December 15, 2019 - 1886 views
Will Bell scored his first goal in 59 appearances for the Seagulls as they came from a goal down to win 2-1 at Flint Town United and end the home side's eight-match winning league run.
Flint were in front after only four minutes when Callum Bratley turned in a close range shot from a corner.
Bay missed a great chance to equalise when Tom McCready had a 37th minute penalty superbly turned round the post by diving keeper John Danby, after Joe Chaplin had been brought down, but they won the game with second half strikes by Julian Williams and Will Bell.
The Bay had Daz Thornton sent off for a second yellow card in added time, but the 10 men held on against late Flint pressure to secure three outstanding points against the second-placed side in the division.
Flint had already hit the frame of the Bay goal through Nathan Brown before Bratley put them in front from the fourth minute corner and both Richie Foulkes and Danny Andrews shot narrowly wide for the home side.
Colwyn Bay could have equalised, however, when Chaplin was brought down and the keeper dived to his left to turn McCready's spot kick round the post, while the skipper also fired a chance over the bar from the edge of the area after Chaplin's header had been blocked.
The Bay, however, were level six minutes into the second half when Mitch Bryant's strong shot was parried out by the keeper and Julian Williams was following in to fire the rebound into the bottom corner of the net.
Alex Titichiner rifled a shot just over the Bay bar for Flint, but Colwyn Bay then took the lead on 66 minutes from a free kick for a foul on Alex Downes.
The ball into the area just cleared Joe Chaplin's head, but rebounded off a defender for Will Bell to strike a first time shot into the net for his first goal in a Bay shirt.
Mitch Bryant could have settled it when he was clear inside the area, only to fire the chance over the bar, and there was nervous finale after Darren Thornton was sent off for a second yellow card - although he clearly won the ball in a strong challenge and said later he felt the card was harsh.
Bay's 10-men, however, saw out the remaining minutes, throwing bodies in the way of a number of shots, to claim the three points that moved them into the top three of the table.
Manager Craig Hogg commented: "it was great win on a difficult day for us with the pitch, conditions and the way Flint play. It meant we had to change our footballing principles a little bit.
"It was disappointing to concede the ealy goal from a free kick, but Flint are always a threat in those situations because they are a physically big side,
"After the first 15 minutes I felt we grew into the game and started to make a decent impact and to be honest we were a bit disappointed to be still a goal down at half-time.
"The half-time team talk was to carry on what we were doing, and we got our reward with two well taken goals.
"We defended well at the end against a side who will have felt this was a game they needed to win to keep the pressure on Prestatyn at the top.
"We are learning more about this league every game we play and I felt it was a really mature and professional performance from our lads.
"Will Bell was absolutely delighted to get his first goal for the club, but I also thought Mike Williams was excellent at centre half and you can't understate the work rate that Mitch Bryant, Sion Edwards and Julian Williams put in up front. But all the lads have given everything for the football club again and fair play to them for doing that for us."
Reproduced with thanks to Colwyn Bay FC.
