Saturday afternoon saw The Nomads share the points with Newtown in the opening fixture of Phase Two in the JD Cymru Premier courtesy of Mike Wilde’s late leveller.

Form
The Nomads came into this game having suffered penalty shootout heartbreak in the Nathaniel MG Cup Final against Bala at the start of February. Our record 15 game unbeaten streak in the Cymru Premier also came to an end after a narrow midweek loss to Haverfordwest at Bridge Meadow. However, The Nomads got back on track with a ruthless display in front of goal, seeing off local rivals Airbus to book a date with Bala Town in the JD Welsh Cup Semi Final coming up in March.

Newtown have only played three games since the beginning of January with the first of those coming against The Nomads in a cagey affair which ended goalless. The Robins then suffered a heavy defeat to Cymru Premier leaders TNS in the JD Welsh Cup 5th round and two weeks later, Chris Hughes’ side were on the losing side again, this time against Penybont who came out 3-0 victors.

Team News
Neil Gibson made just the one change to his Nomads eleven with Josh Williams coming back into the midfield in place of Aron Williams, who was absent due to injury. Mike Hayes returned to the bench along with youngsters Luca Hogan and Jonathan Sodhi.

Chris Hughes also made one change to his side with Jake Walker replacing Henry Cowans. Kieran Mills-Evans captained The Robins with top scorer Aaron Williams leading the line.

The First Half
The Nomads didn’t get the start they wanted as Louis Robles made it 1-0 to the home side inside five minutes. Jake Walker’s shot was blocked but the ball fell to Aaron Williams who found Robles seeing the striker fire past Andy Firth to make it 1-0.

Ten minutes later, Harry Franklin’s inch perfect pass with the outside of the foot released Jack Kenny through down the byline, Kenny then looked to place one into the bottom corner but his effort was wide of the post by fine margins.

Newtown then received two yellow cards in a matter of minutes as the game began to become more intense. George Hughes picked up a booking for a crunching challenge on Harry Franklin before Fumpa Mwandwe brought down Callum Bratley on the counter attack to receive the yellow card.

The Nomads went close to drawing level on the half hour mark as Ryan Harrington set his sights on goal from around 30 yards out and his audacious effort was narrowly over the top, almost beating Dave Jones in the Newtown goal.

Newtown were forced into a first half substitution after Kieran Mills-Evans had been involved in two collisions which eventually resulted in the change. Craig Williams was introduced in place of the Newtown captain.

It was then a frustrating end to the half for The Nomads as Josh Williams produced from sublime skill to beat his man and pose a threat on the edge of the area, the midfielder was brought to ground but the referee waved away the shouts for a free kick. Williams then slipped in Mike Wilde through the centre, who was shoulder to shoulder with Ryan Sears but as Wilde went down, the referee again gave nothing and continued with play.

Williams went close to equalising yet again in the seventh minute of added time as Jack Kenny’s lay off gave Williams a great chance to test Jones but his goal bound shot struck the leg of his teammate Mike Wilde, leaving The Nomads with work to do going into the next 45.

The Second Half
The second half began with a repeat of the end of the first half as The Nomads were frustrated by some great defending from the Newtown defence. Ryan Harrington’s dangerous cross towards the back post was nodded away by Shane Sutton, preventing Mike Wilde from a glorious goal scoring chance.

Newtown quickly got the ball up the other end of the pitch all through Nick Rushton’s solo run. Newtown’s Number 8 led the charge as he sprinted beyond George Horan before cutting onto his preferred right foot inside the area, but his effort was always rising over the top.

The Nomads then made a double change up front with the duo of Joe Malkin and Paulo Mendes coming on for Jack Kenny and Harry Franklin.

Malkin almost made an instant impact after coming on off the bench as George Horan’s blocked shot in the midst of a goalmouth scramble fell to Malkin who stabbed an effort goalwards, forcing Dave Jones into making a diving save.

Malkin tested Jones again two minutes later after he was able to control Josh Williams’ ball upfield on the edge of the area and let fly from distance but Jones was alert to deny Malkin again.

There was a huge chance for Newtown to double their lead after a well worked breakaway move. A cross towards the back post found an unmarked Craig Williams who got his volley all wrong, leaving Firth untroubled.

The Nomads then found their reward late on with an equaliser thanks to Mike Wilde as Josh Williams’ corner was headed away before Malkin was able to get control the ball to his feet and tee up Williams who crossed into the box once more, seeing Wilde bundle the ball into the back of the net to make it 1-1 in the dying embers of the game.

The full time whistle blew, meaning Wilde’s goal had rescued The Nomads in the first Phase Two fixture. The Nomads remain in second place with Cardiff Met just one point behind in the race for Europe.

Next Fixture
The Nomads are back at Deeside next weekend as they face another meeting with Bala Town in the second fixture of Phase Two of the JD Cymru Premier. The match will take place on Saturday 18th February with a 2:30pm scheduled kick off time.

Match report by Adam Angerer