Nomads took top spot in the Huws Gray Alliance as two late goals from Mark McGregor and James McIntosh overturned Cefn Druids in a controversial top-of-the-table clash at the Rock on Friday evening.

Player-boss McGregor welcomed club captain Craig Jones back into the starting line-up after the talismanic midfielder sat out the 8-0 demolition of Llanrhaeadr Ym Mochnant the previous weekend, in part due to a high yellow card count, as the defending champions set about erasing the memories of a 5-1 humbling in this fixture last season.

The visitors were, indeed, the quickest out of the traps and dominated the early exchanges but struggled to create clear scoring opportunities with only a handful of long-distance Gary O’Toole efforts causing mild consternation for the highly-rated Chris Mullock in the Druids goal.

Much of Nomads’ attacking play came through Jamie Petrie and it was the lively winger who wasted the best chance of the first half when, after racing through to meet an excellent through ball by the deep-lying Jones he escaped the attentions of a Druids defender but could only poke across the face of Mullock’s goal and narrowly past the post.

A dramatic turn of events shortly before half time contrived to hand the initiative to the hosts. First, match official John Swindley took ill with dizziness and had to be replaced by Deeside-based Welsh Premier League official Nick Pratt. Then, in first half stoppage time Paul Speed took advantage of a misplaced Jones pass to strike via a deflection off Andy Alston which took the ball away from John Rushton’s reach and into the net to hand Druids a half time lead which came against the run of play.

Buoyed by Speed’s well-timed goal, a direct and physical home side began the second half on the front foot and Rushton and defender Jack Rowlands had to be alert with a handful of blocked interventions to keep Nomads in the game. But following an injury to Petrie, after stumbling on the uneven surface, the influential Rob Jones entered the fray and eventually proved to be the catalyst that sparked the change in fortunes.

Controversy struck in the 76th minute when McGregor was fortunate to receive a yellow card for an off-the-ball push on Druids’ midfielder Joe Price – although Price was guilty of provoking a reaction from Nomads’ player-manager.

McGregor largely kept his cool, however, and three minutes later he was on hand to level the scores with a well-taken close range finish from a testing Rob Jones corner which Druids failed to clear.

Then, after the hosts were reduced to ten men following Warren Duckett’s second bookable offence, Jones forced a tremendous save from Mullock with a sweetly-struck free kick, and from the subsequent corner it was Jones who picked out McIntosh who saw his header creep inside the near post to steal the points inside the final three minutes.

NOMADS: John Rushton, Jack Rowlands, Ben Collins, Mark McGregor, Andy Alston, Craig Jones, Jamie Petrie (Rob Jones 56'), Danny Forde, Gary O’Toole, James McIntosh, Alan Hooley.

Substitutes not used: Iwan Williams, Shaun Roscoe, Ben Alston, Louis Mackin.

Booked: Craig Jones, Mark McGregor

Attendance: 274