COLWYN BAY made an awful start to the New Year with a dismal 4-1 home defeat against bottom six side Radcliffe Borough - with manager Neil Young describing the performance as "diabolical".
It was sweet revenge for the Manchester side for the 7-0 home defeat they suffered at the hands of Colwyn Bay in August and although the Seagulls had the majority of possession they created little and their sluggish defence was opened up far too easily at times by the visitors.
The Bay were a goal down after only 15 minutes when Carl Clampitt's error allowed Eddie Stanford to break clear and although Bay keeper Chris Sanna did well to block his first shot, the winger scored from the rebound.
Radcliffe were much sharper in the early stages with Sanna having to make couple of good saves, and although Colwyn Bay started to get their game together and had a good spell of possession towards half-time, Radcliffe keeper Lloyd Rigby did not have a shot to save in the first half. Dave Challinor (twice), Neil Black (twice), Jim Kelly and Ryan Williams were all well off target with scoring efforts.
Radcliffe then struck again three minutes into the second half when Stanford broke through on the left and crossed for Jody Banim to slide in and score at the far post.
Colwyn Bay pulled a goal back four minutes later when Ian Sheridan scored with a close range header from a Ryan Williams cross, but their hopes of a recovery were short lived.
On 61 minutes they gave the ball away again in their own half and Ben Wharton strode clear to score a third for Radcliffe. Colwyn Bay tried to come back, forcing several corners, and Stuart Graves was unlucky with a shot that rebounded off the angle of post and bar. But they remained vulnerable at the back, with Sanna saving well from Wharton in a one-on-one, before the Bay were caught on the break again in the 89th minute when Wharton broke clear and set up a simple fourth goal for substitute Adam Roscoe.
Radcliffe could even have had a fifth goal in added time when they were awarded a penalty for a foul by Graves, but Chris Sanna made a fine save from Mark Drew's spot kick.
Manager Neil Young described his side's performance as "diabolical and disgraceful."
"We didn't get tight to anybody, we didn't mark anybody; I asked them to get the ball wide because we felt that was the best way to get at Radcliffe, but some of them decided they knew better and played a different way. "In the end it was only Chris Sanna that stopped us getting beat by five or six - and that is just not acceptable.
"I am fuming with the players because I don't think some of them have done much to stay in shape since we played at Wrexham. We haven't been able to train as a group because of the weather but they are all members of gyms and I put my trust in them to look after themselves over Christmas and New Year - especially with it being New year's Eve last night.
"I think they have come here expecting an easy win and to be fair to Radcliffe they have set their stall out not to be footballed by us and packed their midfield - yet we insisted on trying to play through midfield despite being told not to.
"We were short in almost every department and although we had a lot of the ball we didn't create a great deal. It is massively worrying with a big game at Halifax next week, but we will have the players in for extra training and it is up to me to get us organised and in shape to meet that challenge."
The manager expects to complete the signing of winger Russ Headley from Woodley Sports on Monday after getting verbal agreement from the player. He is also desperate to sign another central defender and a striker but adds: "At the moment I feel I am banging my head against brick wall because to get the quality of player we need to come here is proving very, very difficult."
Colwyn Bay: Sanna, Denson, Graves, Clampitt, Challinor, Sheehan (Corrigan 63mins), Jebb, Kelly, Black (Brandreth 66mins), Sheridan, Williams (Corris 73mins). Subs not used: Davey, Grannon.
Tom McGill failed a fitness test on his knee injury and was not considered.
In the only other game to be played on New Year's Day, Lancaster City beat Bamber Bridge 3-1 to go three points clear of Colwyn Bay at the top of the table with three games still in hand.
Report courtesy of Tim Channon
Pictures courtesy of Martin Lyons Photography |
