PENRHYNCOCH boss Gari Lewis had mixed feelings after his side returned from Denbigh with a 1-1 draw, to maintain their encouraging start to their Cymru Alliance campaign.

After taking the lead through a 10th minute strike from Liam Lewis, the Roosters were pegged back in the end by a penalty from Alfons Fosu-Mensah, with 12 minutes remaining.

Both sides could have won it, but Lewis took positives from a respectable draw on the road as his side took their tally to 10 points from six games.

They are joint seventh, but victory would have lifted them up to second.

“We could have won it, but we could have lost it at the end, so a draw was okay,” said Lewis. “Denbigh may have lost two on the bounce, but they have beaten Bangor City at home. They are good going forward, but have defensive issues, that we looked to exploit on the counter attack.

“We had chances to have gone 2-0 up, and had we done that, I couldn’t see that lead slipping away as we again looked rock solid at the back.

“Having defended so well, we conceded a poor goal as we failed to deal with a bouncing ball in the box.

“But a point was not the end of the world, and to be a little disappointed really shows how far we’ve come.”

Early chances saw Penrhyn keeper Oliver Fairbrother push Lewis Sirrell’s effort away for a corner, but the visitors broke well and Liam Lewis saw his header go wide of the goal.

Tony Davies failed to capitalise on a decent chance for Denbigh, but the Roosters made the breakthrough on 10 minutes when Liam Lewis raced onto a through ball, before neatly slotting past keeper Craig Vernon.

Denbigh fought back, with Ross Weaver sending a great ball for Alfons Fosu-Mensah, who shrugged off Sion James and unleashed a shot which was again well saved by Fairbrother.

Rhys Llwyd was also denied by the Penrhyn keeper, but Penrhyn continued to be a threat on the break, with Lewis and Liam Doherty both denied.

After the interval, Lewis saw his shot was well saved by Craig Vernon, who also made a brilliant save to deny Liam Doherty after breaking through.

Denbigh captain Tony Jones rose highest to head Bailey Jackson’s free kick into the side-netting, but then at the other end Penrhyn’s Lewis saw his opportunistic shot hit the crossbar.

Tom Jones and Alfons Fosu-Mensah both fired over for the hosts, but with 12 minutes to go sub Jacob Walker was tripped by keeper Farebrother after some hesitation in defence, and Fosu-Mensah converted the penalty.

Both teams pressed for the winner in the closing minutes, with Fosu-Mensah being put through, only to see his goal bound shot blocked, whilst Vernon gathered a free-kick at the other end as honours ended even.

“This was a much better performance than our Conwy display which just wasn’t good enough," reflected Denbigh’s joint manager Dewi Llion. "Today we fought more, wanted it more and played much better football.

"Whilst we wanted the win, a draw against a Penrhyncoch team who are always tough opponents is a welcome point on which we can build going forward."

DENBIGH: Craig Vernon, Scott McHarrie, Bailey Jackson, Curtis Langton, Tony Davies (Capt), Ross Weaver, Sam Jones, Sam Downey, Alfons Fosu-Mensah, Rhys Llwyd, Lewis Sirrell. Subs: Sion Jones, Jake Walker, Tom Jones, Sam Tate, Pete Lloyd

PENRHYNCOCH: Oliver Fairbrother, Liam James, Elian Evans, Sion James (capt), Jon Folineo, Carwyn Jones, Tomos Evans, Antonio Curbisiero, Liam Doherty, Liam Lewis, Craig Williams. Subs – Owain James, Matthew Moseley, Jonathan Evans, Gari Lewis

Referee: Arron Jones. Attendance: 105.