RHYL suffered a fatal blow to their hopes of a top three Huws Gray Alliance finish as they fell to a 1-0 loss at Airbus Broughton.

The Lilywhites are now set for their lowest ever finish in the Welsh pyramid after a frustrating afternoon against the Wingmakers, and Matthew Jones’ side close out their second-tier campaign on Wednesday when they travel to Denbigh Town (7.30pm).

A cagey opening to proceedings from both side brought little in the way of chances, with Lilies’ forward Aaron Pomeyie and loanee James Murphy forcing former Llandudno stopper Dave Roberts into action towards the end of the period.

After the break saw the home side finally spring to life and they went close when Ryan Edwards fired over the bar, while Nathan Quirk and Steve Tomasson found visiting custodian Rory Crowther in fine form to keep out their respective efforts.

Phil Marsh had Rhyl’s first chance of the half on 52 minutes, but his low shot was saved by Roberts and the hosts made them pay for their inefficiency in front of goal soon after when Danny Taylor was put through on 54 and made no mistake with the finish.

The away side responded well to the setback and enjoyed long spells of possession, with Mark Connolly’s stunning 35-yard drive producing another smart save from the impressive Roberts.

A goal disallowed for the home side gave the Lilies renewed life late on, but March failed to find the target with a free-kick to condemn them to defeat and see the drop to fifth position with one game to play.