Aberystwyth Town Club Officials have been busy in the final hours of Transfer Deadline Day as midfielders Dafydd Jones and Malcolm Melvin join the Club from Newport County and Halesowen Town respectively.

Dafydd hails from Ebbw Vale and was a free agent after leaving Newport County at the end of December.  Despite making the subs bench twice he did not appear for County this season, and has spent the majority of 2016/7 on loan at Monmouth Town, where he made a very good impression.  A product of the Newport County academy, he made his senior debut for Newport in the Football League Cup first round match versus Wolverhampton Wanderers on 11 August 2015. A winger by trade, Dafydd can go past players and deliver quality crosses, as well as being in the right area to grab a goal.

JD Welsh Cup Fourth Round
Saturday 28th January
Aberystwyth Town 1 Prestatyn Town 5

Aberystwyth Town suffered a heavy home defeat to Cymru Alliance Champions elect Prestatyn Town, as goals from Sam Rodon (og, 30 mins), Noah Edwards (42 mins) and a second half hat trick from James Stead (52,60,81 mins) sent the Denbighshire Seasiders through to the Welsh Cup Quarter Finals. Luke Sherbon's goal on 66 minutes was scant consolation for Town who were well beaten on the day.

On a bright and breezy Winter’s afternoon the game started with chances coming at both ends. Home keeper Chris Mullock got down brilliantly to save Michael Parker’s header, then at the other end Jamie Crowther released Cledan Davies down the left, and when he crossed for Chris Jones unfortunately the shot was blocked. Luke Borrelli fired a snap shot just wide, and then Stead crossed for Jack Kenny to aim a header straight at Mullock. Aber’s best chance came from an exciting move culminating in Elliot Scotcher crossing for Jones, but his goalbound effort drew a smart save from Prestatyn keeper Carl Jones. Davies then released Borrelli through the middle who beat the offside trap, but his deft lob was just about saved by Jones. Then on the half hour came a devastating blow for the hosts when Sam Rodon received the ball from Mullock and passed back into an empty net to give the visitors the lead. Stead’s curling effort was tipped wide by Mullock, but then three minutes before the break good work by Jack Kenny saw the ball break for Noah Edwards, and he smashed home a second to stun the home supporters.

​Manager Matthew Bishop changed tactics after the break but the visitors’ tails were well and truly up, and with the Prestatyn fans singing in the Dias Stand Mullock had to deny Kenny and Jordan Davies. On 52 minutes the game was won when a right wing cross feel perfectly for Stead to finish in space, and Aber were floundering. A response came when Dan Alfei sent in a right wing cross which evaded Borrelli, but was acrobatically netted by sub Kostya Georgievsky, only for the linesman’s flag to deny the Swansea youngster a super strike. Georgievsky went close twice more but then o the hour Stead beat the hosts’ offside trap and curled home for 0-4. Six minutes later Borrelli’s ball in was chested down by Rodon for Sherbon to smash home a response. Sub Jack Rimmer played in Alfei down the right and his cross found Georgievsky who was so close with his effort, but to no avail. To be fair the visitors were creating chance after chance themselves with Kenny and Davies missing the target before Stead completed the scoring with nine minutes to go having been once again set up by Kenny.

This was an extremely below par performance by the Black and Greens leading to a devastating defeat, and they will need to find their form very quickly ahead of Saturday’s Play Off Conference kick off at home to Airbus UK Broughton (ko 2pm). 

JD Welsh Cup Fourth Round
Saturday 28th January (ko 1.30pm)
Aberystwyth Town v Prestatyn Town

Top level football returns to Park Avenue on Saturday after a mid winter break, with the return of the JD Welsh Cup. The Black and Greens host Cymru Alliance Champions elect Prestatyn Town with a 1.30pm kick off - and a place in the Quarter Finals is at stake.

Matthew Bishop's men have had two weeks to reflect on a disappointing ending to the Dafabet Welsh Premier League First Phase, as two home defeats put paid to their hopes of a Top Six finish. Saturday afternoon's game gives them the ideal opportunity to kick start their season and lift spirits ahead of the return of WPL action next week.

After a hectic start to the transfer window things have settled down for Bishops' squad of late with three in and three out to date. Joe Clarke, Blake Davies and Ricky Watts have moved on, with Elliot Scotcher, Jamie Crowther and Jon Owen coming in. While Owen is Cup tied on Saturday, the crucial return of flying winger Geoff Kellaway is hopefully not too far away, and what a boost that will be to Town's prospects.

Prestatyn travel to Park Avenue on a remarkable run which marks them out as manifestly the best Team outside the Welsh Prem this season. Thirteen points clear at the top of the Cymru Alliance with ten games to go they have scored 87 goals in their twenty League games, including 24 in their last three matches alone. Winger Jordan Davies with 27 strikes, and striker Jack Kenny, with 23 will need to be watched closely and well known WPL stalwarts such as Michael Parker, Jack Lewis, Dave Hayes and Paul O'Neill are still with the Club. Prestatyn's only defeat this season came on penalties to Bangor City in the Word Cup after a 4-4 draw, so Aber's work is cut out. 

This intriguing tie will kick off at the slightly earlier time of 1.30pm as two of Park Avenue's floodlight pylons are still out of commission, and Admission will cost £6 for Adults, £4 Concessions and £1 for Kids. It's going to be a cracker!

Aberystwyth Town Men’s First Team Assistant Manager Wayne Jones was present to witness some fantastic performances by the Aber Stars players in Llanelli.
 
With players unavailable for the trip to Llanelli, most would have then thought it was going to be a very difficult day for the Aber Stars team. But this hard-working group of players were ready to show what they could do. The ‘Championship’ players were once again Meilyr Llwyd, Peter Williams and Dave Baker. Meilyr who also had a brief spell as a goalkeeper on the day really impressed those watching. Both David and Peter were playing further forward and both were on the scoresheet. All three of the players should feel very proud of their performances.
 
John Daniel and Mark Kemp joined the Cleddau Warriors team in the Premier League at late notice and despite being with a different group of players they fitted in well and played very well.
 
Three out of the five players that were in the Champions League team had never played in this league before with some moving up from the Premier League team. Many probably wouldn’t have been surprised to see Aber lose their opening match to a Swansea team that went on to win all their matches although nobody could say it was an easy win for Swansea. Aber opened the lead through Player-Manager Steven Brookes and defended quite well at the start of the match but couldn’t hold to their lead and ended up conceding three. Aber came close on a few occasions to scoring a second and eventually Paul-Luke Loveridge did pull one back late on but it wasn’t enough as Swansea won 3-2.

If the Swansea result was no surprise the next performance from Aber certainly was. They were up against a tough Bridgend team that beat Aber in their last tournament. But once Aber opened the scoring through Captain, Derfel Reynolds they began to show how good the team can play. Some excellent one touch and two touch passing, quick movement and clinical finishing meant Bridgend just couldn’t do anything to stop Aber who eventually scored a fantastic yet well-deserved six goals whilst the Stars keeper, Iestyn Jones barely had a save to make. Reynolds scoring five with Brookes also on the scoresheet again.

After an amazing 6-0 victory, the team was full of confidence going into their final match and yet again the team put on a great display. The quick play continued and although the teams finishing was a bit off in the opening moments of the match they did eventually take a well-deserved lead and the way the team were playing it was no surprise a second and third goal was scored. Derfel and Steven (2) were the goal scorers. Despite coming close to increasing their lead the match ended 3-0 to Aber.
 
If Aber play as well as they did in their second and third match in future games, it’ll be very difficult for other teams to beat them. Player-Manager Steven Brookes said "We were disappointed to lose our opening match but the performances in the other two games were brilliant. Possibly the best the team has played in many years”.
 

Aberystwyth Town's fixture list for the Dafabet Welsh Premier League Play Off Conference have been confirmed. Town will kick off Phase 2 at home to Airbus UK Broughton on Saturday 4th February and end the regular season at Newtown on 22nd April.

Please find below the Black and Greens' fixture list for the remainder of 2016/7.

JANUARY
Sat 28th (Welsh Cup Fourth Round) PRESTATYN TOWN (HOME) KO 1.30pm 

FEBRUARY
Sat 4th AIRBUS UK BROUGHTON (Home) KO 2pm
Sat 11th Cefn Druids (Away) KO 2.30pm
Sat 18th LLANDUDNO (Home) KO 2pm
Sat 25th Welsh Cup Fifth Round

MARCH
Fri 3rd Rhyl (Away) KO 7.45pm
Fri 10th NEWTOWN (Home) KO 7.45pm
Sat 18th Airbus UK Broughton (Away) KO 2.30pm
Sat 25th CEFN DRUIDS (Home) KO 2.30pm

APRIL
Sat 1st Welsh Cup Semi Final
Sat 8th Llandudno (Away) KO 2.30pm
Fri 14th RHYL (Home) KO 7.45pm
Sat 22nd Newtown (Away) KO 5.15pm
Sat 29th Welsh Cup Final

MAY
Sat 6th UEFA Europa League Play Off Semi Final
Sat 13th UEFA Europa League Play Off Final