that it wasn't enough even though the home side hardly mustered a real opening after the break whilst at the other end Blaenau were guilty of squandering some real fine goal scoring chances and Gareth Roberts went close with a chipped shot that was just over the bar. The home side brought on substitutes to try and get back into the match and some of their tackling was x rated at times with sub Tom Edwards first involment in the match was a dangerously high tackle on Geraint Owen which thankfully didn't cause too much pain for the Blaenau player but one has seen red cards shown for such a reckless tackle before. In the space of some 10 minutes in that second period the visitors created three glorious chances which Keiron Ellis, Gareth Roberts and then John O'Donovan all missing the final cutting edge. Then on 85 minutes the points were made safe and it was Gareth Roberts who set up Keiron Ellis to score and then in the dying minutes Roberts again with a fine solo run opened the home defence and laid the ball for Geraint Owen to make it 3-0 and it was a true reflection of the match. So the Amateurs have scored 65 goals in the league so far and only conceeded 14 the best of any club in the North Wales's top divisions. Next month could be a testing month for the Quarrymen as they are scheduled to play 7 games in a fortnight, most of these matches will be at Cae Clyd as they have only one away match left that at Porthmadog. This Saturday Llanfairfechan will be the visitors in a league match kick off is at 2.30pm. The club has been informed that their Intermediate Cup semi final tie against Clwyd side Greefield is to be played at Conwy on Saturday April 4th.

Meirion Ellis

Pictures By Chris McPhail