Kev Lloyd, George Michael and Showing the Red Card.

Kevin Lloyd. 

Having ended the last blog by contemplating whether or not Town manager Iwan Williams would replace Toby Jones, who had recently left for Conwy Borough, we didn’t have to wait long for the answer as the manager moved quickly to sign not just a striker but also a defender and a midfielder!

The first arrival was a name from the past, and although slightly surprised, I was delighted when Iwan said he was bringing Kevin Lloyd back to the club. Kev, of course, played for the Canaries for three seasons, signing for former manager Clive Jones during the summer of 2010, and he was a big hit with the supporters during his time at the Oval. A Caernarfon Town supporter through and through, he has been a regular visitor to the Oval since leaving two years ago and although I haven’t spoken at length with him since his return, I’m pretty sure he’s thrilled to be back. I’m hoping to get hold of Kevin soon for an interview to share on here, but for now I’ll use his words from the Oval Ways book to prove just how much he enjoyed playing for the Canaries during his first stint which will give an indication of what it will mean for him to be back:

“It was fantastic to see so many of the lads I know going to the Oval to support the team. Seeing so many of my friends in the Cofi Army at our matches made me very proud and it meant a lot to me!”

Kevin making his return for the Canaries against Buckley.

Kev has played a prominent part in all three matches since his return and done well, which is something the manager pointed out in his comments after the Buckley and Connahs Quay matches. It’s early days yet but the signs are promising that he could strike up a good partnership with Jamie Breese and I believe and hope he can become an important player for the team going forward. 

James Thomas is another former Canary to have returned recently and, if anything, his arrival came as an even bigger surprise than Kevins’. Also known as ‘Smiler’, James played for us in the Welsh Premier League and although it’s been a few years since he left, I do recall that he was a skilful wide man with an excellent left foot. He came on for the final

James 'Smiler' Thomas.

quarter of an hour at Caersws and looked as skilful, and confident, as ever and he certainly gives Iwan a different option on the flanks. I gather ‘Smiler’ has been living abroad recently, although rumours that he’s been working as a George Michael lookalike are yet to be confirmed.

Iwan’s third new addition is Tom Taylor, and although I know very little of him, the fact that he was Player of the Season at Glantraeth in 2013/14 and was reportedly training with a Welsh Premier League club during the Summer suggests he has lots to offer. Having suffered from injury in recent months, the manager has hinted we may have to wait a while to see the very best of Tom as he recovers from injury so it will be interesting to see how he goes. Not rushing back into action too soon will be important and I’m sure Iwan and his staff will manage this in the correct manner. 

The first two months of the season have seen much more activity than usual at the club, personnel-wise, and it’s been interesting to see so many changes. Iwan’s predecessor, Lee Dixon, brought in a virtually new squad to the Oval in his first summer at the club and I think it’s generally expected that a new manager makes wholesale changes when he arrives. Iwan has done things differently to Lee as he kept most of Dicko’s group and added a few quality signings during the off-season to hopefully strengthen it. 

Ellis Healing (above) and Danny Brookwell (below)
have both arrived after the start of the season.

What’s been especially interesting is the way he has dealt with the spate of injuries we’ve had, reacting quickly whenever the squad has been low in numbers and making tough decisions along the way. Looking at the team’s latest match at Caersws, six of the starting line-up were at the club last season, Jamie Breese and Joe Williams were signed during the Summer and the remaining three players have been brought in since the start of the campaign. In addition to this, the three used substitutes were also signed by Iwan, two of whom arrived after the big kick off at Holywell. Injury may have forced Iwan’s hand a bit, although I certainly wouldn’t know, but I also think the volume of recent signing might also be something to do with the team’s difficulties in breaking defences down, which was definitely a problem at the beginning of the season. Certainly, signing players such as Ellis Healing, Danny Brookwell and Kevin Lloyd to add to Jamie Breese and Jamie McDaid suggests that the manager felt we needed more attacking options and in recent weeks I feel we have looked much better going forward. 

Judging from what we’ve seen thus far at the Oval this season, most teams will look to frustrate Caernarfon and hope to sneak a win on the break. Druids carried out the plan perfectly and Gresford also very nearly did but I think the manager has reacted well and definitely has more options available to deal with the problem now. Talking of Gresford, I don’t think I’ve been more frustrated as a spectator than during their visit to the Oval. I’m not normally one to say anything too negative about other sides (in print, anyhow!) but did tweet after the goalless draw that it was frustrating to see teams parking their bus on the pitch and playing for the draw from the very first minute. To be fair to Gresford they defended really well and have an outstanding goalkeeper in Jonathan Hill-Dunt, who kept them in the match with a string of excellent saves. He is also pretty good at helping run the clock down and I had to smile when he replied to my twitter message, saying I should give his side more credit, calling their tactics ‘game management’ as opposed to ;parking the bus’. I will never give a team any credit for wasting time and not trying to at least play some football and if ‘Game Management’ means ‘Time Wasting’ then I might start using this phrase from now on. 

Jamie Breese (above)and Rob Jones (below)
Support 'Show Racism the Red Card.'

Things have definitely taken an upward turn, entertainment wise, since the Gresford match, and I think that in addition to the new signings it also has a lot to do with the attitudes of our opponents. We all know that Iwan prepares his team to play an attacking style of football and the last three opponents, Buckley, Connah’s Quay and Caersws also like to play football. The recent matches against these teams have been entertaining affairs with no less than nineteen goals and whilst I’m sure we’ll see plenty of buses trying to get on the pitch at the Oval before the end of the season, I also believe that Iwan now has the options to find a way to drive them off the pitch! Time will tell of course, but the signs are good thus far.

Before finishing, here’s my rundown on the team’s last three matches:

I really enjoyed the match with Buckley for a number of reasons. A much needed home victory and the return of Kevin Lloyd were the most prominent amongst them but I also thought the players did very well to cope with the early injuries to Gareth Jones Evans and James Bell. 

Already missing a few regulars for the match, the manager was himself forced into action early on, and Jamie Breese dropped back to form a midfield partnership with the manager. This obviously had an effect on the team’s pattern of play but they still managed to play football and did well to get the victory. For once, Buckley manager Tom Taylor stayed in the technical area on the touchline instead of wandering around the pitch but it obviously impaired his vision as his post-match comments on the club’s website include him saying that his side were the better passing team. Really? I wouldn’t agree but his team definitely had a go, which is more than others have done recently. 

I’m afraid I missed the Word Cup tie at Connahs Quay due to work and I’m still gutted about it. Although the team lost after extra time everyone I have spoken to have praised the team and, from all accounts, the Cofis could have won the tie in ninety minutes. The fact that they more than matched a Welsh Premier League side for the third time this season speaks volumes about the quality in the team and having done so with a threadbare squad is even more impressive. Tom Taylor (our player and not the Buckley manager!) made his debut on the night as a late substitute but was mightily close to starting the match in goal, due to traffic problems on the A55 having delayed our number one, Paul Pritchard. Luckily, the Cat managed to make it with around a minute to spare and, despite the ruse, had another excellent match between the sticks. 

Iwan with Tom Taylor, who nearly made his debut in goal!

Joe Williams during the match at Caersws.

The team travelled to Caersws last Saturday and were excellent in a 6-3 victory. Unusually for the hosts, they find themselves bottom of the league and, in all honesty, I thought Caernarfon were by far the better side. Town started well, and got better as the match progressed. Despite Caersws being down to ten men after twenty five minutes, Town had already looked a stronger outfit and were already looking likely winners. To be fair to the hosts, they kept going for the ninety minutes and were a credit to their manager, Graham Evans for rolling up their sleeves until the final whistle. Despite the long journey I always enjoy my visits to the Recreation Ground and the work they’ve carried out at the ground in recent years is impressive. The Bluebirds always extend a warm welcome to visitors and I really hope they can turn things around on the pitch and manage to keep clear of relegation. I travelled to the match with the Chairman Arfon, vice-chair Dylan and the Chairman of vice, who shall in this instance remain nameless for the sake of the club, and have to say that the trip to and from Powys was every bit as enjoyable as the match itself. I could not possibly divulge any of the tales that were shared amongst us on the day but suffice to say that most, if not all of it, is totally unrepeatable. All harmless fun, of course, and another reason why I love supporting the Canaries. 

Town’s victory and other results last Saturday means the Cofis are now top of the Huws Gray Alliance League and whilst it’s still early days in the title race, I think we have a real

chance of being there after the final match of the season next March.
This Saturday, the Cofis entertain Llandudno Junction in the Welsh Cup and I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that it’s about time we had a good run in this competition. Fingers crossed! 

Finally, it's important to mention that the Show Racism the Red Card initiative's Fortnight of Action is taking place up to 31st October and it was great to see both Caenarfon Town and Caersws taking part last Saturday. We all know what the message is and I think it's important to mention it here, and I'm delighted to publish the above photo of the team spreading the message before saturday's match. For more information please visit the official site by following this link: http://www.srtrc.org/home

James Bell, former Cofis and 'The Deluded One'.

Celebrating Jamie's winner against Bala.

No trophies have been handed out to anyone and we’re just two months into the season, but the recent six day period during which the Canaries won three big matches was pretty exciting stuff, and may hopefully prove to be a sign of things to come.

The first of those fixtures, the Word Cup tie against Bala Town, was the highlight of the season thus far for me, and I thought the team was excellent on the night. The visitors arrived at the Oval in good form, and as joint leaders of the Welsh Premier League. If I’m being totally honest I was just hoping the team would be competitive and could maybe sneak a win but felt that Bala were favourites to get through. If every football supporter in the country relied solely on coverage of the beautiful game offered by BBC Wales and S4C, we could all be forgiven for thinking that the WPL is the only decent form of the game on offer in Wales and that there is a huge gap between it and the league immediately below. Well, Caernarfon Town have showed by defeating full strength Bangor City and Bala sides that the gap may not be that big after all.

James Bell was my Man of the Match against Bala.

Where Caernarfon had dug deep to overcome Bangor, showing resilience and dogged determination to grind out a famous win, the victory over Bala was achieved with the free flowing football that Iwan Williams is so passionate about and, if anything, the one goal margin flattered the visitors.

I feared the worst after the opening twenty minutes as Town struggled to contain the Lakesiders and when we went behind early on it seemed that we might have been in for a long night. However, I noted that the Bala players hardly celebrated their goal and, looking back now, it might have been that Steve O’Shaughnessy’s side may have underestimated the Cofis and expected to chalk up a comfortable win. As odd as it may sound, the opening goal seemed to have a more positive effect on Caernarfon than Bala as Iwan urged his side to find an immediate equaliser and the players responded well.

From the moment Rob Jones equalised, Town dominated the match and at times Bala could not get anywhere near the ball. I must confess to being a big supporter of playing two strikers up front and  would like to see Caernarfon playing with two frontmen but the way Iwan set up his team against Bala worked perfectly on the night, with Ellis Healing and Jamie McDaid providing plenty of support for Jamie Breese. The Cofis were very impressive, fully deserving of the victory and I don’t think Bala could have complained if the winning margin had been wider. Rob Jones and Paul Pritchard were named the supporters joint man of the match but for me it was James Bell. James suffered a frustrating injury last season and was out of action for a long period but has recently signed a contract at the club so is obviously rated by the manager. He was superb on the night and I’m sure we’re going to see him develop into an excellent midfielder.

A memorable evening at the Oval and it was great to see the positive reaction on social media as the result filtered through. I can only hope the message got through to the powers that be at BBC Wales and S4C!

Iwan looking on at Eithin Duon. 

The tables were turned three days later when it was Caernarfon’s turn to play the role of favourites against lower league opposition in a cup tie. The match at Llanrug was always going to be a difficult one and I found it a rather peculiar affair. With all due respect to the hosts, I thought Caernarfon were very comfortable in the first half and had it not been for the heroics of ‘Rug goalkeeper Dylan Roberts, we would have been three or four goals ahead at the break.  I don’t know what was said in the home dressing room at half time but whatever it was seemed to work as Llanrug were a different team in the second period and they caused all sorts of problems for Caernarfon’s defence. Despite seeing the home side going ahead courtesy of goals by former Town players Kevin Lloyd and Neil Thomas, I always felt the Cofis would get back into the game and so it proved when Jamie McDaid did well to equalise late on.

Once the match went into extra time I thought that Caernarfon were in pole position and it was brilliant that Clive Williams got the all-important goal. As all Town supporters know, Clive missed most of last season through injury and having him back in the squad this term is like having a new player at the Oval. And what a player he is! When Lee Dixon signed him from Bangor I knew very little of Clive but everyone I spoke with told me he was some player, and they were right. Following Saturday’s match, Jay Gibbs (justjay@jaygibbs8) got it spot on when he tweeted ‘if Clive Williams doesn’t get the man of the match today I don’t think he ever will’.

Clive Williams (left) was excellent against  Llanrug.

Before moving on, I have to mention Neil Thomas and Kevin Lloyd, both of whom were members of Town’s memorable 2012/13 treble winning team, and showed during the match that they had lost none of their goalscoring instincts.

Kevin has always been seen as a bit of a maverick but I have always found him to be a really good sort and always good for a laugh and one thing that always shines through is that he’s a true Caernarfon Town supporter and is not afraid to show it. I haven’t seen him since the match but when I do will ask him how he felt after scoring against ‘his’ team!

Neil Thomas enjoyed just one season at the Oval but was a special one it was, as he proved a massive influence on the team as captain, and finished the term as the club’s top scorer. I think some people see him as a bit of a pantomime villain and certainly Neil is always happy to partake in some banter with supporters but he has been a top player in the Welsh game and still is a very good striker. He was known as ‘the fox in the box’ during his time with the Canaries due to his ability to find the net and he proved last week that he still has an eye for goal.

There was no chance of a breather for the team after two hard, and high profile matches and a trip to Porthmadog followed three days later as Town returned to league action.

On a personal level I was pleased that my usual travelling mate, Gwyn, was back in action and so it was great to be chauffeur driven to the Traeth. I was pleased to see him, but not so much with his declaration that heavy rain was forecast at seven o’clock, just half an hour before kick off. Although there had been no sign of rain all day and indeed not even on the way to Port, I’m afraid the heavens opened as predicted and continued for the next two and a half hours!

Cofis past and present, Cai Jones and Gareth Edwards

The first thing I noticed upon walking through the turnstiles was how good the ground looked. It goes without saying that the pitch seemed as impressive as always but the new hard standing area from the clubhouse and in front and of the three stands was excellent and has improved the ground immensely. Cup of tea in hand, we both headed for shelter and ended up in a small covered standing area between the two main stands. Little did I know then that I would soon be joined by a football genius who stood in front of me just as the match kicked off. Listening to this elderly gentleman of I assume a Porthmadog persuasion (seeing as he was criticising just the one team!), he obviously felt he knew all about the game and indeed I kept asking myself why this ‘Amateur Morinho’ was not sitting in the home dugout with Craig Papirnyk, where his talents and knowledge would be best served? Any sense of credibility he may have had vanished around the seven minute mark when he stated, quite plainly, that Town’s left-back could not kick the ball and was a definite weak link. Caernarfon’s left back on the night was Nathan Craig, which probably suggests that, far from being the local ‘Special One’, the opinionated gentleman might be more of a ‘deluded one’. To be fair though he may have known we were Caernarfon supporters?

Jamie Breese celebrating his winner against Port
(he's there somewhere!)

The match itself was a thriller and, despite the awful weather, the teams put on a good show. We seem to come across former Town players regularly these days and it was the turn of Cai Jones to face his former teammates this time although I’m pleased to say that Cai did not manage to replicate Neil and Kevin’s heroics for Llanrug just days earlier and failed to find the net.

Toby Jones.

Caernarfon were second best in the first half but responded superbly after the break to overturn a one goal deficit and gain another important victory on the road. Iwan decided to go a bit more direct in the second period, and Danny Brookwell and Jay Gibbs gave the side more penetration, with Jamie Breese again doing what good strikers do, making the most of his chances to find the net with two good finishes. 

It was a good win for the Cofis and the team showed plenty of heart and character to find a way to win against a very good Port side. On the way home I wondered what was going through the mind of ‘the Deluded One’?

I’ll finish this blog by wishing Toby Jones the best of luck with Conwy Borough. I was delighted when he signed for the Canaries during the summer because he is undoubtedly a quality footballer but for whatever reason things just did not work out for him at the Oval. It will be interesting to see whether or not Iwan will bring in another player to replace him as he may feel that the squad is already strong enough. We’ll find out soon enough….

A Bus, Dick Turpin and BlackAdder.

Globe Way, home of Buckley Town F.C.

With the season steamrolling on at a frantic pace I have again slipped with my blog posts, so here’s the latest instalment, which includes a look back at Town’s matches against  Buckley, Cefn Druids and Guilsfield……

Following the victory at Bangor, the side faced a tricky looking League Cup tie at Buckley and if ever there was a case of coming back down to earth with a real bump then the first half at Globe Way was it! To be fair to the players, they didn’t play too badly in the opening forty five minutes but two errors resulted in goals for the hosts and at half-time it seemed an uphill struggle awaited the team. Thankfully, the players rallied in the second period and dominated the match to score three times without reply to clinch their place in the next round.

Nathan and the supporters celebrating
his winning goal at Buckley.

Although it had been a tough match, I thought it was a great sign that the players dug deep to get the result and it was also pleasing to see two debutants slotting seamlessly into the side, Rob Jones and Danny Brookwell, the latter in particular making a big impact when he came on for the second half. I was also more than pleased to see the return of Carl Owen, who had signed during the week to boost the squad. Carl has a strong season with Town last year and I look forward to seeing more of ‘The Punisher’ in the coming months!

Away from the action itself, I was amused to see a fellow member of the club’s committee, who is probably the quietest amongst us, becoming much more animated than usual at the start of the second half. Sitting in the Stand, he was partaking in a bit of ‘running banter’ with Buckley manager Tom Taylor, who had made his way from the dug-out to the opposite side of the field to encourage the players on his side’s right flank. I’m sure you will have noted I used the word encourage and not coach because managers are not allowed outside to coach the team from outside their technical areas in front of the dugouts. Now, those of you who have happened across Taylor will know that he’s no shrinking violet, so exactly how he thought he’d get away with coaching from where he was is beyond me and so he was quickly sent back to his bench. He was not happy about it, my friend on the committee was! And talking of the Buckley manager, his post-match comments are interesting to say the least, because he must obviously have been watching a different match to me!

Pearls of wisdom from him include the BlackAdder–esque ‘cunningly setting traps for the Canaries which they fell into (I kid you not!), and whenever a losing manager talks about laughable sending  off decisions and his player being too honest when he could have won a penalty then you know he’s feeling more than disappointed by the defeat. Oh dear….

Next up was the visit of league leaders Cefn Druids to the Oval and, having been eagerly looking forward to the match, I can only say that I was equally disappointed with how it turned out. The team had not performed well against another side relegated from last season’s Welsh Premier League, Prestatyn Town, earlier in the season and so I was looking forward to seeing how they would fare with Druids who also suffered the drop. Firstly, I must say that the players deserved more from the match than they got and a draw would have probably been a fair result but, having enjoyed the majority of possession, we did not look like scoring and unfortunately Druids made the most of their best chance to clinch the win.

Just one of those days for Breesey and the team against Druids.

If I was to take a leaf out of the Buckley manager’s book I could say all sorts about how Caernarfon should have won etc but to be fair to Druids they arrived with a plan to stifle Caernarfon and did just that. They are not the most entertaining of sides but were effective on the day and headed home with the points, and all credit to them. Just for fun, however, I will try and explain how I really felt about the match in five words:

Bus. Parked. Dick. Turpin. Gutted.

On a much more positive note, it was great to meet up with my old friend Mark McKean, who works on the Druids’ website and match reports etc. I have known Mark for many years and he’s been unwell for the last few of them, so I was pleased to see him. Hope you enjoyed the book Mark!!

Catching up with an old friend at the Druids match.

There are no easy matches in the Cymru Alliance League and so, having just hosted the leaders, the team had another really tough match to play seven days later when they travelled to second placed Guilsfield.

The sides met four times last season and each match had been very close. The Guils are a physical side and travelling down to the match with committee member Elwyn Jones, we both felt it was going to be another tough challenge against Danny Barton’s side. I think it’s also fair to say that, whilst we both hoped for a Caernarfon win, we may very well have accepted a draw as a decent result at such a difficult place.          

Clive Williams. 

Scoring goals had been a problem for the team thus far (the Buckley tie excepted) and so it was interesting to see a change in the team’s formation, which saw Jamie Breese partnered up front with Jamie McDaid. I had been hoping to see the two Jamie’s spearheading the attack since the beginning of the season and was impressed at how well it worked. In another change, Clive Williams stepped up from defence to midfield and, having started the match impressively in the middle he had to drop back into centre defence early on due to an injury to Gareth Edwards.

In short, the team was superb on the day, and thoroughly deserved the 4-0 victory. The scoreline could easily have been much more than it was and the performance was probably the best of the season up to that point. Guilsfield were workmanlike and obviously missed the injured Barton but Town were certainly superior on the day. In fact, so good was Caernarfon’s performance that my only concern on the day was for the referee and his assistants, who all looked about fifteen years old! I’m all for getting younger people involved in the refereeing side of the game as we seem to see the same familiar faces in the middle and running the lines every other week, Andy Harms being an excellent recent example (!), but I also think the FAW is doing a disservice to these youngsters when they put three inexperienced officials together to run a game in the second tier of Welsh football. I’ve been told that the FAW are fast-tracking young officials due to lack of referees in the game and, if this is true, then I can understand why they’re doing it, but surely they would be better off, and be much fairer to the officials, by having at least one experienced official for each match, thus giving the youngsters some much needed support and encouragement? After all, they’re not going to get much of that from any of the supporters! 

Guilsfield were struggling so much against the Cofis that even
the Main Stand could not bare to look.

I am sure that having an elder statesman on hand at the Guilsfield match would have helped the young referee who was being slaughtered by one of the home supporters for over-ruling a linesman  for Town’s second goal. The linesman had put his flag up for an offside when Jamie McDaid scored but the referee, quite rightly, pointed out that the player who may have been offside was standing on the far side of the field and nowhere near the ball, and so the goal stood. This was like a red rag to a bull for a purple-faced gentleman in his sixties, or maybe seventies, who was still shouting obscenities two or three minutes later! This is obviously not an isolated incident and I wonder how much it affects the confidence of such inexperienced officials?

The officials had a tough day at Guilsfield....

To be honest, the inexperience of the officials on the day did not really ma

tter as Caernarfon would have won no matter who had been in charge of the whistle and as we left the Community Centre Ground I had a feeling that the victory, and the successful change in the team’s formation, could prove a turning point for the team. The two Jamies had proved too hot for the Guils defence to handle and I’m sure we’ll see plenty of goals from them both in the next six months.
Cup Fever will feature in the next blog as I take a look at the recent cup ties with Bala Town and Llanrug United.
Happy Days....