A new look Caernarfon Town squad almost pulled off an opening day win against a strong Cwmbran Town side, only to see their lead slip away with only eight minutes to go.
Caernarfon started well with striker Lee Jones claiming his first goal on his Welsh Premier debut, deftly chipping Cwmbran keeper Gareth Wesson from the edge of the box from a brilliant long pass from defender Marc Evans. The goal came against the run of the play however, and Cwmbran had most of the first half possession without creating many clear cut opportunities. The closest the came was a diving header at the near post by Kristian Diarmond from a Mike Fowler corner which missed the far post by inches. Caernarfon could indeed have been 2-0 up by the break - Lee Jones pounced on a poor back-header by Jason Perry but his lob went inches over the crossbar.
The second half saw more of the same pattern of play, with Cwmbran having most of the possession and Caernarfon defending well. On the hour mark impressive local player Cerwyn Roberts played a ball over the top of the Cwmbran defence which gave striker Aaron Thomas a chance to latch on to but Wesson beat him to the ball and cleared the danger. Caernarfon created more chance during the last fifteen minutes, the best of which fell to winger Gwyn Peters who turned inside the box and struck his shot from an acute angle, only for Wesson to push the effort away and over the bar. Cwmbran got their deserved equaliser with eight minutes to go - sub Chris Hanbury powered past the Town defence on the left and squeezed in his effort at the far post under the diving David Walsh. Both sides felt that they could have won this match but a draw was probably the fair result.
