CPD Y Rhyl 1879 2 Abergele 0: Gareth Thomas pleased with defensive display

The newly formed club picked up their first-ever win during a much-improved performance at Belle Vue, which was another significant milestone for the NWCFA Tier 4 (East) Premier Division side as they await a formal start date for the upcoming campaign.

They have one more game before the festive period against Llansannan on Saturday, with three others scheduled in the New Year providing further restrictions expected to be implemented by the Welsh Government do not complicate matters.

Thomas, said: “I am happy with the clean sheet more than anything as we’ve conceded some poor goals in the friendlies prior to this one.

“We were a lot better defensively and got some more players involved, so it’s minutes in the bank for them. The squad had an in-house friendly on Tuesday that ended up being really competitive, which they took into today’s (Saturday) game.

“At the end of the day it’s our first win, a clean sheet and we created more chances than we have been doing, so there are plenty of positives to take.

“The new lads looked a bit rusty and were way off with their touch, but it got better as the game went on. We rotated the squad and all the lads who missed out against Abergele will play next week, which will be our last for a few weeks.

“There could be another lockdown coming so we are just taking things week by week, but you can see that there are good patterns of play starting to develop.”

The home side spurned a number of opportunities during the first half, with Gele looking threatening on the counter-attack as both sides went into the break all-square.

After the break saw a big moment arrive on 75 minutes and went in favour of the hosts' thanks to a thunderbolt from 35 yards by Chris Bennett which broke the deadlock.

The hosts were presented with a golden chance to wrap-up the friendly in stoppage time from the penalty spot, which Tom Cain successfully converted to complete the scoring.