A STUNNING strike from Cai Owen was enough to give Rhyl a narrow 1-0 home win over Holywell Town.

The former Bangor City Academy prospect demonstrated his class in the second period to separate the two sides, ending a run of poor result for the Lilies’ after an initial spell of resurgence.

Eddie Maurice-Jones’ men now occupy fifth position in the Huws Gray Alliance standings ahead of their long trip to basement dwellers Holyhead Hotspur on Friday night (7.30pm).

The home side carved up their first opening on ten minutes when defender Reece Fairhurst fired over, with Sam Molyneux forcing Wellmen stopper Tyler French into a smart stop soon after.

Both sides were well organised which saw good opportunities few and far between in the first period, with Liam Smith unfortunate not to find the net on two occasions in the closing exchanges of the half, with Sam Jones and Damian Ketley inches from opening the scoring at the other end.

After the break saw Johnny Haseldin’s side start brightly and Rory Crowther was called into action to divert a Mark Winslade effort after a neat passage of play, before Owen stole the show on 50 minutes with a sensational individual run and a neat one-two with Mike Pritchard before firing past French to put the hosts’ ahead.

Winslade fluffed his line again following the setback when he steered a Ketley cross wide of the target on 76 minutes, and the same played curled a beautiful strike inches wide as the game neared its conclusion with Crowther beaten.

The Lilywhites’ had to withstand some fierce pressure in the closing stages, with Crowther keeping out a Jones volley in comfortable fashion in what turned out to be the final chance of note in a hotly contested affair between the derby rivals.