Football: Colwyn Bay 1 Curzon Ashton 1

Sep 18 2008 by Dave Jones, North Wales Weekly News

COLWYN BAY 1 CURZON ASHTON 1 UNIBOND LEAGUE DIVISION ONE NORTH

MANAGERLESS Colwyn Bay lost out on a valuable three points after smash-and-grab Curzon netted a controversial 88th minute penalty to secure a fortunate draw on Tuesday night.

Having not yet appointed a new manager following the resignation of Steve Pope earlier this month, the defiant Seagulls dominated on a wet evening at Llanelian Road despite being reduced to 10 players for over half the game.

Acting manager Mark Cartwright slammed referee Robinson’s performance after his red card to captain Robbie Williams and the last gasp penalty, but praised his players who he believed could have easily have won the game.

“I’m delighted with the players, but obviously I think the ref left a lot to be desired,” he said.

“We had the opportunity to score three or four goals more. We could have won, the lads are disappointed but the effort and commitment was superb.”

A good crowd saw Bay go close to opening their account three or four times in the first 25 minutes with Carl Brown, Andy Moran and Robbie Williams all threatening from long range.

The Seagulls dominated the first half although their control looked like it could be broken when Williams was given his marching orders just before the interval.

The midfield firebrand received a yellow card for a wild challenge and saw a straight red moments later in the aftermath after he squared up to a number of Curzon players.

But the Bay returned determined in the second half and on 53 minutes Brown turned just beyond halfway and squared to Neil Coverley who put a beautifully weighted ball through for Rob Hopley to slot home to put the 10-men 1-0 up.

The hosts continued to press but were unable to get that elusive second, then two minutes from time Hopley was harshly adjudged to have handled when a ball was blasted at him from short range and Michael Norton equalised from the spot.

Defender Ryan Mitchell, 19, signed from Tranmere Rovers last week, made a promising debut.

Colwyn Bay’s deadline for applications to the vacant manager’s position expired on Tuesday and the club are now looking at their options.

A poor performance at divisional leaders Ossett Albion led to Bay suffering a 2-0 defeat on Saturday, the hosts scoring a goal in each half. To add to Bay’s woes central defender Tim Brandreth received a straight red two minutes from time for a late challenge.

Bay visit Trafford for a league game this Saturday (3pm kick-off).