Airbus UK Broughton sent out an early warning to the rest of the Welsh Premier League with an opening-day demolition of Carmarthen Town.
Four goals in 10 first-half minutes – including two for summer signing Tony Gray – sealed a dream start to the season for the Wingmakers, who travel to Europa League rivals Bala on Bank Holiday Monday (3.45pm) for the weekend’s televised game.
Director of football Andy Preece is delighted to have laid down an early marker.
He told the Chronicle: “It’s only one game, but it’s a great start and everyone in the league wants to be where we are. At least we can say we’ve been top!
“We had a real purple patch where everything we created went in, but to even create four chances in less than 10 minutes takes some doing so we’re delighted. We were clinical. It’s something we’ve spoken about often before, being more ruthless in the final third, and it’s what we need to do to push on.”
Airbus got off to a flyer when Matty McGinn, one of five former Chester players in the starting line-up, fired a low free-kick into the corner of Lee Idzi’s net from nearly 35 yards.
Ryan Wade hit the bar with a speculative hit from even further out, but the Wingmakers were pegged back on 26 minutes when Mark Jones, an Airbus nemesis with Aberystwyth last season, glanced home a right-wing corner.
The hosts soon took the shine off the Old Gold’s day when Gray marked his domestic debut with a well-taken goal and Wade struck two minutes later from the edge of the box.
Skipper Andy Jones grabbed the fourth after McGinn’s long throw into the box before Gray again showed his class and completed the rout by turning inside his marker to add his second from Wayne Riley’s cross.
Preece said: “Carmarthen are a tough side who can frustrate you, so to score five against them is a great start. We played really well and we’ll look to carry that on to Monday.”
Bala pipped Airbus to second last season, and Preece expects them to be up there again.
He added: “It’s a big game, but it won’t decide anything. You don’t really look at the table until half a dozen games have gone. They’ve got some quality players and they’ve added to that. They’ll be one of a number of teams looking to qualify for Europe.”
Airbus will be without club captain Ian Kearney and midfielder Jay Owen (both knee), while Lee Owens and Wayne Riley should recover from back problems in time.
