CAERNARFON Town continued their preparations ahead of their return to the JD Welsh Premier League with a 4-3 loss to Oswestry Town at The Oval.

Despite the eventual result it was the home side who started brighter and they were rewarded for their impressive opening to proceedings when lively forward Danny Brookwell opened the scoring with a neat finish on 19 minutes after good work from Ben Maher.

Darren Thomas, Jamie Breese and Brookwell all missed good opportunities to double their advantage thereafter, and Town got themselves back into the friendly tie after the break when Dave Howarth levelled matters with a fierce drive past Alex Ramsay.

The Cofis had a golden chance to regain the advantage soon after when they were awarded a penalty, and Breese slotted home the resulting spot kick to put them back in the ascendancy.

Howarth, Louis Moss and Connor Courtney netted three times in quick succession midway through the half during a sensational spell for the visitors, and despite Brookwell notching his second of the afternoon, it was not enough to prevent the Cofis from suffering a rare home reverse.

Manager Sean Eardley, said: “I thought we started brightly with Ben (Maher) in the middle and that worked well as we got in behind and created some good chances.

“We looked comfortable but it was a 20-minute spell in the second half where we went into a lull and credit to Oswestry they took their chances and capitalised on our mistakes.

“Good sign we are scoring and creating but intensity levels dropped and weren’t playing the simple past. However, it is more minutes for the boys and we go again.

“We maybe missed Gaz’s (Evans) vocal presence at times. We can pass instructions on the sidelines but it’s up to them to communicate and offer constructive criticism when it is needed.”