There had been a decent amount of hype and lots of looking forward to our match at Rhyl last week and the encounter certainly lived up to everyone’s expectations. Six goals, two red cards, touchline handbags and a confused referee who forgot his bearings and in so doing seemed to channel former professional referee Clive Thomas with a poor decision that cost the Cofis a late winner.
Huw Jones’ decision to blow his whistle for a Caernarfon free-kick as the ball headed into the Rhyl net with their keeper beaten was wrong and cost us two points but, in all fairness, I would also say that the draw was probably a fair result, though Rhyl were obviously far happier with the point than the Cofis.
I’ll get back to the referee later but what of the match itself, was it a good advert for the Huws Gray Alliance League and did we see two sides capable of challenging for promotion to the top tier? Well, the encounter itself was exciting and had all of the ingredients required to entertain and whilst it’s probably too early in the season to make assumptions, I believe the answer to both of those questions is yes. Firstly, the standard of football was high and at the very least was on a par with anything I’ve seen in the Welsh Premier League recently so to that end it certainly reflected well on the second tier. Also, I am confident that Iwan has put together a squad that can challenge for the title this year and I although haven’t seen enough of Rhyl to be sure of their credentials, the way they fought back last Saturday having twice been two goals behind was impressive and suggests to me that they will be there or thereabouts.
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| Danny Brookwell puts us ahead against Rhyl. |
I felt Caernarfon started really well and deserved our early two goal lead, courtesy of Danny Brookwell and Darren Thomas. In fact, at the point Darren made it two nil, I thought we looked comfortable and well in control of the match. An uncharacteristic mistake by Alex Ramsay gave Rhyl a lifeline before half-time and, despite Jay Gibbs restoring our two goal lead with a cracking half-volley, the hosts fought back well to grab a point.
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| Darren Thomas celebrates his goal at Rhyl. |
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| Rambo. |
I’m sure some of you may have had to read that last paragraph again, particularly the part about Alex Ramsay making a mistake. It’s always a given that mistakes are made in every football match and it’s also well-documented that a higher percentage of slips by goalkeepers are more likely to result in goals for the opposition, thus always being highlighted more by supporters and the media. This is unfair but that’s how football is and, when it happens to someone like Alex, it just re-affirms to me how good he is. ‘Rambo’ has been with us for a year and in that time I cannot think of a match where he has been anything less than excellent. In addition to his technical abilities, Alex is very strong mentally, as he proved last week, when he more than made up for his slip with an outrageous acrobatic save to claw the ball off his line in the second half, and also saved a Mark Connolly penalty, although the ball rebounded kindly for the latter to clinch a point for the hosts. Iwan said in his post-match interview at Rhyl that we have the best goalkeeper in Welsh domestic football and I concur wholeheartedly, there’s no-one I’d rather have as our number one than Alex.
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| Brooky. |
So, after an entertaining affair that saw the sides share six goals and settle for a point each, the biggest talking point was the referee’s late intervention as Danny Brookwell seemed to have struck a late winner for us. The official thought otherwise and, with the ball on its way into an empty net, he brought play back for a Caernarfon free-kick. To add salt into the wound, he determined that the foul on Danny had occurred outside the penalty area when everyone in the stadium could see it had happened inside it so it was a case of two incorrect decisions by Mr Jones that frustrated those of a Caernarfon Town persuasion but delighted Rhyl followers. Whilst I gather he later conceded to his mistake, stating he had lost track of the match at the time of the ‘goal’, the truth is if he was in any doubt he should have given himself a few seconds to think things over or, better still, have asked his assistant for his thoughts. As I’ve already said, I believe Rhyl probably deserved a share of the spoils due to their fightback, and I’m not saying the referee was solely responsible for us dropping two points but he certainly cost us victory as a result of his poor decision.
To make matters worse, the man in the middle gave Jay Gibbs a red card for dissent in the dying seconds of the match and whilst I am no apologist for such offences it should be noted that this would not have been an issue if Jones had not made such a poor decision in the first place. It was a sad way for Jay to leave the action as he had been brilliant and fully deserved to be named our man of the match.
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| Jay Gibbs. |
Whilst driving home after the match and trying to make sense of what I’d seen I couldn’t help but be reminded of iconic referee Clive Thomas, who was prone to the odd controversial decision in high-profile matches. The incident I had in mind was when Thomas had famously disallowed a goal by Brazilian legend Zico in the 1974 World Cup by blowing the final whistle as the ball was heading towards the Sweden net. Here’s the link to what I was thinking of:
Now, I’m obviously not comparing the importance or magnitude of the incidents (I’m making this clear now before the usual suspects pipe up on social media!) but it was the same type of peculiar decision by a match official and, having looked up the incident on youtube, it’s not the only similarity. The way Mr Thomas dealt with the Brazilian players is identical to how Mr Jones dealt with our players, whilst Sweden’s celebrations in ’74 are not unlike Rhyl’s last week! I also wonder if the colour of the kits have something to do with it?
Incidentally, I happened across this quote from another former referee, Graham Poll, who offered his thoughts on the Clive Thomas and Zico incident: “Perhaps Thomas’ decision to end play as Zico was about to score was a horrendous error of judgement. Or it is even possible he blew up when he did as a theatrical demonstration of his own importance.” I’m sure that neither scenario is true of last weekend’s pantomime villain!
It’s not the first time we’ve seen a referee misinterpret a situation and affect the course of a league match this season, and we’re still only five matches into the fixture list! The FAW should take note and look at ways of either improving the standard of their officials or invest to attract additional officials for each match. The present situation is not good enough.
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| An animated touchline. |
Taking a step away from the action, it was great to be back at the Corbett Sports Stadium, which must be one of the best non-league grounds in the country. The pitch looked superb, sheltered seating surrounds three quarters of the ground, there’s a bar with a balcony for those who want a beer whilst watching the match and I’ve been told that the burgers and chips are worth a go! The admission charges were a little high at £7 for adults and £2 for children but prices are decided by each club and so there’s not much one can do about these things, although the charges may have been a reason for the relatively low turnout of home supporters on the day?
Before moving on, I had the pleasure of finally meeting sports journalist Dave Jones at the match, something that was long overdue! In addition to being the best sports journalist in Wales, Dave has been a massive help to me in my role as Caernarfon Town’s media officer and I’ll forever be in his debt for the assistance he’s given me, and for what he has done for the club, by way of his excellent work and coverage of what we’ve been doing at the Oval, both on and off the pitch in recent years. Unfortunately, we only had the briefest of chats last week but it was still great to catch up with him and hopefully he’ll be able to visit our ground soon to watch a match and see the special brick he has on our wall of fame. The words on it are Dave Jones: Friend of Caernarfon Town FC and that says it all!
I mentioned in the last blog that the club now has a new website but what I failed to disclose is that we decided to introduce a new site because it has lots of additional features that we can use, with the benefit that this will enable us to share news about the ladies team and academy. Therefore, you will find dedicated pages on our new site for each team that will be updated by the academy and ladies teams, so you can be sure that the information provided is correct whilst I will continue to work on the first team and general news duties. Another useful feature is the video page, which will allow us to add to it all the videos from our official youtube channel. The new website can be found by following this link: https://caernarfontownfc.co.uk/
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| Jay Gibbs fires in our third goal against Rhyl. |
Having mentioned the Academy, someone told me that Welsh Premier League clubs are given £28,000 annually to help towards running their academies, whilst clubs outside the top tier receive nothing, although I believe we have been offered £400 or thereabout towards the cost of match officials for the whole of this season for our Development side, who have been invited to play in the Welsh Premier Development League. The last time I mentioned the FAW are unfairly helping out Welsh Premier League clubs at the expense of the lower leagues, their Head of competitions, Andrew Howard, sent me a tweet in response and whilst I would hate for Mr Howard et al to think I’m having another pop at them, I have to point out the unfairness of the grant policy for Academies. I’m obviously looking at things from a Caernarfon Town perspective and feel frustrated that our Academy receives no financial assistance whilst top tier club’s academies receive £28,000 and yet we have the exact same full Academy status as the clubs in the WPL. Surely, all clubs with Academy status should be given identical financial support, whilst those without the full status should receive assistance to help them develop? If the FAW is serious in its oft stated aims to help grow the game in Wales, then I’m sure there’s a fairer way to help clubs who are trying to achieve good things but are not part of the ‘Golden Dozen’ in the WPL?
Breesey....
We have two home matches to look forward to in the next few days, the first being against Flint Town United this Saturday. The Silkmen always provide tough opposition and, having recruited well during the summer months, they are one of the sides being tipped for promotion this year. They have certainly started well enough, being unbeaten in their opening four matches and so we will have to be at our best this weekend. Having held the FAW Domestic Licence for the past few years, Flint have everything in place to go up and will be desperate to get one over us, whilst the Cofis will be determined to get back to winning ways after last week’s frustrating draw and so it should be a cracking match between two good sides.
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| Jamie Breese #No9 |
Then, on Wednesday, we will be welcoming Llandudno Junction to the Oval and whilst the newly-promoted outfit have not had the best of starts to the campaign, they will be looking forward to playing under the floodlights at our ground. As we saw against Llanfair last year, every team is capable of beating each other in this league and so it will not be easy for Iwan and the players.
Iwan mentioned in last week’s post-match interview that he is looking for maximum points from the next four matches, all of which are at home. It’s going to be a really tough task and if we're going to achieve this goal, Iwan will need his squad to be 'on it' from the off, and will want his goalscorers on fire. With this in mind, by his usual very high standards, it's been a quiet start to the campaign for Jamie Breese but he'll be chomping at the bit to play his part and I have a feeling our number nine is going to be in the thick of things during the next few weeks!
Finally, I’ve recently been in touch with two real Caernarfon Town legends who have given me great interviews for the blog and, if all goes according to plan, you’ll get to read them very soon….
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