PENRHYNCOCH’s eagerly-awaited return to the Huws Gray Cymru Alliance ended in a 3-1 defeat at title favourites Caernarfon Town last weekend - but manager Gari Lewis felt there were many positives to take from their performance.

After a goalless first half, defending champions Caernarfon took charge with goals from Cory Williams and Darren Thomas and, despite a reply from man-of-the-match Josh Shaw, Thomas sealed the points on the break with his second goal.“I thought we did okay. We went toe to toe with them in the second half, and got it back to 2-1," said Lewis. "We also had a goal disallowed, while they scored a third on the break with a quality finish.“I’m not that despondent. We had spoke at half-time about coming out fresh and bright, but their first goal gave them a lift.“We recovered really well and had a nice little spell, but their third goal then killed us off again.“It’s fine margins, but we can take positives. Caernarfon are a good side, they’ve got some quality players, in particular Darren Thomas, whose finishing was the real difference between the sides.“We defended well, and once we’ve got two or three offensive players fully fit, then we’ll have a lot of things to get excited about.”Caernarfon sounded a warning in the first minute when Cory Williams fired straight at goalkeeper Leigh Jenkins, but the Roosters looked solid and organised.

At the other end, Shaw fired wide early on, and former Canaries defender Jon Foligno had two attacking headers for the Roosters, one saved and one just wide.

As the opening half wore on, Caernarfon exerted more pressure and a Jay Gibbs low shot was tipped wide by Jenkins, but they were unable to break the deadlock as the two sides came in level at half time.

They did make the breakthrough on 50 minutes, however, as Cory Williams was played in by a back-heel and fired home.

Manager Gari Lewis made a change, with new signing Dafydd Carruthers replacing 16 year-old Harri Horwood, and he almost made an instant impact as he broke past three defenders before squaring for Dean Evans, whose curling shot was well saved by the home goalkeeper.

With 25 minutes to go the game was still in the balance, but Caernarfon doubled their lead, when Williams broke forward and crossed for ex-Aberystwyth player Darren Thomas to finish from close range.

Penrhyn rallied and Sion James hit the side-netting, and a Josh Shaw shot was well saved again by the home goalkeeper.

Then, with just under 15 minutes left, Shaw rifled home from an Antonio Corbisiero corner, and Penrhyn sensed that they could get a result out of the game.

With minutes left on the clock, however, and with Penrhyn pushing on, Thomas broke forward on a counter attack and restored Caernarfon’s two goal advantage, which they held until the end of the game.Penrhyn now set their sights on Mold Alex in their first league outing at Cae Baker on Saturday, and Lewis expects another stern challenge, despite their visitors losing 6-2 to Porthmadog on Saturday.“They’ve got a couple of ex-Tranmere legends there, and it’s going to be a tough one for us,” Lewis said. “But we can still take positives from last week, and we will learn from the experience.“Little mistakes cost us, we switched off at vital times, and it shows that if we switch off against teams like that they will hurt us. “Mold will be tough, they have some strong individuals, and some good people in charge. I expect them to bounce back, but we do really well at Cae Baker and we will be looking to continue that.”PENRHYNCOCH: L Jenkins, E Evans, M Mousley, S James, J Foligno, O James, A Corbisiero, J Shaw, D Evans (G Mansell 86), M Gornall (L Doherty 72), H Horwood (D Caruthers 58). Unused subs: D James, G Lewis.