Denbigh Town Ladies pulled off an incredible comeback on Sunday afternoon coming from three behind at the break to beat local rivals Henllan.

A below par first half saw Town go into the break 3-0 down but rallied in the second, as Amber Hellon netted within the first ten minutes before three quick fire strikes from Ceri Purvis, Lowri Claybrook and Hellon all within five minutes of eachother.

Within three minutes of the game Henllan took the lead as poor defending from Denbigh led to a simple finish for Beth Roberts sweeping the ball home. Henllan almost doubled the lead on ten minutes when a corner was swung in and headed towards goal, but Abi Cooke made a brilliant goal saving header off the line.

Town’s first real foray into the hosts’ half came on 16 minutes when Alis Davies linked up well with Claybrook, the latter found Catrin Davies who crossed from the left, it came off a defender and a save from the keeper denied an own goal.

However, after the 20-minute mark it was all Henllan who found the post from a corner on 21 minutes before a double save from the Town custodian.

Despite a few denials Henllan finally had their second with 24 on the clock, a corner was half cleared before falling to Mali Roberts who from the left corner of the box fired home via the upright.

Denbigh were convinced they’d halved the deficit just after the half hour mark when Hellon raced through, her effort was fumbled by the goalkeeper before appearing to have crossed the line, but the referee waved away all protests. A minute later the decision came well into focus as Henllan darted up the other end. Llecu Williams this time was on the scoresheet following a corner that she headed home.

Half-Time: Henllan Ladies 3-0 Denbigh Town Ladies

Denbigh knew they had to start well, and within nine minutes found themselves with one back. A corner was swung in by Claybrook that deflected off of the head of Beth Kell, falling nicely for Hellon to thump home inside the box.

With step one complete it Denbigh had to keep that momentum and almost reduced the deficit further on the hour mark when Natalie Harrison ran through one on one but the goalkeeper was a match for her effort.

But as the rain grew gradually so did Denbigh’s confidence, and the comeback grew closer on 65 minutes when Claybrook’s corner was poked home by the evergreen Purvis. Once of the more impressive and bizarre goals of the season came three minutes later to pull Denbigh level. Claybrook played a one two on the right touchline before her effort somehow wrongfooted the keeper and found the back of the net.

Now level there was no letting up. Hellon had been brilliant all afternoon and took the ball in the middle of the park before bursting forward and smashing home from distance. Not only did Denbigh have the comeback, they now had the lead.

It shows just how quickly football can change when within 16 minutes a side can go from three down to leading, and in reality the final 20 minutes could have seen the lead grow when late on Purvis had a free header fly wide.

The last few moments were nervy and Town had to be on their toes with a string of corners for Henllan, but Denbigh held on and took a well earned three points to go top of the table, above Henllan in second, early in the season.

Denbigh Town: Jones, Thomas, Cooke, Adler, Rizzi, Claybrook, Harrison, Hellon, C.Davies, Purvis

Subs: Hodgeson, Cooper, Kell, Perkins, Bancroft

Referee: Glyn Hughes