COLWYN BAY hung on for a crucial 2-1 victory over third-in-the-table Gresley Rovers after an unintentional assist from referee Rick Bartlett for their first goal.
From a free kick into the box, an attempted Gresley clearance kick struck the official in the face on the edge of the area and as he fell to the ground, the ball rebounded perfectly for Neil Black to play in Martin Crowder to score.
The referee needed lengthy treatment before consulting his linesman and then awarding the goal, depite long and angry protests from the visitors.
The goal clearly rattled Gresley, and Joe Fowler and Neil Black both had chances to increase the lead before John Lawless was played in by Anthony Wright and was chopped down as he rounded keeper David Clarke before scoring from the resulting penalty.
The turning point came when Colwyn Bay lost both their central defenders in the space of five minutes early in the second half.
First Chris Taylor was sent off along with Gresley's Jamie Hood after they clashed as Gresley forced a corner, and then James Glendenning had to be replaced with a knee injury following a block tackle.
A reshuffled back line was then put under tremendous pressure after Chris Sleath had been left unmarked to get Gresley back in the game at 2-1.
Clakre turned efforts from Fowler and Lawless (twice) for corners, but Gresley had most of the play and Daniel Blair missed a good chance to equalise late on.
"I thought it wasn't going to be our day when we lost both our centre backs in the space of five minutes," said manager Gary Finley. "We had to put a right sided midfielder at centre half and it was diffiuclt for us, but the players dug in to get a very important result."
He was also pleased Anthony Wright and Joe Fowler on their debuts.
"I thought Joe Fowler was very good and Anthony Wright did well to hold the ball up for us when we were under pressure. They both need games to settle in fully, but I was pleased with their contributions today."
The result lifted Colwyn Bay up to 11th place in the Unibond Division One South and with their games in hand keeps them in the frame for a play-off spot with only two of the 10 sides above them winning.
The injury to Glendenning and pending suspension for Taylor, however, are a big concern at a time when the manager is striving to get a settled back four.

LLANDUDNO drew 1-1 at Prestatyn Town in their top of the table clash in the Cymru Alliance. Russ Jones headed Prestatyn into a 20th minute lead, but Leee Thomas got Llandudno's equaliser seven minutes into the second half.
In ther Welsh Alliance Glan Conwy won 4-2 at Rhydymywn and Conwy United beat Pwllheli 3-2 to stay third a fourth, but Llandudno Junction lost 3-2 at fifth-placed Nefyn United.
Llanrwst United lost 1-0 at home to Bethesda in the Barritt Cup.

PENMAENMAWR PHOENIX remain unbeaten in the Clwyd League's Premier Division after a 4-0 win over Llandyrnog Reserves with goals from Bleddyn Jones (2), Ritchie Roberts and Peter Robert, but Mochdre Sports had their game postponed.
In the cup games there were wins for Glan Conwy Reserves and Llandudno Junction Reserves, but Betws-yn-Rhos, Penrhyn United, Llandudno Reserves and Rhos United all lost.
More details in Thursday's Weekly News.

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