Central Wales Cup Quarter Final 
Friday 27th October 2017 
Aberystwyth Town Ladies 4 Llanidloes Ladies 0 
 
Aber Town Ladies made it through to the Central Wales Cup Semi-Finals with another convincing victory to make it three successive victories in all competitions without conceding, writes Steven Brookes. 
 
A few months ago, Aber won the Central Wales Cup for the fifth year in a row and their first match of this year’s competition was a home match against Llanidloes Ladies. With 19 minutes gone Aberystwyth were already ahead after a Tania Wylde corner was headed in by midfielder Kelly Thomas for her first goal of the season. Town deservedly doubled their lead on 36 minutes when Stephanie Land’s shot from the edge of the area ended up in the bottom corner, and in first half added time it was three as another excellent corner was turned in by centre back, Josie Pugh. 
 
Aber dominated the early stages of the second half as they pushed for a fourth. Land, Helen Evans, Sian Evans, Kelly Thomas and Hannah Pusey’s efforts all went just wide of the post, but eventually that fourth goal did come. Tania Wylde’s shot from the edge of the box beat the keeper, hit the inside of the post and crossed the line. The Black and Greens could have extended their lead on a few occasions. Pusey and Helen Evans both came close late on but 4-0 was the final score. 
 
Aber have now scored a fantastic 17 goals in just three matches and will hope this winning run continues. The team would also like to thank everyone that came to watch the match and we hope to see you all at our next home game. ​

JD Welsh Premier League
Saturday 28th October
Prestatyn Town 1 Aberystwyth Town 2

​Aber Town once again came from behind on the North Wales Coast to earn their second away win in succession at Prestatyn Town this afternoon. Mike Parker gave the homesters an eighth minute lead on his 200th appearance, but a determined and resolute performance by the Black and Greens was rewarded as John Owen (71 minutes) and Declan Walker (74 Minutes) got the vital scores to earn three valuable points for Neville Powell's men.
On a drizzly and blowy day the win assisted visitors started well and Luke Borrelli sent the first effort wide early on. Purposeful Aber continued to press with Walker’s great ball in being headed clear for a corner, before a looping header from the same man dropped just over the bar. With Aber operating a high press things looked promising but then Prestatyn took the lead against the run of play when Jack Kenny’s shot was parried by Mullock and the unmarked Parker snaffled up the chance. Aber kept coming and Owen glanced a Mathew Jones cross wide, and after some more pressure back came the hosts with Kenny bringing another save from Mullock low down. With Craig Hobson working hard up front the chances kept coming and Hobson himself had a header scooped off the line by Carl Jones, before livewire Ryan Wade curled a goalbound shot towards the far corner, only to see it headed clear. Jones had a low effort saved and then James Stead almost sliced a clearance into his own net, so at the break the hosts were flattered by their one goal lead.
After such dominance the second half looked like being a harder challenge for the visitors against the wind, and indeed Parker could and should have finished the game off after a one two with Ban Maher, but he scooped his shot just over. Aber however started playing the ball on the floor and this tactic almost brought instant results as Malcolm Melvin and Wade combined for Wade to bring a great save from Jones. Zyaac Edwards’ shot was parried to safety by Mullock, and Recce Fairhurst and Stead both missed chances to double the lead, but Wade was beginning to pull the strings, shooting wide and bringing another punched clearance from Jones. Then came a superb three minute burst which, as at Llandudno two weeks before, turned a defeat into a win. Wade was again involved before Ashley Young’s shot was parried for Owen to pounce at the far post to equalise, and then Melvin won a corner from which Wade crossed for Young to pounce again at the far post for a near replica of his goal against TNS last week, and his third goal in three games. With Prestatyn looking demoralised Aber looked the more likely to score again, whilst their defence held firm against some quick breaks by the visitors. With the visiting fans signing in anticipation of the win Hobson won a corner and the Black and Greens managed to keep the ball for the majority of the four minutes of injury time to see off the win professionally.

On the balance of play Aber certainly deserved this win this game having used the weather conditions to dominate both halves, and with two wins and two draws from their last five games only goal difference keeps Town in the bottom two as things stand. A positive result at home to Cefn Druids next Friday night will confirm Aber’s recent resurgence and Neville Powell’s men have earned the right to look forward to it with confidence.

JD Welsh Premier League
Saturday 28th October (2:30p.m Kick Off)
Prestatyn Town v Aberystwyth Town

Aberystwyth Town will look to bounce back from last weekend’s home defeat to The New Saints as they travel to the Motion Finance Stadium to face Prestatyn Town on Saturday afternoon.  Town have shown improved league form of late, having picked up two draws and a victory before falling to a narrow defeat to the JD Welsh Premier League Champions last time out, and Manager Nev Powell will again be looking for similar levels of performance at Prestatyn on Saturday afternoon.

After last weekend’s defeat to The New Saints, Powell again praised his players stating “the confidence is sky high at the moment especially given the run we’ve been on recently and taking the champions all the way. We’re confident and we know we can turn this around”. Indeed, Aber’s manager isn’t the only one to speak highly of the team in recent weeks, after notable praise from Bangor manager Gary Taylor-Fletcher and The New Saints manager Scott Ruscoe after respective games against their sides. Town’s players will be able to take confidence from those words and will hope to use them as motivation to climb out of the league’s bottom two places as they head into this weekend’s clash at the Motion Finance Stadium.

Prestatyn Town have enjoyed a solid start on their return to the JD Welsh Premier League, having gained promotion from the Huws Gray Alliance just last season. They currently lie in 8th place in the league table and have started their campaign especially strongly at home, having notched a 4-2 victory over Bangor City just last weekend.

Aber will view this as another game where they hope to pick up crucial points and push themselves up the league table, especially after their impressive victory at Llandudno in their last league game away from home. Kick off at the Motion Finance Stadium is at 2:30p.m, and Prestatyn Town’s address is listed as Bastion Gardens, Prestatyn, Denbighshire, LL19 7LU. Give the boys your support as they look to climb up the JD Welsh Premier League table! 

Sunday 22nd October 2017
Welsh Women’s League (WWL)
Aberystwyth Town Ladies 5 Cwmbran Celtic 0
 
An impressive display at Park Avenue meant Aber Town Ladies moved up to second in the table and remain unbeaten in the league this season, writes Steven Brookes.

Due to postponements earlier in the season, this was Aberystwyth’s first home league match of the season and in the strong winds it was the hosts who started the better of the two teams. Within 12 minutes Aber were ahead when the ball fell to the feet of forward Naomi Evans, and her strike from the edge of the area curled into the far corner of the net. Seven minutes later Town doubled their lead with a fantastic team goal. Amy Jenkins played a brilliant through ball to Tania Wylde who squared it across the box for Steph Land to tap in at the back post. Aber thought they had scored again, but a Hannah Pusey goal was ruled out for offside. With the Black and Greens looking strong at it seemed only a matter of time before they would get that third goal and on 41 minutes they did so. An aerial ball was well controlled in the box by Amy Jenkins and her right footed effort ended up in the bottom corner. In first half injury time and with a little help from the wind, Aber got a fourth when Naomi Evans’ in-swinging corner beat the goalkeeper and ended up in the back of the net.

After an excellent first half Town knew that the second half would likely be a different challenge as they were now playing against the wind. Cwmbran were looking to get forward to try and get back in the game but were struggling to create any clear cut chances and in fact it was Aber that got the first goal of the half. Land’s great through ball found Evans who calmly put the ball past the keeper and into the net to complete her hat-trick to make it six goals in two matches after scoring a hat-trick last week. Although the away side pushed for a goal the home side were highly determined to keep a clean sheet and even came close to increasing their lead on a few occasions, but the match ended 5-0.

This was a brilliant performance by the home side. The team looked a threat going forward and very strong defensively yet again. Aber Town Ladies now have a busy weekend coming up. They face Llanidloes at home in the CWFA Cup on Friday evening and then play Cascade YC away on Sunday in the Welsh Womens League.

Sunday 23rd October
Welsh Premier Development League
Risca 1 Aberystwyth Town Under 19s 2

Aberystwyth made the long journey to Risca with the aim of continuing their good form of recent weeks, travelling full of confidence following an impressive victory last week away to Llanelli, writes Assistant Manager Iwan Roberts.

The first quarter of the game proved to be a scrappy affair as both teams seemed to cancel each other out without much goal mouth action. The home team dominated possession for the first twenty minutes causing Aber some problems without really testing Fairbrother in the Black and Green goal. Slowly Aber got to grips with the movement of the Risca midfield and started to have an impact on the game, and this paid off when Harri Horwood put Aber ahead just before half time. Even though this was against the run of play and Aber were not dominating possession, they deserved their lead as they had created more goal scoring opportunities.

The second half proved to be a hard slog for the visitors,  Risca really came at Aber with telling passes in behind both fullbacks, pushing forward at every opportunity and a mistake eventually lead to a goal for Risca and left the game in the balance for the last quarter.  However Aberystwyth held firm and didn’t panic as they waited for that opportunity to come while Risca left huge spaces in their defence in search of a winning goal. The opportunity came as Josh Crowl quickly released Harri Horwood down the left who supplied a beautiful cross for striker Liam Docherty to slot home from six yards giving Aber all three points.

Aberystwyth Town Under 19s Manager Bari Morgan was again pleased with the result: “I thought the boys really battled it out today against a well organised side, we showed we can mix it and battle for the three points. When we conceded everyone showed great mental strength to keep going and still get that winning goal, for me it was the most pleasing performance of the season so far.”

The Black and Green Under 19s are on the road again next Sunday with a Welsh Cup game at Cardiff Metropolitan (ko 12pm).