Tag: Caernarfon Town

Met need reversal after worst start in four years

Caernarfon Town’s 3-0 win over Cardiff Met on Saturday night confirmed their best start to a top flight season since 2007. Two late goals helped them seal a bit of a smash and grab victory at a rain-soaked Cyncoed Campus after Sion Bradley’s first half penalty had given the Cofis something to defend in the second half.

Huw Griffiths’ side have now taken 10 points from their opening six games, defying some pundits’ prediction they might struggle this season after the loss of some key players in the summer. It is still too early in the season for any real judgement, but on the pitch the Cofis are far from a dishevelled and disorganised outfit.

For Cardiff Met fortunes are the opposite. Five points from the first six fixtures is the Archers worst start to a league campaign since their first season after promotion in 2016. They currently sit one off the bottom and are now winless in five, their solitary victory this season coming on the opening day at Aberystwyth.

That was a high point for Met. Since then they have only scored once, in a draw at Cefn Druids. They are yet to score at home in three matches. They haven’t scored a single first half goal this season. This wretched run of form in front of goal was summed up by Elliot Evans’ poor first half penalty on Saturday, comfortably saved by Cofis stopper Josh Tibbetts at 0-0 and shortly after punished by Bradley’s own spot-kick.

A 3-0 home loss looks terrible on paper but the difference between the sides in the balance of play wasn’t reflected in the scoreline. It wasn’t a masterclass from Caernarfon, who were well-organised and punished Met’s mistakes when those opportunities came. It could have gone the other way had Evans converted his penalty, Liam Black’s header before half-time not been cleared off the line, or the Archers been able to show a better killer instinct from several promising situations in the second-half.

What-ifs will be of little or no comfort, but there won’t be calls for an entirely new blueprint.

Looking at the table Met’s problem appears obvious: they aren’t scoring enough goals. But is that a question of not creating them or not taking them? On the evidence of Saturday and reports from other games, it would appear it’s the latter.

There were concerns expressed in pre-season about whether Met would have enough firepower this season but the addition of young strike duo Ollie Hulbert and Harry Warwick from Bristol Rovers raised expectations. Hulbert seemed to hit the ground running with a match-winning double at Aberystwyth but neither have bagged since. Warwick led the line against Caernarfon but struggled to make an impact.

Met do appear to be in the cliched “transitional phase” at the moment and it can only be hoped from their point of view that if the performances are good enough, the form will change. There is potential in the side and there is arguably no coach in the Cymru Premier better than Christian Edwards at making the most of his resources.

Liam Warman looks like he has the pace and trickery to be a threat but on Saturday his decision-making and final ball quality was disappointing. Elliot Evans will always carry the burden of responsibility as Met’s most prominent attacker but after a bright start, he faded following his penalty miss. Kyle McCarthy was a powerful driving force in midfield, especially in the first half. They just need others to step up alongside them.

There are some mitigating factors for the Archers, such as the absence of senior players like Emlyn Lewis, Brad Woolridge, Dylan Rees and Chris Baker. Edwards and his team wouldn’t use any of this as an excuse, but would no doubt welcome back into the matchday squad the leadership and experience these players will offer this developing side.

At the top end of the Cymru Premier is was an historic day for Greg Draper, who surpassed Michael Wilde as TNS’ all-time record Cymru Premier / Welsh Premier League goalscorer. Draper took his tally to 156 top flight goals with five of TNS’ ten goals without reply at home to Flint Town United.

There was a big win too for champions Connah’s Quay Nomads at bottom-club Cefn Druids. A brace from Mike Wilde sandwiched a hat-trick from Callum Morris at The Rock. Nomads remain top, although that could change before the midweek fixtures with the National Game Board due to meet on Monday and decide the outcome of last Wednesday’s abandoned game between Bala Town and TNS.

Speaking of Bala, having squandered a 2-0 lead against TNS on Wednesday and left red-faced as the floodlights at Maes Tegid failed, their week got even worse by suffering their first defeat of the season. Having taken the lead through a Chris Venables penalty, the Lakesiders were pegged back by Haverfordwest through a superb Danny Williams header. In the fourth minute of injury time, the Bluebirds secured their maiden win of the season with a superb breakaway goal finished by Jack Wilson.

Newtown’s frustrating start to the season continued as they once again threw away a winning position. Nick Rushton’s fourth goal of the season gave the Robins a first half lead at Penybont, but Mael Davies’ improvised flick and Sam Snaith’s first goal of the season gave Penybont back to back wins.

Barry Town made it four wins on the bounce with a superb come back win of their own. A bad day at the office looked certain for the Linnets when first Steffan Davies gave Aberystwyth the lead at Park Avenue and then Clayton Green was sent off for an off the ball incident. However, goals from Kayne McLaggon and Jordan Cotterill completed a four-minute turnaround for the ten-men and ensured Barry travelled home from Ceredigion with all the points.

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While we enjoy the action on the field, the medium and long term sustainability of the 2020/21 season remains questionable. Several clubs are reportedly very close to financial ruin while fans remain locked out of Cymru Premier grounds. Newtown AFC have publicly expressed their concerns and appealed for the return of fans to provide essential matchday income.

There is apparently some division among the clubs about whether to proceed much longer and Cefn Druids’ Twitter account spoke of a “chairman’s meeting” that will take place this weekend. There has been some money made available by FIFA and also suggestions Cymru Premier may be eligible for funds as part of any potential bailout or support fund offered to English non-league clubs by the English Premier League / Football Association.

I’ll let the reader make his or her own mind about the clubs of a supposedly independent football nation receiving a bailout from another nation’s football authority. It’s definitely a little awkward but clubs need all the help they can get so probably aren’t going to be fussy about the politics of it all.

Field of Dreams: how Ammanford built a football club

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“WE’RE THE BLACK AND WHITE ARMY!”

As I stepped out of my car the sound of this being belted out from the stand less than 100 yards away let me know I was definitely where I wanted to be. Forty minutes before kick-off and ‘The Black & White Army’, Ammanford AFC’s band of noisy ‘ultras’, were already going through their repertoire. Although the back of the stand obscured much of the view, the buzzing of activity in and around the ground was an early indication that this game might just live up to the hype.

For those that follow Welsh fooball, the Welsh Cup is a special and cherished competition. It is the most inclusive national competition in Wales, open to all teams that play football in the national pyramid. It provides the opportunity for small village clubs to propel themselves onto a national stage and, if they are lucky, earn a visit from the Sgorio cameras. Once it gets going with the entry of Cymru Premier clubs in round three we do see clashes between clubs from “recreational” leagues and the more professional, ambitious clubs that play in the higher divisions; players used to slick 3G pitches having to overcome a team of chancers of a local mudbath.

Although this fourth round tie between Cymru South side Ammanford and Cymru Premier, Europa League chasing, Caernarfon Town doesn’t have that minnows v mammoths story (it’s was a tier 2 v tier 1 clash), it did bring together two clubs that have undergone enormous growth in recent times and enjoy a level of community support most clubs in Wales are envious of and hope to replicate. Certainly for Ammanford, while maybe not a culmination, the match was an important marker in their transformation over 18 months from a fairly amateurish football club in a Welsh “backwater” that only groundhoppers and a small group of locals ever visited to a club pulling off the slick and professional looking hosting of a football match in front of 1200 spectators broadcast live on national television.

The last time I visited the Ammanford Recreation Ground was 18 months ago and it a cut a very different scene then. There was no seating, just an old bus stop type stand that would probably have been condemned if anybody would have been bothered to inspect it. No floodlights, no spectator facilities inside unless you count a portable hot water caddy for serving tea and coffee in plastic cups (although the nearby rugby club acts as the clubhouse). Even getting a teamsheet or a programme involved a mad dash to a printer by one of the club’s volunteers.

Fast forward to the present day, the Rec boasts a very smart 250 seater stand, including provision for disabled spectators; the addition of floodlights has allowed the club to host Friday night games which are apparently popular with the locals; although the 150 printed programmes is a woefully short run for such a big crowd, they were there and ready for sale as well as club crest pin badges. There is still no permanent food and drink facilities on-site but Ammanford had the foresight to bring someone in to sell hot food and the rugby club still seems to function as the place for pre-match lubrication of the vocal chords.

As the ground has developed and the club has embraced a much more professional approach (partly enforced by FAW ground regulations for playing in the Cymru Leagues), improving connections with local businesses, doing much better community engagement, setting up a charitable trust in memory of Jac Lewis, a popular local figure who tragically died in February 2019. The club now offers season tickets to supporters, has given away hundreds of free tickets to local schools, improved its social media profile and, of course, there has been the emergence of The Black & White Army.

Groups of loyal and noisy supporters are rare on the Welsh football scene, so much so that anybody trying to generate some atmosphere gets noticed. The supporters in the B & W Army have certainly invigorated the matchday experience at The Rec and they are usually there with a drum and their booming voices at most of Ammanford’s away games. They have helped raised the profile of the club on mediums like Twitter, inside Cymru Leagues grounds and among the town’s community as a game at The Rec is now increasingly seen as a place to be. Attendances have reflected this as the old joke about “one man and his dog and the dog looking the other way” watching Ammanford has been smashed by some impressive home crowds in the last 18 months, including nearly 800 for this season’s Amman Valley derby with Cwmamman United and now the ground record attendance for Caernarfon’s visit.

While the story off the field is fantastic and probably worthy of a much deeper study (as with Caernarfon Town), the matter at hand was the Welsh Cup tie and place in the quarter-finals for the winners. Ammanford had pulled off the result of the third round, thrashing Cymru Premier side, and another local rival, Carmarthen Town 4-0 with the help of a Lee Trundle goal that went viral.

That result, plus the strong possibility of a large crowd, probably induced Sgorio to select the game for broadcast. Although the decision to televise the game on Friday night drew criticism from some quarters, making the trip harder for Caernarfon Town’s players and supporters, ultimately the incredible local support (plus 100 hardy members of the Cofi army) put such doubts to rest.

A record crowd enjoyed Ammanford’s tussle with the Cofis at The Rec

If it was a big success as an event, on the pitch the game didn’t really deliver what the television executives, home fans and neutrals would have hoped for. The loss of Lee Trundle to injury before the game was a massive blow for Ammanford and had he played it may have been a different game; the former Swansea City frontman certainly would have provided a bit more physical presence and quality in the final third.

Despite that loss, Ammanford started the game well and there were one or two half chances in the first twenty minutes but once Sean Eardley’s Caernarfon had navigated the initial choppy waters and taken a first-half lead through Sion Bradley’s fine finish the cupset never looked on. A sensational goal from Darren Thomas (which I somehow missed despite behind stood behind that goal) doubled the Cofis lead before half-time.

Ammanford rallied early in the second half and introduced another Swansea old boy, Andy Robinson, to try and bring some quality and composure to their play but the gulf in class between the two sides was just too great. Noah Edwards added a third 11 minutes into the second-half to kill any hopes of a comeback before Darren Thomas scored his second late in the game to complete a comfortable and resounding win for the top flight outfit.

On the Ammanford Twitter feed they commented after the game that the team may have lost the game but the town had won. If there is some comfort to be drawn from a disappointing match result it is that Ammanford certainly delivered the event on the night and the community got behind the club.

There, I believe, is the story of what Welsh football is and should be about. It’s not about millionaire players, international owners, commercialism and corporatisation; it’s about the town, village or place you come from, local identity and the community. If more clubs can get their communities behind them in this way our leagues and our clubs will get better and that matchday buzz can be felt at grounds all over our nation.

Match Notes
25.1.2020
Ammanford 0-4 Caernarfon Town
(Sion Bradley 26’, Darren Thomas 39’ 84’, Noah Edwards 56’)
JD Welsh Cup 4th Round
Recreation Ground, Ammanford
Attendance: 1203 | Entry: £5