After defeat in the season opener at the weekend against Lex, Halkyn & Flint Mountain looked to quickly regroup as they made the short midweek trip to Hawarden Rangers. Manager Rob Marshall was without a few of the squad due to work commitments, but was able to give starts to Ryan Roberts, Damon Griffiths, Liam Mortimer, Tom Lynch, Shaun Thomson and Marc Gunther.

The first half was largely even and quiet, but the Mountain were unable to carve out any real clear cut chances. After several warnings, Hawarden opened the scoring six minutes before the break. From a Mountain throw in, Hawarden won back the ball too easily, before playing a through ball to their left winger, who slotted the ball past Roberts in the Mountain goal and into the net.

In the second half, had a scare when Hawarden beat Ryan Roberts, but Pete Martin was on hand to clear the ball away before it crossed the line. Mountain did then get a perfect opportunity to level the score when Jack Aitken was brought down in the box, and the referee pointed to the spot. From the resulting penalty, Sean Williams' effort was poor and the Hawarden goalkeeper was able to save the shot and hold onto the rebound.

After several chances went begging, Mountain equalised with twelve minutes left. With the ball played out to Shaun Thomson on the right, he beat the Hawarden left back before drilling a low effort past the goalkeeper, which hit the post on it's way into the back of the net. It was Thomson's first goal for the club. With time running out and with Mountain pressing for a win, they were dealt a body blow when Hawarden won a free kick. They took it quickly and got down the right, before playing a cross to the far post, where the opposite winger smashed a volley into the back of the net. Hawarden settled the game within a minute, when they were able to fire in another goal as the game drew to it's close.

Next up, Halkyn & Flint Mountain return to Pant Newydd and welcome Llangollen Town this Saturday afternoon, as we look to record our first points of the new season.