Ice-cream and a Devastated President.

My first visit to Buckley Town’s Globe Way was an enjoyable one, despite the bitter cold, the lack of road signs and the home side’s late leveller.

Armed with rudimentary instructions, hand warmers and the obligatory camera and kitted out in head to toe thermals I made good time up the A55 and found Buckley exactly where it was supposed to be. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about their ground!

Having travelled twice through the town in a vain attempt at finding Globe Way, I finally gave up looking for it myself and had to suffer the indignation of stopping someone on the main road to ask for directions. Unfortunately my would-be rescuer did not have a clue where his local team plays and so I was forced to carry on looking for the floodlights, which is always the sure fire way of finding any football ground. However, it seems that Buckley also has a hockey pitch under floodlights and I soon found myself in a barren car park, looking out at a ladies hockey match. Which, on the face of it, is probably not the most innocent-looking of situations to be in!

I finally ended up at the correct venue, and knew I had arrived because the first person I saw was Caernarfon Town President John Watkins. It’s always great to see John but he did not seem his usual self and I soon found out why. He had hardly slept since hearing that Lee Dixon was stepping down as manager at the end of the season, and, as he reminded me on more than one occasion during the match, he was still devastated by it! I know how he feels.

I was asked to take photos of Lee and Jamie McDaid receiving awards from Cymru Alliance League representative Mike Williams and was pleased to do so. I was rather less

pleased, however, at having to walk on the muddy pitch. This was no-one’s fault of course and although it was very wet, it seemed good enough to play on. Despite my reservations, I managed to walk on and off the pitch without sinking fatally.

The match itself was pretty decent, with both sides trying their best to play football on the difficult surface. I felt Town had the upper hand for most of the first half and when Steve Lewis scored early on I was confident the lads would go on to claim the points. 

The referee, Martin Williams, had two difficult penalty decisions to make in the first period and, unfortunately for the Cofis, both went against us. The first was when he waved away claims for a Town penalty when it seemed that Steve Kehoe was brought down in the box. To add salt to the wound, he booked Steve for taking a dive, which I

Steve Kehoe tumbles in the penalty area. 

felt was rather harsh. Then, as half-time approached, the ref gave the hosts a penalty which I am reliably informed was warranted following a foul by one of the Caernarfon defenders. I was busy trying to get my camera out of my bag when it happened so didn’t see it, but whilst I missed out on that, I certainly didn’t miss the ensuing banter between Town’s assistant manager Dave Cavanagh and a Buckley defender, with both having differing views about the spot kick. For the record, Dave came out on top with the line “Shut up mate, I’ve seen ice creams that are harder than you!”

Buckley had three good opportunities to score in the first five minutes of the second period and it was through a combination of Paul Pritchard, Gareth Edwards and the muddy goal area that the score remained level. Following this initial period, Town were certainly on top for the majority of the second half but could not add to a second Steve Lewis goal and Buckley equalised late on.

The goalmouths had taken a battering from the weather.

In some ways it was a disappointing result because Town had plenty of opportunities to put the game out of the hosts’ reach. However, it was a positive sign that the team was able to create so many opportunities and it was also nice to see James Bell coming on and doing well in the second half. I have always believed that a really heavy pitch does not suit someone of James’ relatively slight frame, but he definitely made a good impression with his distribution and workrate.  The performance of Steve Lewis was another positive for me, as the team seems to be getting used to playing to his strengths and I’m sure there are plenty of goals in him. In my opinion, he’s been an excellent addition to the squad.

Random Observations:

Kevin's face says it all....

My man of the match vote would be shared between Steve Lewis, who scored two goals and looked a real handful up front, and Kevin Roberts, who gave another all-action display that again showed why he is such a favourite with the Town supporters. His workrate was predictably impressive throughout and he also made frequent forays into the opposing half. Oh, and the look on his face when the referee showed the yellow card to a Buckley player was priceless! (see photo, right.)     

Ywain Gwynedd was unavailable and I think we missed him. I always believe we are better when he is in the team, as his enthusiasm and workrate are infectious, whilst he also carries a real goal threat. I hope the Cofi Keegan will be back soon! 

I read on the Cymru Alliance website that the attendance was just seventy and, with around thirty of us making the journey from Caernarfon, it goes to show how lucky we as a club are to be able to regularly get crowds of over three hundred at the Oval. And how lucky the other teams in the league are that they get to host the Cofis once a season! 

And finally......

The shock of Lee’s announcement still resides and I think it’s fair to say that everyone supporting the club will be looking closely at what happens next at the Oval. Will the committee decide to advertise the post, or will they leave things for a few weeks to see if something develops?

And will John Watkins finally get some sleep?      

       

Paul.