DOLGELLAU Athletic produced one of their finest displays of the season to end leaders Penycae's impressive league run with a commanding 5-1 victory in the Lock Stock Ardal North East on Saturday.

The visitors, who had only lost one of their last nine games in all competitions, started brightly, winning a couple of early corners and applying pressure around the Dolgellau penalty area. However, the hosts gradually grew into the contest and began to assert themselves.

Penycae's aggressive approach led to several free-kicks in dangerous areas, allowing Dolgellau to relieve the early pressure.

One of those set-pieces brought the breakthrough after 13 minutes. Aaron Young delivered an inviting ball into the box and Rob Evans timed his run perfectly before finishing confidently to give the hosts the lead.

That goal settled Dolgellau and they began to take control. Their second arrived on the half-hour following an excellent team move. Young, using his weaker foot, produced a superb cross and Gerwyn Williams was on hand to power a header home and double the advantage.

Dolgellau took their 2-0 lead into the break and extended it shortly after the restart in fortunate fashion. Williams' high cross drifted over the goalkeeper and dropped into the net to make it 3-0.

Penycae continued to battle hard and enjoyed spells of possession, but Dolgellau's defence stood firm and dealt comfortably with the visitors' attacking threat.

The home side struck again after 65 minutes on a swift counter-attack. Osian Morris threaded a pass through to the lively Tomos Jones, who kept his composure to finish neatly at the near post.

Dolgellau completed a memorable afternoon with a fifth goal, and Aaron Young's third assist of the match. His pass found Ioan Roberts, who unleashed a superb strike from outside the penalty area into the top corner.

The only blemish on an otherwise outstanding performance came when Guto Pugh was shown a straight red card following a controversial incident. Reduced to 10 men, Dolgellau eventually conceded in stoppage time when Alex Williams netted a consolation for Penycae.

Player-manager Rob Evans praised his side's efforts afterwards.

"I told the boys after the game that I was proud to stand in front of them and praise such a good performance," he said.

"The squad is thin at the moment and we lost Paul Lewis in the warm-up, but the boys made sure there would be no excuses. They played with great spirit, worked hard for each other and thoroughly deserved the result."

Elsewhere, Queens Park returned to the top of the table with a 4-1 home win over Carno. Michael Latham scored twice, with Daniel Parry and Corey Smart also on target before Llewelyn Jerman grabbed a second-half consolation.

Llangollen Town remain level on points with the leaders, trailing only on goal difference after a convincing 4-0 victory at Rhos Aelwyd. Edward Baker struck twice early on, while Conner Kendrick and Jack Gouldbourn completed the scoring.

Bow Street suffered a third successive league defeat, losing 4-2 after a series of costly individual errors. Jacob Edwards, Gruff Evans, David France and James Burgess all scored for the visitors, while Josh Crowl and Jordon Lee Perry replied for Street.

Other results: Corwen 0 Radnor Valley 1, Knighton Town 1 Cefn Albion 1, and Builth Wells 1 Kerry 3.