Still in with a Shout.

As unlikely as it may seem, the Cofis enter the final week of the season still in with a chance of winning the Cymru Alliance League.

Following an excellent week which brought two victories over tough opposition, Town are second in the table, five points adrift of leaders Llandudno and with both sides having just two matches to play. It’s been some turnaround from Lee Dixon’s men following a difficult January when the side suffered an indifferent run of form and there was plenty of criticism being thrown at the manager and some of the players.

After the 1-4 defeat at Mold, I received a direct message on Twitter from someone I hardly know, who proceeded to tell me that the manager had changed the team too much in recent weeks and, from what he had heard, had obviously lost the dressing room. He had not been at any of the matches, but had apparently been reliably informed of all this from someone who knows these things! No name was offered, of course! Obviously, being a staunch supporter of Lee Dixon and the players I disagreed with him and, one or two messages and very little sense later, I told him that he should check his sources and get back to me before the end of the season. Funnily enough, I have not heard from him since!

Steve 'The Beast' Lewis struck the winner
against Holyhead..

Looking back at the first month of 2015, it was certainly a period where we lost a lot of ground in the race for the title and I think there were obvious reasons for a relatively mediocre run of results. Everything had been going well up to Christmas week, with the team close to Llandudno and looking good for a title challenge.

However, Lee decided to let Moses Barnett and Lee McArdle leave the club and this was understandable, as both had been on the bench in recent weeks. Unfortunately, he lost another defender immediately after, when it was announced that Clive Williams would be out for the remainder of the season due to injury. Danny Murphy also left the Oval and so the squad suddenly had a threadbare look about it almost overnight. The gaffer brought in the experienced Dave Morley and was also looking to make more additions. In January, striker Cory Williams left for Chester and Lee replaced him with former Rhyl forward Steve Lewis. The changes in personnel obviously had an effect on the team and, for the first few weeks of the new year, things did not appear to run as smoothly as normal on the pitch. One of the biggest changes was that Lewis is an old-fashioned centre forward who is big and strong and, having not had that type of frontman in the past, the team took time to adapt to his strengths. Having said this, it was obvious that he had something about him as a footballer and, after an initial settling down period, the Beast soon started firing.   

Jamie McDaid proving Neville Powell wrong on a
weekly basis.

January’s return of five points from four matches saw Llandudno and Guilsfield steal a march on us and therefore, for the team to have got back in contention now is testament to the hard work the players have put in. It also says a lot about the way Lee has managed to tweak the formation to one that can fully utilise the excellent offensive players he has in the squad. In my opinion, Darren Thomas, Jamie McDaid, Steve Lewis and the Punisher, Carl Owen, have proved an excellent strike force in recent weeks and it goes to show that, despite taking one or two matches to work things out, quality players can usually find a way to work together.  Of course, the recent impressive run of results is not just about the strikers and the whole team has been exceptional during a ten match period that has resulted in the late title charge.

The performances in past weeks have also proved that there is absolutely nothing wrong with team morale, despite what my ‘friend’ told me on Twitter weeks ago. How many times have we seen the team show character and resilience to find a way to win matches against good teams? Home victories over Llandudno and Caersws, and Tuesday’s impressive win against the odds at Holyhead have been recent highlights and you can’t get results like that without a happy changing room.

Lee taking his usual place in the home dugout for the final time last Saturday.

I confess to having missed the trip to Holyhead on Tuesday but from what I have heard, the players were exceptional and they needed to be against a good Hotspur side that included Jay Gibbs. Of all the players who have left the club this season, Jay is the one I really wish was still with us at the Oval. He is a cracking player and I always thought we looked really good when he played in our midfield. For whatever reason, Jay always seems to return to his hometown club but I hope that he’ll come back to the Oval one day to carry on where he left this season. Although I couldn’t make it to Holyhead, I was still able to follow the match on twitter, where I thoroughly enjoyed reading the comments coming from Llandudno FC’s official account. Fair play to the person who made the trip and braved the weather but I’m sure I wasn’t the only Caernarfon Town supporter who found his tweets entertaining, in a guilty kind of way!

Grahame Austin re-enters the fray after an injury lay-off.

Ywain Gwynedd leading by example against Caersws. 

Finally, I found Town’s victory over Caersws on Saturday a bitter sweet experience as, whilst obviously delighted at the result, it was also a sad occasion in that it happened to be Lee’s last home match as manager of Caernarfon Town. To be fair to the players, they gave the Gaffer a second half display to remember, and it was great that they gave him, and the home supporters, the victory we all wanted. But it was not all about Lee, as Jamie McDaid scored two more goals for the Cofis, and he continues to show on a weekly basis the folly of Neville Powell’s reluctance to put him in the team at Bangor. It was also great to see Grahame Austin’s return after injury as he entered the fray in the second half.
Special mention should also be made of Ywain Gwynedd, who has led by example as captain in Grahame’s absence.

Incidentally, Saturday afternoon had started well for me, as I met lifelong Caernarfon Town supporter Gareth  Morris, who had been one of the first to order my Oval Ways and Treble Days book. Gareth originally hails from Town and now lives in Cardiff and, having corresponded via the Cofis Dre forum and email over the years, it was really nice to finally get to meet him!   

I was really pleased to meet Gareth Morris on Saturday. 

And so to this Saturday, with the Canaries travelling to Caersws and still harbouring hopes of  winning the Huws Gray Alliance League. Llandudno travel to Penycae and are obviously favourites to win but we’re still in with a shout and as Jimmy Greaves used to say, it’s a funny old game.

Paul.