Fleetwood Town

A brace from Jamille Matt plus strikes from Jamie Allen, David Ball and Stewart Murdoch sealed the win for the Cod Army.

Manager Graham Alexander named two different starting line ups.

The first half team saw Jamie Proctor make his debut for the Cod Army, whilst there were also starts for Max Cartwright and Josh Green. 

The game’s first opportunity fell to Scottish midfielder Murdoch with five minutes on the referee’s clock. 

Following good work from Proctor on the right channel, possession was pulled back for Murdoch but his 20-yard strike was palmed away by former Fleetwood keeper Josh Ollerenshaw. 

One minute later, and Proctor was back involved, this time trying an effort of his own. Escaping two defenders, the former Crawley man found space on the edge of the box but he was unable to keep the ball on target. 

Fleetwood were the team in the ascendency and after Ball was denied what looked to be a clear penalty, the striker deservedly put the Cod Army ahead in the 24th minute.

The move began with Gareth Evans bursting away on the left wing and diverting a cross into the box for Proctor to have a first time effort saved. With the ball loose inside the penalty area, Ball was the first to respond to tap home from close range to score Fleetwood’s first goal since the Play-Off final. 

Continuing to control the game, Fleetwood went in search of goal number two with wide men Matty Hughes and Evans both having efforts on goal before Murdoch found the back of the net with a fierce drive with 36 minutes on the clock to make it 2-0.  

Manager Graham Alexander changed the starting eleven at half time with Keith Southern and Danny Andrew two of the players introduced for their debuts. 

But it was the front pair of Allen and Matt that took the early limelight as they fired Fleetwood into a four goal lead within three minutes of the restart. 

Allen, a product of the Fleetwood Town youth academy, expertly turned home a Richard Wright cross to make the score three goals to nil in favour of the visitors. 

Within a couple of minutes, Matt made it four as he robbed the Welsh outfit of possession deep inside their own half. Calmly rounding a couple of defenders, the former Kidderminster striker delivered a bending shot into the far corner, past the outstretched arm of substitute goalkeeper Josh Clark. 

As the sun went down in North Wales, the tempo of the game slowed down as both teams battled for possession. 

Colwyn Bay showed glimpses in attack but were unable to trouble local boy Chris Maxwell in the Fleetwood Town goal. 

Like Max Cartwright in the first period, youngsters Keano Deacon and Wright both looked sturdy in the first team, with the trio all featuring on Wednesday night for Barry Nicholson’s development squad. 

Fleetwood added number five late into the second half as Matt capitalised on a mistake by the Colwyn Bay keeper to stab the ball into an empty goal, despite the valiant attempts from the home defence to get back. 

The Cod Army comfortably saw out the remainder of the game and will now jet off to Austria on Saturday for a week, with two pre-season friendlies organised.