Goals from Andy Alston, Rob Jones and Gary O'Toole ensured Gap Connah's Quay Nomads took all three points from a feisty Flintshire derby at Globe Way this evening.

After an opening day 6-0 demolition of a Technogroup Welshpool side in crisis, many observers would have had this game down as a real test of Nomads' HGA credentials - and they passed with flying colours.

Player-manager Mark McGregor, assisted by Ken Price and Neil Ebbrell on the touchline, named a near-unchanged 16 after that opening day success, with only the returning Craig Jones replacing Scott Baker on the substitutes bench.

In a scrappy opening half, as expected given the 'derby' element to the fixture, chances were few and far between - though the best of them came and went in front of the home goal.

With a hard-working midfield trio of Danny Forde, Stuart Scheuber and Alan Hooley allowing the wide men Ben Collins and Rob Jones to penetrate down the flanks, the men in yellow had marginally the better of the opening exchanges.

But a much-changed Buckley line-up from the side that were beaten by Llandudno six days previously were in no mood to let Nomads have it all their own way and Terry McCormick was called upon to keep out a couple of efforts from distance, whilst surging forward runs from the home attackers almost threatened to expose Nomads' high defensive line on ocassions.

The goal that broke the stalemate arrived midway through the first half when Andy Alston, who crept in unmarked, crashed in a header from Scheuber's hanging free kick from around 12 yards out - following one of the many fierce late challenges that littered the proceedings.

The best chance before the interval came Chris Herbert's way but he somehow managed to sky the ball over the crossbar from inside the six yard box, sliding in at the far post to meet a dangerous low cross from Collins on the left.

That gilt-edged chance looked to have proven costly when the hosts' were awarded a penalty ten minutes after the restart following a clumsy tackle by Ben Alston.

Former Airbus UK Broughton striker James McIntosh - one of a handful of ex-Wingmen in the Buckley side - sent McCormick the wrong way to equalise.

Nomads reacted strongly to conceding their first goal of the campaign, and laid seige to the home goal in an attempt to restore the lead - although they were hindered by what they felt were a number of particularly debateable offside flags.

The introduction of Mike Hayes and Dean Thurston once again, in place of Herbert and Scheuber, added guile to the frontline and the pace of Hayes and Gary O'Toole began to trouble the home side.

The new-look attacking triumvirate linked particularly well with right-flanker Rob Jones whose surging runs infield were the catalyst of a couple of half-chances that the home defence scrambled away.

One such opportunity ended with Jones' run to the byline cut out - much to the despair of Craig Jones, on for Hooley in midfield, who was loitering on the edge of the area awaiting a cut-back.

Wave after wave of quick-fire counter-attacks finally came to fruition with just nine minutes remaining when Thurston's excellent cross-field pass played in Rob Jones on the right and he cracked a shot low into the bottom corner before sliding to his knees in celebration.

The game was made safe eight minutes later with a similar strike, this time from O'Toole who latched on to Forde's slide-rule pass to slot beyond the 'keeper and send all three points back to Deeside.