Gresford Athletic were forced to settle for a draw following two red cards on Friday Night as they faced Ruthin Town away on matchday two of the 2023/24 JD Cymru North.

The first half started well for Gresford Athletic, taking a very early lead in the ninth minute of the game after some good dribbling from Haci Ozlu in the box led to the ball falling for Joe Chaplin to finish off.

However, Ruthin Town quickly had the chance to level the scoring through a penalty in the 15th minute, with Mike Jones bringing down Sam Jones in the box, but Matthew Evans let Gresford Athletic off with a warning by putting the penalty wide of the post.

The rest of the first 45 minutes was fairly even, but neither team were able to create any real clear-cut chances and the score remained at 1-0 to Gresford Athletic as the teams went in for the break.

The second half was tough for Gresford Athletic, with Ruthin Town having a lot of the ball, despite not testing Mike Jones too much.

Things went bad in the 69th minute as Charlie Mann was shown a red card, which was a decision that Gresford Athletic players, staff and fans protested against.

Frustrations grew and Nathan Williams was also shown a straight red card in the 74th minute for a bad tackle on Gwion Owen, leaving Gresford Athletic with nine men to defend their 1-0 lead.

Joe Chaplin looked to secure Gresford Athletic's second goal in the 78th minute, running through on goal well, but his shot was blocked.

Unfortunately though, due to the two red cards, Ruthin Town found a deserved late breakthrough in the 80th minute, equalising through substitute Andy Brown.

Then, just before full time, Ruthin Town have the ball in the back of the net for the second time, but this was ruled out for offside by referee Alex Livesey.

The full time whistle blew at 1-1 and Gresford Athletic came away with a point on matchday two of the 2023/24 JD Cymru North in a result that may had been different should the game continued with 11 players on each side.

Charley Edge had another good performance and was voted as the Gresford Athletic Man of the Match for the second time in a row.

Ruthin Town

Starting XI: Mullin (GK), Evans, Nash, Mbolokele, Clark, O. Davies (C), Hampson (Mills - 62'), E. Davies (Caines - 78'), Jones (Brown - 62'), Owen, El Amri

Goalscorers: Brown

Subs not used: Edmunds (GK), Martin, Dyer

Yellow cards: Owen, Hudson (Manager)

Gresford Athletic

Starting XI: Jones (GK), J. Smith, Hesp, Williams (C), S. Smith (Buxton - 84'), Johnson, Edge, Mann, Ozlu (Roberts - 78'), Gallagher-Keenan (Ellis - 65'), Chaplin (Spridgeon - 84')

Subs not used: Busby (GK), Killilea

Goalscorers: Chaplin

Yellow cards: S. Smith, Edge, Jones, Hill-Dunt (Assistant Manager)

Red cards: Mann, Williams

Match Officials

Referee: Alex Livesey

Assistant Referees: Simon McCormick, Lewys Thomson-Williams