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| It was good to see Jay back against Llandudno Junction. |
After my detour last week of an
exclusive interview with Town striker Kevin Lloyd the blog is getting back to
normal this time around as I take a look at the Cofis’ last four matches.
The last regular entry followed
the comprehensive victory at Caersws that put the Canaries top of the Cymru
Alliance League. The following week saw us hosting Llandudno Junction in the
second round of the Welsh Cup and I think everyone had been expecting a really
tough challenge from a team that was previously unbeaten in thirteen matches,
of which they had won an impressive eleven. However, after a competitive
opening half an hour I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Caernarfon dominated
the action and ran out comprehensive, and comfortable, 4-0 victors.
The whole team played well on the
day but, in my opinion, Jay Gibbs stood out as the star man, running the game from midfield and finding the back of the net twice. Jay was returning
to the side following a three match suspension and, having seen him watching
the Caersws match from the stand and probably kicking every ball with the team,
I was not surprised he was so good against the Railwaymen.
Everyone who has seen Jay will know how good he is and whilst I’ve heard one or
two people say he should sometimes try and curb his natural competitiveness on
the pitch, I think his attitude is brilliant and exactly what you want from a
midfielder. I’ve never played at a decent level of the game but there must
surely be a fine art to playing with such drive and passion whilst also trying to
avoid being booked, especially in today’s climate when a broody look at the
referee can result in a card! Far from erring on the side of caution I think
Jay should just keep on going as he is.
Although the manager has made it
clear that winning the league is the priority this season, a good run in the
Welsh Cup would be wonderful for the club, both for prestige and financial
reasons. The team has been rewarded for the victory over Junction with an away
tie at Goytre in the next round and I’m sure they will prove formidable
opponents. It’s a 140 mile trip to their Plough Road ground and I’m pleased to
hear that Iwan has decided the squad will travel down the night before, which
seems a sensible thing to do. I can’t remember too many occasions when
Caernarfon have decided to stay overnight before an away match and it’s good to
see such a professional approach from the management. Hopefully, it will make a
difference on the day against a side that is top of the country’s Southern
equivalent of the Huws Gray Alliance. I don’t know much about Goytre but,
having seen photos of their ground on their website, I hope it doesn’t rain
because I can’t see many sheltered areas there!
A Cracking Cheeseburger and Not Much Else.
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| Top Burger at the New Stadium. |
The Cofis returned to the bread
and butter of league action following the cup victory and I have to admit that
the match at Holyhead was not the best. I enjoy going to the New Stadium and
although Caernarfon have not always had the best of results when playing there,
a warm welcome and a cracking cheeseburger are always guaranteed at the ground!
Having looked forward to a good
encounter between two footballing sides, the match turned out to be somewhat of
a disappointment. This was mainly due to the strong wind that enveloped the
ground, making it extremely hard for the players to accurately pass the ball
for anything other than the shortest of distances. To use a footballing cliché,
it was very much a game of two halves, with the hosts bossing proceedings with
the wind at their backs before the break whilst the Canaries were on top in the
second period. Kevin Lloyd very nearly clinched the points for Town late on but
he could not quite manage to get his effort in, having done well to get on the
end of a Nathan Craig cross.
Not many teams will return from
Holyhead this season with anything more than a defeat and therefore a draw was
not too bad but such is the increased level of expectancy amongst us all these
days that there was probably a slight feeling of disappointment on the way home
that we didn’t win. It really was just one of those days when nothing much
happens in front of goal and, not for the first time this season, I kept
thinking during the match that Caernarfon could have done with former player
Darren Thomas to work some magic and create a goal. That said, I still think it
was more of a point gained than two lost.
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| Nathan Craig in front of the Main Stand at Holyhead. |
Although the action on the pitch
had not been the best, spectators were treated to some unexpected entertainment
just before the final whistle when one of the stewards walked over to the Main
Stand and ordered a fellow steward to walk down from his perch at the top of
the stand, and proceeded to share some rather stern sounding pearls of wisdom
with him! I’m not sure what it was all about, and whilst it was all very odd it
gave most of us a laugh!
Just two more things to mention
about the afternoon. Although half of
Holyhead’s New Stadium is rather spartan it possesses an impressive Main Stand
that must rank amongst the best in Welsh football. The club also has an
excellent goalkeeper in Carl Jones, who I believe is second only to Paul
Pritchard as the league’s best stopper. I do think he enjoys a tad too much
banter with supporters during matches, but I have yet to see him have a bad
game so it obviously doesn’t affect his performance.
Just Like Christmas Morning as Messi Returns.
Rumours had been rife since early
November that the aforementioned Darren Thomas was on his way back to
Caernarfon but I put it down to wishful thinking on the part of the supporters,
myself included. I have often referred to Darren in this blog and everywhere
else for that matter, as the ‘Cofi Messi’ and I was as disappointed as everyone
else when he left for Aberystwyth in the Summer. I didn’t blame him because he
wanted to play in the Welsh Premier League and he is certainly good enough to
do so, but had always hoped he would do it with us.
As I very much doubt that Iwan
would put me in his side on a Saturday afternoon, being the club’s Press
Officer is the best job I could ask for at the Oval and breaking the news on
the club’s website and social media outlets was pretty exciting. Judging from
the amount of likes, retweets, views and comments the news enjoyed, I think
every other Caernarfon Town supporter felt exactly the same as I did! Only time
will tell of course but I do feel getting Darren back to the Oval could go a
long way to helping us back into the top tier at the end of the season.
There was definitely a feel-good
factor at the ground for Messi’s first match back in the yellow shirt and
whilst the weather was not the greatest, the team certainly didn’t disappoint
the supporters who had turned up. The Cofis were simply unstoppable on the day
and routed Rhayader 7-1 in front of 272 souls who braved the elements. As
expected Darren slotted straight back into the team and it was great to see him
back, although it was another of Caernarfon’s highly rated favourites who shone
the brightest on the day. Nathan Craig has been excellent so far this season
and although he starts matches in the left-back berth, he is much more than
a full-back and his deliveries at set pieces and from the left flank are
consistently high quality.
Nathan’s Hat-Trick?
Nathan capped a fine personal
performance with two goals against the Redkites and did his best to claim a hat-trick
on the grounds that it was his goalbound effort that Rhayader player manager
Dylan McPhee headed into his own net for Town’s fourth goal. To be fair, he had
a point. I believe the official FIFA ruling such matters is ‘Shots that are on
target (ie goal-bound)and touch a defender or rebound from a goal frame and
bounce off a defender or goalkeeper are not considered own goals’. In this
instance, Nathan’s effort was goalbound and was deflected off a defender into
the goal.
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| Nathan's second goal against Rhayader. |
Caernarfon Town president John Watkin was present when Nathan
discussed this with me and he was adamant that the goal should be attributed to
McPhee as an o.g. Later that night I thought I’d have some fun and sent John a
text to say that the match report would have Nathan down as the goalscorer and,
just as expected, he phoned me immediately to put me straight! Nathan has never
scored a senior hat-trick and although I did my best to try and help him with
this, I’m afraid I had to relent as, such was John’s conviction on the phone
about the goal I genuinely don’t think he would have slept that night if I had
not listened to him!
A Bit Like Prince Philip.
When I offered Caernarfon
chairman Arfon Jones a lift to Mold for the match on Saturday his response
went along the lines of “No, we’ll go in mine as I want to travel in a real
car!” And he meant it! I wasn’t
complaining as I couldn’t really argue with his point but there is always a
downside to riding in Arfon’s car because it does make you feel a bit like
Prince Philip. As the County’s most recognisable man, it’s impossible for the
chairman to go more than a few yards before having to wave, very much like the
Queen, at his adoring public! Thankfully, there were two more committee members
sitting in the back to partake in some banter with, including my friend the
Chairman of Vice, who can always be relied upon to provide a few memorable, if
totally unrepeatable, anecdotes!
The side’s last visit to Alyn
Park had not been a happy one and I’ve heard some say that the 1-4 we suffered
there last January contributed to heavily to the team failing to win the
league. At the time, former manager Lee Dixon had made a few changes to his
squad and whilst there’s no getting away from the fact that the performance on
the day up to the usual standard, looking back at last season as a whole, it proved very much a one-off.
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| Danny Brookwell gets brought down in the box for Town's penalty at Mold. |
I don’t think anyone expected a
repeat of last season’s reverse and, from the very first minute, it became
pretty obvious that Saturday would be different. Despite the impressive victory
over Rhayader, Iwan changed his starting eleven and brought Kevin Lloyd and
Danny Brookwell into the side at the expense of Jamie McDaid and Ellis Healing.
I heard a rumour that Ellis was unavailable for selection due to a prior
engagement but did not expect to see him lining up for Liverpool against
Manchester City in Adam Lallana’s shirt on in Sky’s tea-time offering! And to
be fair, he did well too!
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| Jamie Breese taking a breather at Mold. |
The team continued its fine form
from the previous week and outplayed the hosts who were left chasing shadows as
a result of the Canaries’ quick possession football. As it was so cold at the
ground I decided to take advantage of Mold’s half-time hospitality and must say
they provided a warm welcome. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for their
striker Lee Healey, who let his frustrations get the better of him near the end
of the match as he recklessly flew into a challenge on Jay Gibbs. He was
rightly sent off for the foul and it’s disappointing that as a result Jay may
now have to miss a few matches due to a broken bone in his foot. Just as
disappointing was the match report on Mold’s website that stated Healey had
been harshly sent off. The author must have been looking the other way….
All in all, I think it’s been a pretty
enjoyable month following the Canaries and, judging by the way the team is
improving, there’s a good chance it will carry on into December.
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| Harry (left) and Paul (right) were thrilled that the Chairman had agreed to pose for a photo! |
Looking at the strength of the
squad, and the quality he now has on the bench in addition to on the field,
Iwan has a really tough job on his hands to not only pick his best side for
matches but also to keep all the group happy whilst trying to slowly
re-introduce injured players. Of course, this is much preferable to having just
twelve players to pick from as happened earlier this season (and I can’t resist
the temptation of pointing out that eleven was all we needed at Bangor!) but
this once again reinforces the need for a reserve side. Fingers crossed we’ll
see one at the Oval next season?
Before finishing I think it’s
worth mentioning that last week’s interview with Kevin Lloyd has proved one of
the most ‘viewed’ blog entries on here which just goes to show how
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| Clive Williams. |
popular he
is with everyone. I spoke with his father on Saturday and he was pleased with
how it all worked out which is always a good sign! Hopefully one or two other
members of the squad may agree to do a similar piece, so I’ll keep my fingers
crossed for another exclusive interview soon!
Finally, a quick thought for one of my favourite players,
Clive Williams, who has had to miss the last few matches due to illness.
A top
player, and really nice guy, I hope he’ll be back in action soon!
