Glantraeth’s position in the bottom two grows ever more precarious as they went down to defeat against the side just above them and now the points gap between them and safety from relegation has grown alarmingly.
In truth this was a game that could have gone either way with Gresford having the better of the first half chances with Glan coming back strongly after the break and only a contentious decision from referee Phil Roszkowski in the closing minutes perhaps denying them a point.
The Anglesey side started promisingly with Chris Evans almost creating chances for Mark Owens and James Burgess then Owens again went close following some good play by Caerwyn Roberts and Chris Evans down the left flank.
There were twenty minutes gone before the home side carried any real threat as Craig Goodwin fired just past a post. Gresford were now having more of the play and following a good cross from Goodwin Mike Pugh was only narrowly off target with a header.
On 25 minutes the Wrexham side went ahead as pressure on the Glan goal left Phil Jones with a great shooting chance only ten yards out and luck was on his side as he sliced his shot badly only for the ball to almost float into the top corner, the misshit deceiving everyone. Two minutes later a good effort from Mike Pugh clipped the bar as Gresford went for number two.
As Glantraeth began to feel there way back into the game Anthony Hughes had a shot well saved by keeper Gareth Rowland then James Burgess engineered a shooting opportunity for Kevin Roberts but his shot was blocked early in flight.
Glan came out in determined mood after the break with Anthony Hughes’s pace almost taking him clear then Caerwyn Roberts let go with a right foot shot that found Rowland well positioned to save.
Keeper Marc Newbould came to the visitors’ rescue on 56 minutes as he saved well from ex-Bangor striker Gareth Willams after the ball had been given away far too cheaply.
It was soon Glantraeth back on the attack with Rowland having to scramble across his goal to save from Chris Evans then James Burgess headed just over from an Alan Jones cross.
A mix up in the Gresford defence almost let in Mark Owens but on 74 minutes the home side went further ahead with Jarl Glynn losing possession and leaving Josh Russell with a clear run on goal and there was little Newbould in goal could do to prevent him putting the Clappers Lane side two ahead.
It was poor reward for a good second half performance but within two minutes Glan had pulled a goal back as a great run from Anthony Hughes took him to the byline before crossing for James Burgess to head home.
Anthony Hughes’s surging runs were causing all kinds of problems for the home defence and there was controversy on 78 minutes as Hughes went racing into the box with only the keeper to beat only to be tripped by defender Wyn Jones. It looked a certain red card for denying a goalscoring opportunity but the match official decided otherwise and raised a yellow card and awarded a free kick on the edge of the penalty area. Glan could quite rightly feel hard done by.
It took some of the steam out of the Anglesey side’s efforts to rescue the game and Gresford substitute Danny Hughes twice went close at the other end, shooting over with a good effort then drawing a smart save from Newbould.
With the game in the fourth minute of added time a free kick into the area was only inches out of reach of Kevin Roberts at the back post as Glan made one last ditch effort to claw something out of a game that ended for the 10th time this season in defeat by a one goal margin.
Glantraeth: Marc Newbould, Jarl Glynn, Caerwyn Roberts, David Alan Jones, Andy Tower, Anthony Hughes, Marc Owens (Bryn Jones 77), Emyr Rowlands, James Burgess, Kevin Roberts, Chris Evans,