Poor decisions, Bruce Lee and a Legend.

One of the best things for supporters about being in the Welsh Premier League is that we get to see highlights of our team’s matches throughout the season. It’s been so long since Caernarfon were last in the top division that I can’t remember whether this was the case the last time we were in it, but I do know it’s something that is much more accessible these days. Thanks to the advent of social media, we can now see our team’s goals any time we want.  

Even if we’ve been at the matches, it’s still good to see the moves, the goals, the near misses and the goal-line clearances and it goes without saying that Sgorio does an outstanding job of covering, and advertising, the league. Of course, the coverage also tends to highlight refereeing decisions and whilst it can grate a little when what had been seen as bad decisions at the time is confirmed in the highlights, it does at least confirm that, in the main, the standard of officiating in the top tier still has a way to go to match the professionalism demanded of the clubs by the FAW.

The apologists will point out that everyone makes mistakes and there would be no football without match day officials. I concur on both accounts but would also point out that there is a difference between making mistakes and repeatedly showing a lack of judgement when it comes to big decisions in matches. I can only refer to Caernarfon Town fixtures because these are the ones I’ve been present at and, out of the nine league matches we’ve played thus far, it’s not an exaggeration to say that the Cofis have been on the receiving end of poor key decisions in six of them.

Here’s a quick rundown of the incidents I’m referring to:

Match 1: v Cefn Druids. Gareth Edwards was bundled over in the box just as he was about to reach a cross in front of an open goal. The referee waved play on whilst the television evidence was decisive that a penalty should have been given. 

Match 3: v Cardiff Met. A Met defender headed the ball into his own net from a Caernarfon corner and the referee ruled it out for a perceived push in the box. Later on, Danny Brookwell was upended in the penalty area by Emlyn Lewis but the man in the middle saw nothing wrong with it. The Sgorio cameras caught both incidents and indicated that the decisions were incorrect.

Match 5: v Connahs Quay. A Nomads player stamped on Jamie Crowther but escaped any punishment, despite the referee being just a few feet away. No prizes for guessing what the cameras suggested.

Match 7: v Llanelli. Danny Brookwell was fouled inside the Llanelli penalty area but the referee was adamant the incident happened outside the box. The tv evidence disproved this.

Ben Maher seems baffled by the referee's decision in the Barry match

Match 8: v Cefn Druids. Home goalkeeper Joel Thompson raced out of his box in the tenth minute and brought down Jamie Breese as our striker was going past him. The stopper received a yellow card for his Bruce Lee lunge, despite the fact that Breesey would have had an open goal to roll the ball into had he not been fouled. I’m sure I don’t have to say what the Sgorio highlights proved?

Match 9: Four incidents this time. Two poor decisions leading up to Bala’s first goal, an elbow on Jamie Crowther that left the big man with a bloody nose and another penalty decision that didn’t go our way when Noah Edwards was bundled over in the penalty area.

Referees and their assistants are easy targets for the supporters’ wrath when their team is not doing well but Caernarfon won four and drew two of the six matches I’ve highlighted, so that’s certainly not the case here. It’s simply that we’re just two months into the season and there has already been a pattern of big decisions going against the Cofis thus far. All the incidents I’ve mentioned seemed pretty straightforward at the time, the Sgorio cameras later proved it and when it happens so frequently then I think it’s fair to bring it up. One former Town player mentioned on Twitter last week that Sgorio’s weekly match highlights always have a big decision going against us and it’s hard to disagree. I’m certainly not saying there’s an agenda against the Cofis because the match officials are obviously an honest and dedicated group but they do need to start getting key decisions correct on a more frequent basis.

Moving on to the team’s performances, it’s been a positive two weeks on the field since the last blog.  I finished that one by saying it would be interesting to see how we would fare against the league’s other newly promoted side, Llanelli, in the upcoming fixture at the Oval.

Sean and his players were desperate to bounce back from the previous week’s disappointing defeat to Barry and this is exactly what they did, although it seemed at half time that we were in for another frustrating afternoon.

Something that became pretty obvious early on this season is that there are no easy fixtures in the Welsh Premier League. Defences are well-drilled, teams have pace in abundance and, of course, the fitness levels are excellent. Where teams could get victories despite missed chances and defensive lapses in the Cymru Alliance League, there’s no chance of that happening in the top tier and, as Caernarfon have found out already this season, a failure to make the most of goalscoring opportunities can lead to lost points. Anyone who was at the Newtown match in August would surely testify to that. 

Jamie Breese celebrates his goal against Llanelli

The first half against Llanelli had proved a frustrating one. Caernarfon bossed possession and created a number of chances to go ahead but a combination of fine goalkeeping and a referee who shifted the location of a foul on Brookwell from inside to outside the penalty area, resulted in a barren scoreline at half-time. There’s no doubt the Cofis were the better side up to that point but it needed some Danny Brookwell magic on the hour mark to finally break the deadlock. When Brooky created some space for himself in the box before firing past the keeper from close range it was no less than he deserved as he had been a real threat up to that point, and the goal proved the catalyst to more attacking play that resulted in further goals for Jamie Breese and Cai Jones. The 3-0 scoreline was a fair reflection of the match and, speaking with Eards and some of the players afterwards, it seemed a relief that not only had they won but also that the team had scored more than one goal in a match for the first time this season. 

The encounter had been preceded by the introduction of Welsh footballing legend Wyn Davies to the crowd and it was special to see Caernarfon’s most decorated footballer being appreciated by the Cofis.

Mr Davies was back in town for the unveiling of a plaque at his former home in Ffordd Maes Barcer, and he also received a presentation from the Canaries supporters club. I had not met him before but found him to be a real gentleman, and very obviously still a Cofi at heart. Having played for Newcastle, Manchester United and Manchester City, and also represented Wales on thirty four occasions, ‘The Mighty Wyn’ has more than earned the legend moniker and I hope he enjoyed his afternoon at the Oval as much as we enjoyed seeing him.

The players celebrate Cai's goal against Llanelli

An evening trip to Wrexham beckoned six days later and I found it odd that we were playing Cefn Druids for a second time so early in the campaign. I’m not sure how fixtures are worked out but it seems peculiar to play a team twice in the opening eight fixtures of the season. Anyway, that’s how it panned out and, once again, the players rose to the occasion and, if anything, probably felt disappointed they couldn’t manage a victory after an excellent performance.

I have a confession to make here. I did not attend the match, and so can only go with what I have heard from supporters, what I have seen from the Sgorio highlights and feedback from various outlets that I managed to tap into. By all accounts, Caernarfon shaded possession and enjoyed the majority of goalscoring opportunities and, in Danny Brookwell and Noah Edwards, had the two top performers of the night. Danny’s goal was impressive, as was Alex Ramsay’s direct pass to him and, as I’ve already mentioned in the first part of this blog, the hosts were lucky not to be down to ten men following their goalkeeper’s foul on Jamie Breese in the tenth minute.

To be fair, a share of the spoils at the Rock is a very good result and I’m sure that many teams will find it a feat beyond them this season. I was disappointed to miss the match as it was the first I’ve had to sit out for a while but, due to illness, I just couldn’t make it. Watching the team play is always a nervy affair for me but I can honestly say that being at the match is a much less stressful experience than sitting in front of the laptop for ninety minutes waiting for updates from a variety of online sources!

Danny Brookwell has been outstanding in recent weeks

We were back at the Oval last Friday to face one of this season’s expected front-runners, Bala Town. The Lakesiders are a good side, and have an excellent manager in Colin Caton, who has masterminded their rise to prominence in domestic football over the last seventeen years.

Of course, it was Colin and his side that knocked us out of the Welsh Cup at the semi-final stage two seasons ago before going on to lift the trophy and so this was one of the matches that I was looking forward to more than most when the fixture list was announced.  

As a quick review of the match, I would say that Caernarfon were by far the better team in the first half, whilst Bala enjoyed a twenty minute purple patch in a more even second period. Danny Brookwell was the stand-out performer and he scored two crackers on the night, which has not gone unnoticed in the local media, and social media too. Every Caernarfon Town supporter will already know how good Danny is, so his superb recent form has come as no surprise to any of us. But it’s great for him, and us, that the increased profile of the WPL is giving him the recognition he deserves. Brooky is a really nice guy and it’s good to see him grab the headlines.

Brooky's post match interview with the WPL

There was a feeling of frustration after the match from the players I spoke to that we didn’t win but again that shows how far the team has progressed from that Welsh Cup semi-final. As Nathan Craig pointed out in his post-match interview, the Cofis did not really create many goalscoring chances in that semi-final, whilst this time, the team created plenty of opportunities and should have been out of sight at half-time.  

Big Club.

The match was broadcasted live on facebook and BBC Radio Wales, which were both firsts for us as a club. I was slightly concerned that such coverage would have an adverse impact on the crowd but there was no need to worry as the Cofi Army flocked through the turnstiles again and an impressive crowd of nine hundred and thirty two gathered to watch the action.

I believe it’s worth noting the attendances Caernarfon have had so far this season. In five home matches, the average attendance is now up to eight hundred and ninety seven which is, of course, head and shoulders above everything else in the league. One thing that has certainly helped is the Friday evening fixtures. Matches under the floodlights at the Oval are always special and, with the team now mixing it at the top of the Welsh Pyramid, it seems to me that there is a momentum around the club, and amongst the supporters, that is being reflected at the gate.

The last time I mentioned that Caernarfon Town is a big club, I got lambasted on social media from supporters of another club who just couldn’t understand the point I was making. Quite simply, I define a big club by the size of its fanbase, its home attendances, away following and the interest and impact it has on its community. Some clubs, at certain levels of football, may be able to offer greater financial incentives than their rivals whilst others have incentives that money cannot buy. At some point, footballers at all levels can make a decision as to whether they prefer a few quid more in the hand over playing in front of big crowds, and for a fanbase that will follow them through thick and thin as long as they give their all for the cause.

Ain’t Nobody.

I’ll sign off this time by mentioning Sean Eardley, and the excellent job he’s done at the Oval since taking over the hot seat last November. The beginning of next month will mark Sean’s first year in the job and he has been nothing short of sensational in the role. I’ve mentioned in a past blog that he was not just the committee’s only choice to succeed the previous manager, but also the players’ choice too and, despite having little managerial experience in senior football, he has been a revelation in the role.

I don’t really want to repeat things I have already said over past months but, in my opinion, Eards has pushed the team to new levels in terms of professionalism and performances and, just as impressively, he has gone about it in a very understated manner. The majority of the squad is the same now as it was when he took over but he has strengthened it, and brought in players who may have gone under the radar over the Summer, but who are all making a difference now.

Lots of clubs see the close season as a period where they can make wholesale changes to the playing staff and many managers, especially if they are new or recently arrived at their clubs, like to bring in their own players, and contacts, who they are familiar with. However, in my opinion this rarely works (and we’ve seen it numerous times at the Oval over the past four decades), and it takes something more than spending money and securing a quick turnaround of personnel to get success.

Eards has been clever in the way he has strengthened the squad and, just as importantly, he knows how to get the very best out of his players. I’m biased, of course I am, but anyone who believes that this invalidates my point should look at the team’s results over the past eleven months. The proof of what he has brought to the club can be found in the record books, and I have a feeling it’s going to continue too as Sean, his management staff and players, continue to prove the doubters wrong.

Nine matches played, four victories, two draws, three defeats and we’re sixth in the league. Are we still relegation fodder?