After the convincing victory over Bradley Park two weeks ago, Flint Mountain had a free week before facing off against second placed Acton for the second time within a month. The Mountain made a couple of defensive changes following on from the Bradley win, with Keiran Farr returning to the starting lineup, whilst Dean Hughes deputised at centre back.

It was Acton who seemed to edge the opening minutes and tensions were running high when both sets of players were involved in a brief clash. Once this had been calmed down, Acton took full advantage with the opening goal after fourteen minutes. With a long ball forward, Dean Hughes cleared the ball but it fell to an Acton striker. The Mountain players were looking for an offside call that never came and made the cardinal sin of stopping, allowing the Acton striker to pick his spot and smash a fabulous shot past Kirk Russell from 25 yards, leaving the Mountain goalkeeper with no chance.

With their tails up, Acton capitalised and doubled their lead a couple of minutes later. A hopeful free kick was clipped into the penalty area. Somehow, the ball seemed to miss everyone as it bounced into the back of the Mountain net. The shock of the goals seemed to wake up the away team, and they quickly struck back to reduce the deficit. After a Mountain free kick was launched into the Acton penalty area, they looked to have cleared the danger, but the ball fell to Dean Hughes, who hit a low volley through the crowd of players and into the bottom corner.

Both sides pressed for further goals, with both Dean Hughes and Lee Messham missing chances to equalise, and the score remained the same at the break. In the second half, Mountain come out fighting and it took just six minutes to get back on level terms. On the right, the ball was played back to Jon Edmonds, who fired a hopeful cross-shot into the penalty area. The ball looped up towards goal and looked to have been dealt with by the Acton goalkeeper, but the keeper made a hash of it, and parried the ball into his own net.

Acton weren’t done and Kirk Russell was called into action at his near post with a strong save. The equaliser, however, got the wind into Mountain’s sails, and they began pressing Acton and looking dangerous. The introduction of Marc Gunther and David Walkiewicz added to this, as both players used their pace and skill to good effect. Gunther had an early chance, but he fired over the bar, before being involved again shortly afterwards, as he connected with a cross, but saw his shot cannon back off the crossbar. Dean Hughes was on hand to direct the rebound towards goal, but the Acton goalkeeper made terrific double save to deny the Mountain.

With twenty minutes to go, the pressure finally paid off as Jake Williams completed the turnaround with the third goal. On the left, Dylan Roberts cut inside and delivered a cross into the box, which was met by Williams, with a looping header which found the far corner. With Mountain in the ascendancy, they grabbed a fourth goal with ten minutes to go, courtesy of Jack Aitken. Aitken picked up the ball in the Acton half and drove at the defence. He weaved past two defenders and found himself one on one with the goalkeeper. The young striker composed himself and finished off a stunning run by slotting the ball through the legs of the goalkeeper.

Acton pressed desperately in the final minutes to recover, but to no avail as the Mountain completed a league double over their nearest title rivals. That result sees Flint Mountain maintain a seven point lead in the North East Wales League, with Mold Town United replacing Acton in second place, but Acton still have two games in hand. Next up, Flint Mountain welcome the league’s bottom side, Borras Park Albion, to the Pavilion on Saturday as we head towards the festive fixtures. We hope to see you there.