CAERNARFON Town boss Iwan Williams praised his side’s character after their 2-1 win at Penrhyncoch.

The Huws Gray Alliance title hopefuls battled hard to secure three points from their opening fixture, and the Canaries will look to take their positive momentum into Saturday’s derby clash with Holyhead Hotspur at The Oval (2.30pm).

Williams, said: “It’s great to get three points on the board in our first game especially given it was away at such a tough place as I believe Penrhyncoch will take points off many teams this season especially at home.

“I thought our performance had a bit of everything. The first half was as good as any half since I’ve been in charge. We shifted the ball well, dominated proceedings and opened up Penrhyn at will. The only negative if I had to nit-pick was that we didn’t go in at half-time more than one goal to the good.”

Strikes from Darren Thomas and Jamie Breese put the Cofis in control of the contest, and despite Steff Davies pulling one back for the home side they managed to hold on for a deserved three points.

“We knew they would re-group them and that they’d have a go down the slope but we battled hard and although they gave us a scare with the goal, we handled the pressure well,” added Williams.

“It was great to see the players handle that pressure and continue to try and play the way we did in the opening half as that shows belief.

“However, we need to be a bit more street wise in the sense that if opposition teams have spells in games, then we need to tighten things up and become compact rather than continue to be expansive, but that is something we’ll look to work on in training this week. The squad is buzzing though and we have team spirit aplenty.”