Ardal League North West

Wednesday 9th August 2023

Kick Off 18.30 Actual 18.31

Saltney 3 Hawarden Rangers 0, attendance 73

13’ 1-0

16’ 2-0

88’ 3-0

@ Dragon Steel Stadium

Saltney Community Centre

Sandy Lane

Saltney

CH4 8UB

£3 Admission

No Programme.

Having completed the Ardal South West last night, today it was a trip to one of the two grounds I hadn’t yet visited in Ardal North West, the other being Llannefydd. Quite how this can be classed as a North West regional league is beyond me. Saltney is on the English border, only a few miles from Chester and couldn’t be any further North East in Wales and tonight’s visitors Hawarden are only four miles west of here themselves!

Saltney had opened their season with a 2-2 draw at Conwy Borough, whilst Hawarden had been hammered 1-7 at home to Llangefni. Saltney got off to a great start and were two goals up in just sixteen minutes, the first scuffed into the far corner after a ball over the top and the second followed in after a cross into the box wasn’t cleared. Hawarden had a man red card with seven minutes left, before a looping header from a corner went in off the underside of the crossbar to round off the scoring a couple of minutes from the end.

The pitch here is fully enclosed with solid boarding and plenty of adverts and a pair of dugouts on the far side. The now all too common kit stand on the near side and the changing rooms are a hundred yards away, out of site and adjacent to the very small car park. Not so much as a tea bar either!

The journey up was trouble free, but the return saw a diversion via the M1, due to the M40 being closed due to an accident that had occurred sometime during the early afternoon, as it was already closed as I headed north earlier on. Usual M25 closures from J15 to J13 and J11 to J9.