Tale of Two Cups and Changing Perceptions.

The words Caernarfon, Welsh, Cup and Town do not have the slightest bit of history of appearing in close proximity to each other. The Canaries have never won the nation’s premier knockout cup and the FAW’s engravers last spell-checked our name twenty nine years ago, when we enjoyed a rare run deep into the latter stages of the competition.

The club has a rather more interesting history with the Football Association of Wales however, ranging from court hearings to exile to hand-slapping, none of which I’ll get into here but all of which you’ll find on the internet without too much difficulty. In all, I would surmise that the relationship has not always been the best example of what it should be between a football club and its governing body!

However, the team’s exploits over the past few months seems to have changed perceptions somewhat regarding both matters as the Cofis made a very rare appearance at the business end in the cup and, in addition to giving all the club’s stakeholders an exciting run to the semi-final, the players and supporters even seem to have impressed the powers that be at the FAW! More of that later….

So, what of the semi-final itself and was the big day against Bala all that it had promised to be? In short, I believe the answer is an unequivocal yes and, for once, not even a heartbreaking late defeat could spoil the experience, although some of us are still probably analysing the match and trying to fathom why the Lakesiders were able to field a full complement of players after the break. That’s another one for later….

After what felt like an eternity between the quarter final victory at Llanfair and our opportunity to shine once more on the national stage, the big day was upon us and, as if I was not already nervous enough, I kicked off the day by saying a few words about the match on Radio Cymru’s ‘Ar y Marc’ show. I’ll be honest and say that, as much as I enjoyed looking forward to discussing the impending encounter I also had a hidden agenda. Having read so much stuff on social media about how Bala were the overwhelming favourites and that Caernarfon were to all intents and purposes there to make up the numbers, it was nice to get an opportunity to remind everyone that, whilst Colin Caton’s men are a good side, the Canaries are also a pretty decent outfit. It seemed to me that many people had forgotten our record under Iwan in all competitions and also our victories over Carmarthen and Rhyl in earlier rounds so it was nice to remind everyone.

The venue for the tie was Rhyl’s Belle Vue, presently known as the Corbett Sports Stadium and, as I haven’t been there for a few years I was immediately transported back to the late nineties as I approached the ground. I can’t remember for sure when I last walked through those turnstiles but I do recall that it was a midweek match, Town lost and I felt utterly deflated on the way home! The journey had actually been a much more enjoyable experience as my less than sober passenger proved to be a rather amusing raconteur!

The first thing that struck me as I walked into the ground was that it is still very much a real football stadium, with a traditional feel to it. I’m not too keen on all these identikit stadia that seem to pop up in every town and city these days and so it’s always nice to visit a proper ground! The Oval has the same ‘feel’ to it although if anyone prefers their matches to be played in a modern, generic stadium there might be one not too far away from us. I was lucky enough to be able to visit the 'home' dressing room and was very impressed with it. Spacious with lockers, fridge, large television, it certainly looked professional and shows what can be done worth more traditional buildings. This is certainly something for us at Caernarfon to look ponder as we continue to work on the ground.

The match itself was a real thriller and, for most of it I felt we were going to get the victory that many outside the club had assumed was beyond the Cofis. Bala had enjoyed plenty of early possession but Town’s defence seemed to cope well with everything, although Joe Williams headed a Stuart Jones effort off his line whilst Alex Ramsay pulled off a super save to thwart a Jones piledriver from close range. Town were in the ascendency after the initial period of Bala pressure and Darren Thomas and Nathan Craig both went close to opening the scoring before the former forced an own goal after causing havoc in the Lakesiders defence with a trademark run off the flank. The Cofi Army were in fantasy land as Messi and his team mates celebrated in front of them and Bala looked shaken as Town took the match to them, Nathan Craig going agonisingly wide to doubling the lead with a volley from an acute angle.

Kevin Roberts.

The only real flashpoint in the whole match occurred when the referee was getting ready to signal the end of the half and Kevin Roberts found himself on the end of a really poor looking challenge from Chris Venables.  The man in the middle was well-placed to see the incident but decided that a yellow card was sufficient punishment for the Lakesiders’ playmaker. I believed at the time that he was lucky not to have been given his marching orders and, having watched the incident a few times since, I am even more convinced about it now. Like most people I’ve spoken to about the incident, I think the referee was rather too lenient with this particular decision.

There was a shift in the balance of play after the break as Caton introduced Lee Hunt to the fray and, as Caernarfon’s backline found themselves under increasing pressure, the striker proved his quality,  finding the net twice as Bala eventually clinched a 3-1 verdict.

It goes without saying that the defeat was heartreaking, especially considering that Caernarfon were ahead with just fifteen minutes to go. In my opinion, although Bala were dominating possession in the latter stages, they were also looking desperate in their search to get back on level terms. To be fair to them, they deserve huge credit for finding a way to breach Town’s excellent backline and going on to win the match and I was pleased that they beat the New Saints in last Sunday’s final. With all due respect to TNS, seeing another team win one of the game’s two major trophies to break the New Saints’ stranglehold on Welsh football must be a good thing for the game in Wales and it goes to prove that favourites don’t always come out on top.

With regards to the Canaries, no amount of credit seems enough to give Town’s management, players and supporters for their performance on the day. Iwan and his backroom staff had prepared the team exceptionally, the players had shown they can live with the Welsh Premier League runners-up and the supporters showed what everyone at the club already knows, that they’re the best in the country, and by a long way!

I heard a Welsh football podcast recently and one of the speakers said words to the effect that the Cofi Army had sprinkled some magic on this season’s Welsh Cup and how right he was. The official match attendance was eight hundred and twenty seven and you can be sure that six hundred of those were backing the team in yellow and green, and what an atmosphere they created! My son is twelve years old and decided to stand behind the goal with the Cofi Army and he absolutely loved it! There were young kids and the not so young in full voice and doing their best to push the side on and together, they very nearly did it! For anyone asking why we have our One Club ethos, and what it actually means, I’d advise them to take a look at a video of the match!

Colin Caton showed a great deal of class when speaking in front of the cameras after the match when he said the Caernarfon fans are the best in Wales and, if anyone had any doubt about it beforehand, the opinion of such a well-respected manager should go far in dispelling those doubts.

Welsh Cup Outstanding Contribution  Award.

Of course, everyone at the club already knew it and, after our amazing Welsh Cup run, it seems that even the FAW has finally acknowledged it. The governing body invited representatives from  Caernarfon Town to the Welsh Cup final on Sunday and presented the club with a Welsh Cup Outstanding Contribution Award. The inscription on the award sums it all up really (see photo) and I was made up that Iwan received it on the club’s behalf. He’s been the main reason behind our success in the past two seasons and it was great to see him being presented with the award by national team manager Chris Coleman. I’ve heard many people saying over the years that one of the best things about being a footballer is that there is always an early opportunity to bounce back from defeat, however heartbreaking it may have been. The old saying proved to be true for the Cofis as seven days after the Welsh Cup exit, the players had had another semi-final to play, this time against Holyhead Hotspur in the Huws Gray Cymru Alliance Cup.

Just two days prior to our trip to the New Stadium, the club received the excellent news that we had achieved the FAW’s Domestic Licence. As everyone with even just a passing interest in Welsh football will know, our failure to get the licence last summer cost us promotion to the Welsh Premier League and we as a Board promised Iwan that we would do everything we could to achieve it this time around.

I may be on the Board but I can’t lay claim to being part of the work that went into gaining the licence and, whilst many people have helped along the way I think it’s fair to say that vice Chairman Marc Roberts, Board member Darren Billinghurst and Iwan himself have been the main players in the successful process.

Now that we have it, there is no way we can let the club fall back into the position of not achieving the licence in the future, and I know the Board is determined to not only ensure this but to also push the forward and reach other targets that will put us on another level again.

So, Holyhead Hotspur stood in the way as we looked to book a third Huws Gray Cup final in four season and, if I’m being honest, I don’t think they ever seemed like upsetting us on the day. Iwan stuck to the same line-up that started against Bala and was rewarded with a thoroughly professional performance from his players.

Jamie Breese scoring

the winner against Holyhead.

The player who so blatantly got Alex Ramsay sent off in the league match between the sides in January was on the field again but this time thankfully Lee Harvey Oswald decided to stay at home and Greg Louganis-lite managed to stay on his feet, which was a real bonus for us. Jamie Breese put the Cofis ahead early on and apart from a few half-chances near the end of the match, the hosts rarely looked like getting back on level terms thereafter. It was an excellent finish by Jamie and needed to be, as former Town stopper Paul Pritchard played well against us for the third time this season. As a bonus for me, I also managed to capture a decent shot of the goal, and I was pleased that the master of North Wales sports journalism, Dave Jones, used it in his online update. Great stuff!

Jay Gibbs.

There were many stand-out performers for Town on the day and whilst Kevin Roberts was named the supporters man of the match I also felt that Jay Gibbs did really well when he came on as a second half substitute. Jay is one of my favourite players and his workrate in the latter stages of the match was a vital factor in keeping Holyhead from finding space to create an equaliser. There was one worrying moment in the second half when Nathan Craig was forced to leave the field because of injury but thankfully he was back in action seven days later. 

There was a surreal moment in the second half when one of the home supporters began talking about the match with us and slipped into the conversation that Caernarfon Town are paying player wages of over three thousand pounds a week. It was an odd statement to make and way, way off the mark but it does go to show how some supporters see other clubs, and how wrong most of them are.

A very happy manager.

All that was left for me to do before setting off for home was carry out a post-match interview with match winner Jamie Breese and, as always, he obliged. Jamie is quite reserved and I know he doesn’t enjoy going in front of the phone camera but, as always, he was excellent and put my ramblings to  shame!

I bumped into a smiling Iwan on the way out of the ground and he looked understandably happy. His players had responded superbly from the Welsh Cup exit, and in so doing, had booked a place in the league cup final. They had also proved a point by exorcising the memory of their last visit to the ground. No wonder the manager looked happy!

Un Clwb.