Bamber Bridge 1 Colwyn Bay 2
COLWYN Bay's fighting qualities were in evidence again on Saturday as with ten men from half time they kept their heads to beat Bamber Bridge when their two closest championship rivals Lancaster and Halifax were losing theirs.
Neil Young introduced extra strength and experience to his Unibond First Division one squad in Danny Meadowcroft making his debut alongside Dave Challinor in defence and Greg Stones into right midfield in a side shaping into what the Bay manager has been seeking, short of probably just a big striker.
The rejigged team can be seen at Llanelian Road this Saturday when Curzon Ashton, currently in fifth place, will pose a stern test.
The match comes after Bay's tricky away game last night (Tuesday) on Woodley Sports' plastic pitch so that a good crowd is and will be crucial to what should be a fascinating run in for fans.
The drama that was to come, including manager Young being sent to the stands at half-time after confronting the referee over a number of decisions, was not immediately apparent in a slow start. The first sign being Ryan Williams clearing off the line from Ashley Dunn from a corner with goalie Chris Sanna beaten.
Alex Titchener changed that when as Bay got there act together he scored his second league goal in two games when he robbed defender Michael Welch in the area for the 18-year-old to go on to beat keeper Ben Hinchcliffe with a shot into the net's bottom corner at 25 minutes.
Titchiner failed to match that success when Luke Denson pulled the ball back for him only to send the ball wide from eight yards.
The Bay remained in control but just before the break left back Anthoney Lynch was sent off for a rash tackle and from the free kick a Chris Thompson shot was parried by Chris Sanna and Peter Wright scored.
Colwyn Bay had Titchener up front on his own after the break before an injury saw him replaced by Fraser Ablett at 63 minutes with Ian Sheridan the lone striker who matched great effort with a goal to savour when Anthony Sheehan who started this game, passed out right to Stones who crossed perfectly for Sheridan to meet at full stretch to head past Hinchcliffe from 12 yards.
Young said: "At half-time I asked them 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."
The Bay for the last 15 minutes defended well so that Chris Sanna was not tested as Curzon were kept to shooting from well out so that Dave Challinor and his men stood firm during another tense chapter in a continuing enthralling season.
Colwyn Bay groundsman Elfed Morris has been shortlisted to represent the UniBond League in this season's FA Groundsman of the Year competition.
Mr Morris won the UniBond award last year and came second in the overall awards.