Monica, John Wayne and not quite the Alamo.

Compared to the usual away days supporting Caernarfon Town, Saturday’s visit to Rhayader was quite eventful. Two players sent off, a home supporter escorted out of the ground, and obscene tales during the near two hundred mile round trek all made it a rather interesting, but highly enjoyable day for me.

The outgoing Chairman.

However, before looking back at our trip to the small market town in Powys, there really is just one to kick off this time around. For Caernarfon Town  the week started on a pretty flat note when the chairman announced he would be stepping down at the end of the season. When Arfon phoned to tell me the news I will admit to having mixed feelings. Having my committee cap on, I was very disappointed because I have no doubt that Arfon remains the right man to lead us into the Welsh Premier League, whether it is this Summer or sometime in the future. On a personal level though, I was pleased that he had made the decision because, having experienced an extremely tough time over the past year and a half, I think he’s done brilliantly to carry on the way he has and should now be able to enjoy seeing the club he saved without having to handle the pressure of pushing us forward. It was with a heavy heart that I wrote down his words for the official announcement and I hope that Arfon has seen the messages of thanks and support sent by supporters on social media, because they prove how well-respected he is. Over 6,300 reaches on facebook for the announcement is a figure that says everything really.

The outgoing chairman has promised me he’ll be happy to take part in a question and answer article for the club website and social media outlets and I know it will be an interesting, and entertaining read! As for my own thoughts on Arfon’s deicision, I’m sticking to my own facebook words:

"As a supporter, I cannot thank Arfon enough for all he has done to drag the Canaries from the verge of bankruptcy to the brink of the Welsh Premier League. As a member of the club's committee for the past six years, I feel privileged to have been able to work with him and will always have lots of great memories of how he has gone about resurrecting the club. 

Danny Brookwell was a real threat against Rhayader.

He has always been brilliant with me and I'm proud to call him a friend. His decision to step down is understandable and I know that the record books, and everyone's memories, will ensure that he will always be known as the man who turned the club around and made us proud again. 

Unbelievably hard working and conscientious and a top, top man." 

And so, back to Saturday’s match at Rhayader which I think may well prove to be one of the season’s defining encounters.

If you have read the blog before, you may already be aware of Caernarfon’s other dignitary, the Chairman of Vice. He who shall be known as the C.O.V. for the purposes of this latest instalment, was kind enough to offer his services as taxi driver on the day and, judging by past experience, I fully expected to hear endless tales of questionable taste during our journey. I’m pleased to say I was not disappointed and, furthermore, cannot remember laughing so much travelling down the A470!

What is said in the car remains in the car.

The players celebrate Jay Gibbs' opener. 

Two other keen Town supporters were fellow passengers and things got off to an ominous start when the rather questionable nocturnal maneuvers of a prominent sporting figure were mentioned. Suffice to say this set the tone for the remainder of the day and, in all honesty, it was soon hard to tell the difference between truth, exaggeration and fabrication.

All this was put firmly in the shade when we stopped for lunch at a café in Llanbrynmair. There, whilst sitting amongst a roomful of people, Monica Lewinsky was mentioned in conversation. And not in a discreet way.

Those of a certain age will know why I felt slightly uncomfortable, but couldn’t stop laughing and thankfully the matter was dropped. Until we restarted the journey and, for obvious reasons, the saying ‘What is said in the car, remains in the car’ was never more apt! To be fair, it was all innocent, if rather colourful fun, and just added to a brilliant day!

We arrived in plenty of time to re-acquaint ourselves with the delights of the canteen and it was good to see that a number of Caernarfon supporters had already arrived  and, in fact, I think we comfortably outnumbered the locals in attendance. The Canaries Club had arranged a mini-bus and their support, always vocal and passionate, was to take even greater significance than usual on the day.

And so to the match itself, which was, to put it mildly, a pretty heated affair.

Darren Thomas. 

The Canaries were in the ascendency from the first minute, and I immediately felt there was a good chance of victory for the team. However, things rarely work out quite as simple as that and, just seven minutes into the action, Kevin Roberts was shown a red card for what I believe the game’s powers that be refer to as violent conduct. In my best ‘Arsene Wenger’ voice I must confess to having not seen anything untowards at the time, although I did see that Kevin had been a few yards behind the man in the middle when the alleged incident took place. What I did see, however, was the Rhayader management and players leaping to their feet and jumping up and down, pointing at one of their players, who was lying on the ground in front of them. The ref made a U-turn and spoke briefly with his assistant on the touchline before giving Kevin his marching orders.

It’s always easy to defend your team’s players in such situations and I always try not to have my yellow and green shades on when looking at such things but, from talking to Kev later on, I must question what exactly the linesman saw. I have no idea who the official was but I know Kev quite well and if he says he didn’t touch the Rhayader player then I believe him. Which begs the question why was he sent off?

Gareth Edwards. Thou Shall Not Pass. 

Despite being a man down, the Cofis were still looking the better side and were certainly more of a goalscoring threat than the hosts. Jay Gibbs put us in front with a wonderful free-kick and the players saw out the remainder of the half without too much worries at the back, although Paul Pritchard, as always, came to the rescue when he pulled off an excellent save to keep out a Rhydian Davies penalty. The spot kick had been given after Gareth Jones-Evans had fouled inside the penalty area and unfortunately, things got worse for him in the final minute of the first period when he too was sent off following a second bookable offence. Unlike Kevin’s red card, I think the referee undoubtedly got it right with Gareth, and I don’t think there could be any complaints from any of us about it. I saw Gareth at the end of the match and he felt very bad about it all, which is a sure sign that he cares. I’m also pretty sure we won’t be seeing a repeat any time soon.

The second half was always going to be tough for the players and whilst it was very much a case of backs to the wall defending I think it’s fair to say that Town fashioned more goal opportunities than the hosts. Rhayader huffed and puffed but the Cofis defended impressively, with everyone determined not to let the lead slip.

Great to see Rob Jones and Tom Taylor back in the squad.

It’s unfair to single anyone out but special mention must be given to Gareth Edwards, who was flying home across the Atlantic just hours before kick-off following a week in New York. I had wondered how Gaz would be after such a long journey but, as always, he was in great form and showed just what it means to him to play for the team.

Town were defending for long periods but, with Darren Thomas and Danny Brookwell causing plenty of problems for the home defence, it was not quite the ‘Alamo’, although the old movie based on a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution must have been on the mind of one home supporter, who obviously fancied himself as a modern day John Wayne, for which he was rightly escorted out of the ground.

It was good to see Rob Jones returning to the side as a second half substitute and when he doubled Town’s lead, that was pretty much that, as far as Rhayader getting back into the match was in the question.

Members of the Canaries Club who made the journey.

The celebrations at the end of the match from the team, and supporters, were tremendous and I am sure the travelling Cofi Army made a difference to the team on the day. They vocally supported the side throughout a very hard match, in tough circumstances and whilst Town were down to nine men, I wonder if the Cofi Army didn’t make up for the numerical disadvantage? Truly wonderful support!

So, a Caernarfon victory over the side currently propping up the league table may have been expected amongst followers of the league but, given the circumstances, and dare I say, one or two rather less than appealing aspects to the match, this victory could well prove to be one of the most important of the campaign when every team’s points are totalled up at the end of the fixture list.

Come on the Town!