CONWY Borough’s first team manager Chris Morrell was thrilled with his side after they picked up an impressive 2-1 home win over Rhyl.

The Tangerines’ held firm after a superb first half performance against their JD Cymru North rivals, leaving them in fourth position in the standings, and Borough now have the weekend off before travelling to in-form Colwyn Bay on November 12 for a hotly anticipated derby encounter.

Morrell, said: “We are made up for the players’ getting three points against a very good Rhyl team after they have worked so hard over the last couple of weeks.

“I thought we were really good in the first half and a bit more care we could have been further ahead but credit to Rhyl who came on in the second half and our lads had to dig in and did so.

“The effort and spirit of the youngsters was superb throughout but that’s the level of effort and hard work we need to show in every game which is tough when most of the lads are still learning at this level.

“There were some really good individual performances, but it was the collective effort that was most pleasing which got us the points.”

The visitors came within inches of breaking the deadlock on five minutes when a Ben Nash header hit the post, and they fell behind soon after when Corrig McGonigle sent Craig Whelan through on goal to fire past Keighan Jones and break the deadlock.

James Murphy’s attempt for the Lilies’ on 13 minutes flashed wide as they responded well to the setback, but the hosts were undone again midway through the half when McGonigle delivered a pinpoint free kick into the net to double their advantage with 22 gone.

The visitors suffered a double blow towards the end of the period when Arek Piskorski was forced off with a head injury and Steve Thomas was shown a red card leaving them with a numerical disadvantage for the remainder of the contest.

McGonigle almost sealed victory for the home side on 57 minutes when his header sailed wide, and Nash had an effort ruled out for offside at the other end as the Lilies’ piled on the pressure.

They finally got themselves back into the game on 81 minutes when former Borough standout Tommy Creamer came back to haunt his old club, but despite their best efforts in the closing stages they were unable to salvage anything from the clash as Borough’s rear-guard held firm for victory.