PICTURE by Wynne Evans shows two-goal hero Dean Redmond (in yellow) on the ball v Gwalchmai.

MENAI TIGERS thoroughly impressed in their first-ever North Wales Coast West Premier match this evening, coming away from Gwalchmai with a 5-0 win.

A jam-packed Maes Meurig watched on as Aaron Rowlands’ Tigers ran out comfortable winners in the end despite an encouraging performance at times from a mostly-young Gwalchmai side.

It had been 485 days since the Tigers’ last competitive match was played – a 2-1 away win v Talysarn Celts in the NWCFA Junior Cup Quarter Final back in March 2020.

But, after a fairly cagey start to proceedings at Gwalch, the deadlock was eventually broken on 20mins when Callum Davidson scored before Dean Redmond, who recently returned to the Tigers from Bodedern Athletic, fired home ten minutes later.

The former Beaumaris Town man’s best spell for the Tigers came back in 2017/18 when he fired in 39 goals as the club won a Gwynedd League and cup double.

And that form continued last season for Redmond (above) as he scored 17 goals in all competitions for Welsh Alliance One outfit Bodedern Athletic. But, having finished the season as Boded’s top scorer, the prolific striker will soon come up against them as the Tigers will face off against Ricky Williams’ side in the new-look North Wales Coast West Premier Division.

And tonight, following up from the seven goals he scored in a 13-3 hammering of Llangoed in a friendly just last week, he started off the 21/22 season with a brace, bagging a second goal in the second half.

His first of the night and a double from strike partner Callum Davidson (below on left) put the Tigers 3-0 up at the break. The scoreline was complete when Davidson, who was the club’s top scorer last season with 16 goals to his name, completed his hat-trick in the second half moments after Redmond had added his second.

There were debuts galore for both sides tonight – with the likes of young talent Connor Owen, 16, and former Llandegfan winger James Hall, 20, making their first starts for Gwalch.

The Tigers welcomed back Redmond, as well as former midfielder Sion Hogan and defender Matty Hughes and handed debuts to the likes of skilful winger Callum Thomas who recently transferred over from Bodedern Athletic.

A great start for the Tigers who will surely be fancied to compete for the tier four title this season – they’ve certainly got the talented squad to do just that.

As for Liam Ewing’s Gwalchmai, this is just the beginning for them as a new-look squad and I’m sure that when they gel properly and those young players have a bit more experience under their belts, we’ll see great things from them too.

Line-ups

GWALCHMAI: Robbie Williams (GK), Harry Jones, Alex Cooper, Declan Jones (C), Darren Roberts, Guto Jones, Sam Jones, Elliott Breaks, Connor Owen, Dion Owen, James Hall.
Subs: Emyr Jones, Callum Bulkeley, Nathan Sinnott, Paul Jones, Aaron Lewis

MENAI TIGERS: Calum Andrews (GK), Owain Roberts, Paul Rowlands, Matthew Hughes, Kelvin Frazer, Craig Roberts, Darren Jones, Callum Davidson (30’, 45’, 51’) Sion Hogan (C), Dean Redmond (40’, 47’), Callum Thomas.
Subs: Ryan Owen, Sam Faulkner, Robbie Jones, Kevin Roberts, Dave Baston