Monday 21st December
Once again, we were left kicking our heels last Saturday when the game against Llantwit Fardre was postponed, due the pitch being completely frozen over. All in all, that means we have only played ONE league game since October 31st and have only played 12 league matches, from a total of 34 to be played.
On the results front, our form in the league has been good (when the games have gone ahead), winning our last 3 games on the bounce. The latest being a 2-1 win at Seven Sisters. I was particularly pleased with the result down there for a number of reasons. The character we showed to come back from the home side scoring late on in the game was fantastic and I was really pleased for Matthew Havard, who grabbed his 1st goal for the club, with his last minute winner. The other goal came from top scorer Steve Davies, who moved his tally on to 14 for the season so far.
The 3 wins have come at a time when we have been carrying a lengthy injury list. As things stand, we stil have Craig Williams out, but he has now started training once more, which can only be good news. Tom Pascoe and Matthew James should both be back within a couple of weeks. Joel Woodington has sustained a ankle ligament injury and is facing a few weeks on the sidelines. Ross Youlden has a heel injury which has hampered his progress and hopes to have it sorted it out soon. If we can get these players fit in the New Year, then competition for places in the squad will be huge and can only be a good thing for the club.
With no game over the Christmas period this year, our next fixture is Saturday January 2nd, when we travel to Garw, who have picked up good results of late and will be a very tough game.
Tuesday 3rd November
Looking back at last Saturday's win at Cwmaman Institute, there were a number of pleasing aspects to the performance overall. Firstly, the attitude and will to win was evident, especially during the 2nd half when we should really have added to our tally and ended up winning the game by 3 or 4 clear goals with the chances we created. In addition to that, we looked solid defensively, with Chris Bowen having a fine game in his 1st game back after injury. The fact that Cwmaman's solitary goal came in such freakish circumstances is evidence of how well we defended on the day. The timing of our two goals couldnt have been better either, which is a good sign, when you can score when it really matters, Steve took both goals in tremendous fashion. However, clear message to emerge from the game was that it was a real team performance, with everyone contributing, so to single out any individuals is difficult, so well done to all of you.
This week, we host Abertillery Bluebirds in the Nathaniel Car Sales Welsh League Cup. second round. The visitors have made a decent start to life in the Welsh League, scoring a fair amount of goals in the process. I expect a very tough game and once again, we will need to be at our best if we want to progress in the competition.
Finally, may I remind all players from the Reserves and Youth Team of training times and venue:
Mondays - 7pm to 9pm at the Astroturf, Tonyrefail Comprehensive School
Thursday - 8pm to 9.30pm at the Astroturf, Tonyrefail Comprehensive School.
The idea of keeping both of these training nights going, is so that the Youth and Reserve Team players train together with the 1st Team players, we are all one club! I understand that some of the Youth may not want to train after playing on a Sunday but I want to see far more of the youth (and reserve) players making training nights, on a regular basis. Tyrone has done a great job in securing an excellent training facility, so lets make the most of it!
If anyone needs directions or is stuck for a lift, give me a call on 07732 855882 or Del on 07770 426155.
Best of luck to all of our teams this weekend.
Cheers,
Barry Quinn