A MAGNIFICENT seven straight home wins means that Henllan will enter their Tony
Evans Memorial Shield campaign full of confidence.
After drawing one and losing two of their first three games at home, Chris Brown’s side have embarked on a cracking winning run at Top Park - and with home draws scheduled all the way through, Henllan must be decent odds to reach the showpiece Shield final.
Brown will not be one to admit to any such thoughts, though, and he is still looking for a 90-minute performance from his side, after describing the first half display against Llandyrnog as a “shambles”.
It was a strange old game, with Llandyrnog having 10 men until kick-off, when an 11th player arrived.
Henllan were reduced to 10 men in the first half with the dismissal of goalkeeper Gareth Beach for a foul on Luke Humphreys.
A 12th player was available for Llandyrnog at the break, who came on as a substitute, but the Cae Nant side were also down to 10 men when Sion Roberts was shown two yellow cards in the space of 10 seconds after questioning a throw-in award.
Llandyrnog ended the night with nine men following the sending off of veteran Mally Hughes, who picked up his second booking in stoppage time.
Usual striker Josh Davies was used in midfield at Henllan and he broke the deadlock from the spot, on the back of a penalty award for Beach’s foul on Humphreys.
Team boss Brown thought he was going to have a quiet night on the touchline, but the sending-off forced him to take his place between the sticks, with 15-year-old prospect Tom Jones being replaced.
In fact, Henllan actually seemed to improve when they were a man light and they levelled matters before the break when Alex Ballard struck for the 14th time this season.
“At half-time, we said we’re still in this and in the second half, we were transformed,” said Brown.
Llandyrnog did have one or two opportunities in the second half, but it was Henllan who did much of the pressing and Ed Jones’ 20-yard free kick gave them the lead.
Another Jones free kick in similar circumstances finally settled things as Henllan edged 3-1 in front.
Josh Davies was the Llandyrnog man of the match.
Despite the defeat, Llandyrnog boss Jimmy McNally is still delighted with his side’s
showing over the course of the season.
The Cae Nant side are guaranteed a runners-up finish and McNally said: “I’m happy with the season we have had.
“Obviously, we would have liked to have won the league, but Cefn have gone on and won it, and hats off to them for that.
“We have had a young side this season and to finish second, we have done really well.”