After the disappointment of yet another game falling foul of the bad weather last week against Halkyn United Reserves, Flint Mountain again made the short trip to play Aston FC at Shotton Lane. The Mountain Men were looking to keep up their recent form and remain in third place in the North East Wales Football League. Mountain welcomed both Leon Pickford and Tom Smith back into the starting line up with Ryan Jones and Danny Griffiths dropping to the substitutes bench. They were joined on the bench by Flint Mountain's latest signing, Sean Wilkes. Wilkes joins the club from league rivals Flint Town United Reserves and brings a wealth of experience to a side brimming with confidence and on the up.

The game started slowly and Flint Mountain were unable to find their rhythm until 10 minutes into the game, when they began to exert their dominance on Aston. The Mountain midfield were pressing the ball as a unit and passing was fluid across the pitch. However, thanks to the Aston goalkeeper, the opening goal took half an hour to arrive. Leon Pickford, given a licence to get forward on the right hand side from defence, got the ball to striker Rich Hughes. Hughes, who bagged a brace against Aston three weeks earlier, took the ball and blasted a vicious shot into the roof of the Aston net, giving the goalkeeper no chance.

Pickford, marauding forward once again, got his second assist just before half time. After skilfully getting into a position to shoot, his shot was heading wide, but Keiron Moore, back on the wing for this game, was able to redirect the ball into the Aston net to keep up his excellent goalscoring record from midfield.

Aston come out for the second half looking for an immediate turnaround in their fortunes. Flint Mountain continued to work hard though, which stifled their chances to get a goal back. Fifteen minutes into the second half, Flint Mountain gained the important third goal which restricted Aston's chances of coming away from the game with any points. On this occasion, Craig Jones played the ball to Hughes, who was able to fire past the Aston goalkeeper to score his brace.

With the game in control, Mountain looked to make a couple of substitutions in quick succession to freshen up the play. Firstly, Danny Griffiths entered the play to replace Keiron Moore on the left wing. Then a couple of minutes later, Mountain switched to a 4-4-2 formation as debutant Sean Wilkes entered the fray to replace Alex Millington and move up front. Griffiths made an immediate impact on the game, winning a penalty. Being a more orthodox winger, compared to Moore using trickery to beat his opponent, Griffiths used his pace get into the penalty area before being brought down. With the chance of a hat trick in the offering, Rich Hughes stepped up to take the penalty. Hughes made no mistake, despatching the ball low to the goalkeeper's right.

Flint Mountain then made their third and final substitution, with a straight swap at left back as Rob Rush was replaced by Ryan Jones. With nine minutes remaining in the game, Mountain grabbed their fifth goal. Sean Wilkes, on as a substitute and making his debut, had promised a goal to announce his arrival as a Flint Mountain player and duly delivered. Midfielder Lewis Powell lofted an inch prefect ball over the Aston defence to Wilkes, who then calmly placed the ball underneath the out rushing goalkeeper.

Mountain thought they had done enough to finish of the challenge of Aston and grab an important clean sheet, but Aston had other ideas and just before the end of the game, managed to get a consolation goal. After a fracas just a couple of minutes earlier which had seen Chris Layne shown a yellow card as Aston were lucky to keep eleven men on the field, player manager Stuart Buxton also found himself in the referee's notebook. Buxton was guilty of shirt pulling which gave Aston a free kick outside of the penalty area. From the resulting free kick, Mountain goalkeeper Ricky Bennett attempted to make a punching clearance. Unfortunately, his punch missed the ball and allowed the ball to fall into the net.

With next week's fixture list leaving Flint Mountain without a fixture for themselves, next up for the Mountain men is the eagerly awaited Queensferry Sports President's Cup Final. The match will see Flint Mountain pitted against current league leaders Cefn Albion, who will be looking for their first trophy of the season. The game will be played at the neutral venue the Globe, the home of Buckley Town FC. The team require your support in this important fixture, so come along and support your local team in their quest for cup glory.

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