The trip down to Rhayader on
April 4th for the final match of last season seems a long time ago
and it’s hard to believe that I had to wait 101 days to watch the team in
action again. But that’s exactly what happened and an unbelievably long
off-season came to an end for me last Tuesday when I went to the Oval to watch
the Canaries host Llanberis in their first home friendly of the Summer.
In that time, of course, there
have been a number of changes to the squad, most of which I have mentioned in the
blog and so, if anyone’s been paying attention, you’ll already know that
Darren Thomas, Ywain Gwynedd, Steve
Lewis and Dave Morley have left, whilst a number of players have been drafted
into to the squad by the new Gaffer, Iwan Williams.
Having missed the first pre-season
friendly at Rhyl I had been looking forward to seeing some of the new guys in
action and from what I’ve seen, each one looks impressive. Jamie Breese has probably been the highest
profile signing and, having been top scorer in last season’s Cymru Alliance League
I think it’s fair to say there is a fair amount of pressure on him to find the
net regularly for us. Some players struggle to settle in when they move to a
new club but our new striker seems to have hit the ground running. Jamie has
been on target six times in his first four matches and so the signs are
encouraging that he will chip in with more than his fair share of goals next
season.
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| Jamie Breese (right) celebrating his goal against Llanberis. |
I suppose it’s a little unfair to
concentrate on Jamie and, in the two matches I've seen, it seems that all the new
players have quality but, as is the norm in football, goalscorers get the
lion’s share of the limelight and our new number nine has certainly made a
massive impression at this early stage. As with most of Town’s supporters I was disappointed that Darren Thomas left us and have been worrying at how it
will affect the team but with Jamie McDaid and Toby Jones teaming up with
Breese up front, and Gareth Jones Evans supporting them, I am confident that the frontline is full of goals and so, if
the defence can get anywhere near the form they showed last season, the signs are
positive that Caernarfon can go one better than last time and finally get
back onto the top
 |
| Gareth Jones Evans. |
table of Welsh football. It’s early days, but we all have to
dream, don’t we?
As expected, the two recent home
friendlies against local opponents proved tough tests for the Cofis but I’m sure that this is what Iwan would have
wanted at this stage of pre-season. Both Llanberis and Llanrug Utd are good
sides and were bound to provide stiff opposition so it was great that the team
came through the matches without injuries and, although it doesn’t really
matter, with victories. I mentioned in the last blog that Llanberis had started
their pre-season training early with the first three weeks seeing them work
extensively on their fitness. This was apparent at the Oval as they looked
strong at the end of the match, something that their assistant manager Geraint
Jones told me he was particularly pleased with. Town deserved the victory as we
dominated possession but the Darans definitely impressed me with
their workrate.
This week’s match with Llanrug was
very different in that I think they possibly try and play more football than
the Darans, and so it gave the Town players a bit more space to play the quick
passing style Iwan is keen to implement. It was nice to see two former Town
captains back at the Oval, with Dylan
Owen looking to pull the strings in midfield for Llanrug and Neil Thomas trying
to sniff a goal up front. It’s always
good to see Dylan back at the ground and it was typical of him to try to score
from the kick off! I’m not too sure that Remy would have been able to save his audacious
effort if it had been on target and although he didn't find the net, Dylan showed he still has plenty of talent on offer. He is still a Caernarfon supporter
and it was pleasing to hear him say after the match that we’ve got a really
strong team this season. It was also good to see Neil back and the ‘fox in the
box’ was still putting himself about up front, and proving a handful for Town’s
defence. Everyone who has followed Town in recent years will know all about
Neil’s impact at the Oval in his one season with us, when he led the side to
the memorable treble in Lee Dixon’s first campaign in 2012/13 and it was interesting to see him lining up against us.
 |
| Not the Cofi Messi! |
Town’s chairman Arfon Jones is
known as being a smooth talker when needed but, when I called into the Oval on
Monday night, I believed for a few fleeting seconds that he had surpassed
himself when I thought I saw Darren Thomas back at the ground and, even more
impressively, that he was actually working on the pitch itself! Alas, upon
closer inspection, I saw that it was not the Cofi Messi but the chairman
himself cutting the grass in the temporary absence of our groundsman Wyn Owen and, whilst I know Iwan has made some excellent signings for the club since
arriving, seeing Arfon working on his own at the Oval confirmed yet again that
he has been Caernarfon’s best signing of the Summer.
Whilst at the ground on Monday I
took a few photos of the Hendre End stand to share on here and was reminded of a rather interesting time I experienced
near the turnstiles at that end during the famous FA Cup match with Barnsley in
January 1987. In those days, with crowd trouble rife at football grounds across
Britain, segregation of the supporters was imperative and so the club had had
to erect what can only be described as a ‘cage’ for the away fans. I knew the
club’s treasurer at the time and a friend and I offered to sell programmes on
the day for which in return we gained free entry to the match. An hour before
kick off we made our way into the zinc hut that called itself a ‘temporary
programme stall’ in the corner next to the turnstile.
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| Site of the VERY temporary programme stall.... |
Unfortunately, and
unbeknown to us, the club had failed to mention that the Barnsley supporters had
no access to the toilets and, well tanked up, they started using the back, and
top of the ‘temporary programme stall’ as their WC. They also started kicking
and tearing it apart at the front and, with ashen faces and sweat-filled
mullets (it was the eighties!) we quickly made a dash for the exit, onto the pitch and into the relative
safety of the Cofi supporters. A
memorable, if frightening few minutes for the eighteen year-old me and whilst I
can smile about it now, it wasn’t so funny at the time!
Now a quick word about our
cancelled  |
| Clive Williams during the match with Llanrug. Former Town captain Neil Thomas is in the background. |
friendly at Llandudno. When it was announced that we had to pull out
of the match due to a large number of players being unavailable because of
holidays, work commitments etc most people could see that it was the correct decision. It
was quite simple really – we didn’t have enough players available to play, and
to make the most of the match. As invariably happens, of course, some people
are not slow to start criticising other clubs and so it came as no surprise
when one or two decided to have a go at us, mostly questioning why Caernarfon
couldn’t field a time when we pay so much wages. These ‘keyboard warriors’ must
obviously be unaware that the club does
not pay anyone during the close season and, just as importantly, how would they know what the team budget is? Says it all really.
Finally, I am really pleased to say
that Oval Ways will be sponsoring Clive Williams for the upcoming season. When
it was announced that the club was offering the opportunity to sponsor each
player for the new campaign, I had absolutely no hesitation in linking the name
to Clive. He has been with the club for three seasons, is someone I believe
could easily play in the Welsh Premier League and, just as importantly, he is a
genuinely nice person. Sponsoring Clive is brilliant and I am sure that he will
have a very successful 2015/16 season.
I’m not too sure what Instagram
is but Oval Ways is now on it and I will do my best to share a few nice
Caernarfon Town photos on there. If you fancy having a look from time, the name is ovalwayscaernarfontownfc
Come on the Town!
Paul.
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