Report courtesy of Tim Channon

COLWYN BAY produced a battling display to win 2-1 at Bamber Bridge with 10 men on a day when leaders Lancaster were beaten for the second time in 3 games and FC Halifax were held to a draw at Wakefield.

Anthony Lynch got a straight red card just before half-time for a challenge that put James Heywood out of the game with a shin injury, but manager Neil Young - who was also sent to the stands at half-time after confronting the referee over a number of decisions - said it could prove a very significant day in Bay's bid for automatic promotion.  And he was full of praise for the effort the players put in.

"I asked them at half-time to give me everything they had in the second half and every single one of them has done that to get us a fantastic result.  I don't think we got the rub of the green with the majority of the decisions and I didn't think it was a sending off. Both lads have gone in over the ball and although I admit Anthony was high, so was their lad - but I felt the commotion that their bench and players caused got Anthony sent off.”

"Up until then I thought we were bossing the game. Then we showed great fighting spirit in the second half with 10 men and deserved the win."

The Bay had Danny Meadowcroft making his debut alongside Dave Challinor in defence in place of the unlucky Tim Brandreth, and they made a slow start with Ryan Williams clearing off the line from Ashley Dunn from a corner with Chris Sanna beaten, while Steve Aspinall (playing at left back) fired a shot wide from distance.

But the Seagulls gradually started to take control and took the lead with an opportunist goal from Alex Titchiner after 25 minutes.  The young striker robbed defender Michael Welch on the left edge of the area and cut inside to rifle an angled shot past keeper Ben Hinchcliffe into the bottom far corner of the net. Titchiner should have scored a second shortly afterwards when Luke Denson pulled the ball back perfectly for him, but he snatched at the shot and pulled it wide from eight yards.

Colwyn Bay seemed in control at that stage, but were hit by a double blow in the final five minutes before the break.  Lynch's sending off was bad enough, but from the resulting free kick the ball came through to new signing Chris Thompson and although Sanna got a hand to the ball to half-stop the shot, Peter Wright slid in to force the ball over the line for the equaliser.

Colwyn Bay came out with a 4-4-1 formation in the second half with Titchiner up front on his own before he had to limp off with an ankle injury, and Ian Sheridan took over the role - with both players putting in tremendous stints as lone front runners.

And it was Sheridan who won the game with a super goal on 70 minutes.
Anthony Sheehan, who had an excellent game in midfield, played a clever pass to put Greg Stones free on the right, and he put over a peach of a cross for Sheridan to run in and power a header past Hinchcliffe from 12 yards. Stones had earlier shot over the bar with a good chance from a corner and fired another effort narrowly wide from 30 yards after a good run.

The Bay were forced to defend defiantly for the last 20 minutes, but apart from a couple of shots from substitute Phil Denney, Chris Sanna was not tested as the home side were forced to shoot mainly from outside the area and most of their efforts were high or wide.

In the end it was a battling win for the Bay, who are now three points behind Lancaster, who have one game in hand, and six ahead of Halifax and Skelmersdale

Pictures courtesy of Martin Lyons Photography