Pre Season Friendly
Tuesday 20th July
Caersws 0 Aberystwyth Town 4

Matthew Bishop’s new look Aberystwyth Town squad claimed a second Cymru Alliance scalp in four days, coming out on top at Caersws by four goals to nil at the Recreation Ground this evening.

The Black and Greens kicked off with a much changed starting line up, with mainstays such as Geoff Kellaway, Luke Sherbon and Cledan Davies on the bench, and a large number of trialists included in the eleven. The new system took a while to bed in but with Ricky Watts, Greg Walters and Joe Clarke Town found their feet and two minutes before the break a corner fell nicely for young centre half Ryan Wollacott to open the scoring in the visitors’ favour with a hooked volley at the far post, a lead Town held until half time.

Despite a number of tactical and personnel changes the visitors improved in the second half with a performance full of energy and attacking prowess, with young winger Kostya Georgievsky impressing down the wing on his debut. In fact the signing from Port Talbot grabbed Aber’s second goal of the night on 71 minutes with a low diving header at the far post within sixty seconds of coming on for his debut! Centre back Sam Rodon scored a third with a powerful 82nd minute header from a corner, and young Josh Bull finished off the scoring with a fourth after a nice move six minutes from time.

After two impressive away performances - and results in a row Aberystwyth Town supporters will be eager to travel up the Cambrian Coast for the Black and Greens’ next pre season friendly, away to Porthmadog at the Traeth on Saturday 23rd July (ko 2.30pm).

Pre Season Friendly
Saturday 16th July
Caernarfon Town 1 Aberystwyth Town 2

Matthew Bishop’s new look Black and Greens squad emerged with a hard earned victory at Cymru Alliance Champions Caernarfon Town’s Oval ground this afternoon, and an impressive team performance to boot which provided a good start to life under Bishop and Assistant Manager Wayne Jones’ reign.

Five of Aber’s new signings went straight into the starting line up along with four players from last season, one trialist and Aber’s Academy goalkeeper, 16 year old Olly Fairbrother.  Well drilled Aber settled quickly into a nice shape off the ball, and showed penetration on the ball to create a number of very promising first half openings. Debutant Luke Borelli earned a free kick and his goalbound effort was palmed over by home keeper Carl Jones, then another player making his first start, Will Bell, hit the post with a header from a corner. Michael Johnston’s glanced header was saved by Fairbrother but back came Aber with Jonathan Evans lofting an effort just wide from a long clearance, then hitting the crossbar with a second effort seconds later. Joe Clarke did well to release Evans once again but this time Jones caught his attempted lob. Evans again went close, as did Sam Rodon with a header, followed by Geoff Kellaway and after 25 imperious minutes the visitors finally got the goal they deserved when the impressive Joe Clarke slid a ball through for a triallist to find the bottom corner. Luke Sherbon then cleared Jamie Breeze’s effort off the line to retain the lead and with Ricky Watts, Sam Rodon and Cledan Davies ably assisting Bell at the back they kept the hosts at bay. Borelli saw another shot deflected and then two minutes before the break Jonathan Evans’ corner eventually fell nicely for Bell to drill home an instinctive low shot into the bottom corner to give Aber a two goal lead their strong, authoritative performance had thoroughly merited.

With four changes for Aber at half time, and three more on the hour the second half was probably more about match fitness for both sides, but the Cofis did snatch a goal back a minute after the re start when Breeze slotted home from inside the area. From that point on Aber did well to control the game and keep possession at god times, without creating a glut of chances. New Signing Greg Walters looked good buzzing up and down the left and then in centre midfield and six more trialists also made their claims for a squad place. Bell had another goalbound header cleared off the line, then at the other end Fairbrother did excellently to collect a difficult cross. A few strong defensive tackles later, and Aber’s young side had won the game with a commendable team performance full of hunger and desire.

After a positive result and performance, Black and Green supporters will be heartened by the opportunity to get a closer look at Matthew Bishop’s new look squad when the play their second Pre Season Friendly of the season on Wednesday evening at Caersws. Kick off at the Recreation Ground is at 7.30pm.

Saturday 16th July (ko 2.30pm)
Pre Season Friendly
Caernarfon Town v Aberystwyth Town

Two weeks into their pre season schedule Aberystwyth Town's new look Managerial Team of Matthew Bishop and Wayne Jones finally get to see their side in action in a tough looking friendly at the Oval, home of Cymru Alliance Champions Caernarfon Town on Saturday.

They could hardly have chosen a tougher baptism as the Cofis romped to the Cymru Alliance Championship last season and were only denied promotion to the Dafabet Welsh Premier League by their failure to achieve a Domestic Licence. A significant figure in their squad is Darren Thomas, who spent three months at Park Avenue at the start of last season before returning to the Cofis.

The Black and Greens line up will definitely have a new look about it with a number of prominent players having moved on in the summer. Fan favourites Luke Sherbon, Geoff Kellaway and Cledan Davies have remained, as have Jack Rimmer and Jonathan Evans, and joining them are Luke Borelli, Sam Rodon, Ricky Watts and Greg Walters from Haverfordwest, Joe Clarke and Kostya Georgievsky from Port Talbot and Will Bell from Bala Town. Their squad will be boosted by the inclusion of a number of trialists as Bishop and Jones look to finalise their squad with four weeks to go before the big Dafabet Welsh Premier League kick off in August. 

Supporters are informed that there is no coach running to the game, and kick off at the Oval is at 2.30pm. At atfc.org.uk we can hardly wait! 

Aberystwyth Town FC can confirm the departure of Chris Venables to Bala Town, with immediate effect.

A statement from the Club Directors reads as follows: 

"The decision to allow Chris to move on was a big one for the Club and we would like to reassure supporters that it was not taken lightly: however it makes sense within the context of our aim to lower the average age of the playing squad. 

Once Chris communicated his desire to leave the Club, with one year remaining on his contract he would have been free to talk to any other Clubs in January in any case, and leave for free at the end of the season, so on balance we felt that the deal agreed with Bala Town represented the best outcome for Aberystwyth Town Football Club. 

We thank Chris for three and a half years tremendous service for Aberystwyth Town Football Club. Three Golden Boots and two WPL Player of the Season Awards in his period in Black and Green were a historic achievement which none of us will forget and we wish him well for the future."

Statement Ends.

Aberystwyth Town FC are delighted to announce that the physical work of replacing their grass surface with a FIFA *1 Synthetic 3G pitch commenced on Monday, as part of the FAW Project 3G - funded by the UEFA Hat Trick programme.
 
Following the signing of a contract with McArdle on June 16th, work to set up and clear the site has already begun, as can be seen from the photos attached.
 
The Programme of Work is as follows:
July 2016: Site set up and clearance; strip vegetation/formation; remove vegetation from site and stabilization.
August 2016: Curing, drainage and kerbing
September 2016: Ecocept; Fencing, carpet and perimeter work, equipment and site clearance.
 
As things stand the Club hopes to be playing its first Dafabet WPL game on the new surface on Tuesday 11th October, at home to Bala Town (ko 7.45pm).

​FAW President David Griffiths said: “Our 3G project has been incredibly successful to date and I am sure that the new facility at Park Avenue will be another fantastic success. The FAW investment into this project represents our biggest single club grant and emphasises the FAW’s commitment to football throughout the length and breadth of Wales. The Welsh success at Euro 2016 has inspired our Nation and we want youngsters hooked on football for life. When open, the new 3G facility in Aberystwyth will allow the stars of tomorrow from throughout Ceredigion, the opportunity to play football on a quality surface in all types of weather."