Rob, Russ, Ken and Sgorio.

It’s been three weeks since the last blog and in that time, Caernarfon Town supporters have enjoyed a thrilling victory over Welsh Premier League opponents, a disappointing defeat against local rivals and two straight league victories.

I believe that the Canaries’ 3-2 Welsh Cup victory over Rhyl has probably been one of the most talked about matches in the Pyramid system in recent seasons and it’s not hard to see why. Despite the match being televised live there was a bumper crowd of 1118 at the Oval and this certainly added to the sense of occasion as the sides went at it full throttle from the first whistle. 

The Welsh Cup.

The fact that you’re reading this will mean that you’ve probably seen the match by now, so I won’t go over it in any depth but the main point I have to make is that the Cofis deserved the victory. Danny Sullivan scored a tremendous opener for Town before the Lillywhites levelled late in the second half. Just four minutes later came a flashpoint in the match when referee Lee Evans awarded Caernarfon a penalty for what he thought was a foul on Jamie Breese by Mike Sharples. Nathan Craig put us ahead and, with the clock ticking down, I thought that this would be the goal that sent us through to the last eight. Unfortunately Rhyl struck again in the dying minutes and so extra time was required to settle the tie. At this stage, the Cofis’ injury crisis had struck twice again as Joe Williams and Danny Brookwell had been forced off due to bad knocks and so the team on the pitch looked quite unfamiliar to most of us who have followed the side all season. Lee Fowler and Carl Owen were making their first appearances of the campaign for Caernarfon and in  Carl’s case it was his first action of any kind in eighteen months!

The Punisher, Carl Owen. 

When Nathan was sent off ten minutes into extra time I feared the worst, but the players managed to keep their composure and found enough energy to dominate the match from this point onwards and, if truth be told, from where I was standing there was only going to be one winner. In the end it was Carl Owen who put us through and what a fairytale return to action for the quiet man of Welsh football. When Carl played for us two years ago I nicknamed him the Punisher, and I was pleased to see that he has lost none of his goalscoring instincts, as he struck a fine winner to clinch the match. Afterwards, Rhyl manager Niall McGuinness bemoaned the fact that Nathan Craig should have been sent off much earlier than he was and that the referee should not have awarded the penalty. Maybe he forgot when saying this that Caernarfon actually outplayed his side in the second half of extra time when a man down although I’m not too surprised as I had already seen him ranting away about the matter immediately after the final whistle. Of course, what he failed to mention in his post-match interview is that Caernarfon could have scored seven or eight goals were it not for his goalkeeper, who was certainly their man of the match, whilst Alex Ramsay was nowhere near as busy in our goal. Someone mentioned to me after the match that, instead of questioning Evans in awarding the penalty, it may be worth questioning why Mike Sharples made the challenge in the box on Jamie Breese when our striker was not headed directly towards goal? Surely that was the key factor in forcing a decision from the referee? A quick look at Sgorio’s coverage would prove all this to those who gripe about the penalty and result and whilst I understand the Rhyl manager’s  disappointment I think he could have followed Mark Aizlewood’s example from the previous round and given Caernarfon at least some credit for the victory. Sometimes credit is in short supply and I certainly feel that Caernarfon have not been given enough of it for their performance and result. But that’s today’s football, isn’t it? 

Gareth Edwards. Man of the Match v Rhyl.

I managed an interview with Iwan Williams and, as we walked towards a quiet spot on the pitch it was easy to see that the Town manager was elated, but also a little emotional. He felt exactly the same as I did, and I think that’s why he’s been such a success at the Oval. Yes, he’s the manager, but he sees things like the supporters too. I know he was delighted when the draw had been made for the tie as he saw it as an opportunity to avenge the Word Cup defeat earlier this season and, when you look at how different this match was to the first one, and also consider the threadbare squad he had, the result was a real triumph for him for which he deserves huge credit.

As always, the Cofi Army was in marvellous form, both vocally and banter wise, with former Town striker Steve Lewis getting his fair share of it! It was good to see the Beast and also Toby Jones, both of whom played well, although I was disappointed that another former Cofi, James Bell, was forced to miss out due to injury. 

Sgorio’s Malcolm Allen gave the man of the match award to Gareth Edwards and I agree with that as the Big Man was superb all afternoon, although he will need to ask Jamie Breese or Darren Thomas for tips on how to finish off a close range goal opportunity! In all fairness, though, I think each and every one of the Cofis’ squad on the day was outstanding and could all quite easily have been named by Allen. Talking of the former Welsh international I just have to mention his and Nick Parry’s commentary on the match, they were excellent and well worth hearing. 

Russ Hughes. 

A massive bonus on the day was meeting Russ Hughes, the club’s legendary goalkeeper, who was at the ground to support his old team. I have been in touch with Russ recently but never met him before and have to say he is just as nice as I had been told he was and still looks the same as he did thirty years ago! He told me later that he had enjoyed the match and is thinking about making the trip down to Llanfair, so hopefully he’ll be there as our lucky mascot again!

So, a wonderful day at the Oval for Caernarfon Town supporters that reminded me of those special days in the eighties when we had that FA Cup run under John King. Like then, we were again seen as the underdogs against higher league opposition but, just like those days, the team showed its quality and heart and deserved the victory. In fact, I recently spoke to Ken Jones, a member of that famous Cup side of thirty years ago, and he had been impressed with the side’s performance against Rhyl:

“I put the television on the other week and I watched the Caernarfon game and I really enjoyed it. I watched the second half and it was absolutely brilliant, the lads really had a go. They’ve got some good lads there, tell the manager that. They worked hard, because the other team are not a bad side, they’ve got some good players, but what Caernarfon have done is they’ve stuck together, they’ve worked hard and Caernarfon have got a couple of good players there, they’ve got some very good players.”

High praise indeed from a true legend of the club and certainly worthy of the final word on the tie!

A trip over the Britannia Bridge was next up as we headed to Holyhead Hotspur for a league encounter but, in stark contrast to the previous weekend, this was not a good day. In fact, it was as frustrating as it gets. The New Stadium is never an easy ground to visit and matches there always remind me of Jimmy Greaves’ old saying that it’s a game of two halves. So strong is the wind that  always prevails at the ground that you really cannot pre-empt what may happen in the ninety minutes, apart from knowing that both sides will be struggling for one half! It’s true that every visiting team knows this beforehand but what cannot be accounted for is a flustered referee who seemed out of his

Not even Messi could save us at Holyhead.

depth. The sending off of Alex Ramsay half an hour into the match was surprising and puzzling and I would love to know what the onlooking referee’s assessor thought about it. Supporters of both teams were dumbfounded by the decision as, unlike the incident between Breese and Sharples in the Rhyl match there was no challenge involved this time. Alex had the ball safely in his hands and the referee was running away from the box and towards the half way line when he blew his whistle. I have to say that the Holyhead player involved in the purported incident hardly covered himself in glory, although I’m quite sure that Glenn Hoddle, Gary Neville and every other sports commentator would call his behaviour ‘clever’ and ‘professional’, though I heard a number of other words for it at the time. Once the hosts scored from the resulting penalty it was an uphill battle for the Canaries and one that they ultimately couldn’t quite manage to overcome.

Unfortunately, Town manager Iwan Williams was also given his marching orders for dissent following the ‘incident’ and so I was rather nervous about our customary post-match interview. Would he really want to answer my questions about the match? Thankfully, he was more than happy to do it, although there was a worrying moment just as we were about to wrap up our second attempt when the referee came out of his room and we had to stop! I had to delete the abandoned video clip off my phone as it would need an ‘18’ certificate to share with everyone! Incidentally, despite his frustration at the result, Iwan still made a point of saying that Holyhead had played well and deserved the victory, something that many managers seem reluctant to do these days.

Nathan Williams has impressed thus far. 

One positive aspect of the afternoon was the performance of debutante Nathan Williams, who was outstanding at the back and was deservedly named the supporters’ man of the match. Nathan, of course, was a member of the youth side that did so well under Bryn Williams a few years ago and, having had two excellent seasons with Llanberis he now looks ready for the step up to the Cymru Alliance. He’s made a promising start and it’s great to see him back!

Ruthin at home the following week was always going to be tough as, although they’ve been struggling most of the season, their tails would be up after an impressive victory over Flint the previous week. In addition to this, the pressure was on the Cofis because our last league victory had been on January 7^th and other teams had been catching us up. As we found out last season, runners-up at the end of the season may still carry a reward and so getting back to winning ways was vital.

Rob Jones. 

Pre-match expectations of a tight encounter proved correct and, whilst Caernarfon enjoyed plenty of possession, goals by Gareth Edwards and Nathan Craig had been cancelled out by the visitors and it was left to man of the match Rob Jones to clinch the victory with a poachers’ goal as he finished from close range. I was really pleased for Rob, who has taken time to get back to his best after returning to the club earlier this season but has been in excellent for during the past month. He was outstanding against Rhyl and has subsequently carried on in that vein, and when Rob’s playing this week he’s amongst the best midfielders in the league.

The side followed this victory with another one at Caersws, although I cannot really give an opinion on it as I was forced to miss out through illness. However, what I do know is that Iwan had to reshuffle his pack again for the match and, when considering he had nine members of his squad unavailable, the 2-0 victory at the Recreation Ground was impressive to say the least.

Graham Evans’ side are always tough opposition so gaining three much-needed points against them was good going. In addition to masterminding the victory Iwan also played his part on the pitch and he even lasted eighty nine minutes at the heart of the defence where I’m told he formed a decent centre back pairing with Danny Sullivan. On Sunday I read on Twitter that our manager was paying the price of a rare appearance in the Cofi shirt and could hardly move, and I can only hope that he took up the offer of some WD40 from one of the club’s supporters! So, saturday afternoon was not the most enjoyable of experiences for me as I was forced into that awful semi-reality World of glancing at my phone three times every minute to check for an update from club secretary John Watkins. He also provided me with a detailed overview of the match and it was thanks to John that I was able to write a match report. 

A big week lies ahead for the Canaries which may go a long way towards defining our season. We travel to Conwy on Wednesday for a re-arranged league fixture whilst on Saturday the side travels to Llanfair United for the much anticipated Welsh Cup quarter-final. I’ve recently been speaking with former Town player and manager Phil Wilson and it was during his first season as manager that Caernarfon last reached the semi-finals of the nation’s premier cup competition. It might be hard to believe but that was twenty nine years ago and wouldn’t it be great if Iwan and the side could emulate this feat, and even surpass it this season?

Kevin Lloyd.  

Llanfair may be just a point off the bottom of the Cymru Alliance League but they’re a good side and have already defeated the Cofis this season, clinching a 4-2 victory at the Oval. I can’t wait for the match and, with over two hundred Caernarfon supporters reportedly planning to make their way to mid-Wales for the tie there should be a great atmosphere at Mount Field.

Finally, congratulations to our striker Kevin Lloyd who married his fiancé Jamie on Saturday. 

Come on Town!