HOLYHEAD Hotspur ended their Huws Gray Alliance home fixtures with a 2-1 loss to Ruthin Town.

The Holy Islanders are bracing themselves for life in the third tier pending the upcoming licencing decisions, and they failed to get anything from the game despite working hard to restore parity to the score-line after falling behind early on.

Darren Garmey’s men can still have a huge say in who joins them in demotion next term as they travel to Holywell Town in their final outing of the campaign on Saturday (2.30pm).

Things did not begin well for the home side as prolific striker Llyr Morris was superbly put through on goal by Gwion Owen, and the deadly marksman made no mistake with the finish to put Chris Williams’ men one up.

This provoked a strong response from the hosts, who got back on level terms with nine on the clock when Tomos Clarke prodded home from close range to extend his fine recent run of goalscoring form.

Spurs’ stopper Dan Williams had to be at his best to deny Owen midway through the half, but Town were given a golden chance to restore their cushion on 40 minutes when they were awarded a penalty after livewire Morris was bundled over in the box.

The same player dusted himself off to put away the spot kick and take his tally for the season to 20 league goals once again.

After the break saw Morris rattle the woodwork with a header as he pursued his hat-trick, with Matty Evans also hitting the post with the keeper beaten soon after.

The home side barraged the Town penalty area with a series of probing crosses in the closing stages, but their rearguard of Kevin Evans and Tom Dyer held firm to condemn Garmey’s men to a 20th reverse in 29 contests.