Dafabet Welsh Premier League Saturday 17th October (kick off 2.30pm) Gap Connah’s Quay v Aberystwyth Town At the end of a euphoric week for Football in Wales, Aberystwyth Town are preparing for a visit to Gap Connah’s Quay on Saturday in the Dafabet Welsh Premier League’s eleventh round of fixtures, and Ian Hughes’ men look to be on good form in the run up to the game. Aber ended a tough run of seven games in 21 days last week with a hard earned point at high flying Newtown, meaning that the Black and Greens have now taken 12 points from a possible eighteen since mid September, conceding only four goals over that period and establishing themselves in fifth place in the nascent WPL. One of Aber’s toughest matches in that run came two weeks ago at home to the Nomads, when Rhys Griffiths popped up in injury time to earn a point for the Black and Greens (top left), but Town have flourished away from home with three wins and a draw from their last four matches on the road, so they have earned the right to travel North on Saturday with confidence. Following an extensive recruitment programme in the Summer Connah’s Quay were many pundits’ tips as dark horses for 2015/6, but Alan Bickerstaff’s men are yet to find their true mojo. They still have time to find form though with twelve games remaining until the split, and will be fully conscious that in a tight league a couple of wins can transform any team’s season. WPL Young Player of the Season Sean Miller will be a threat going forward, as will Les Davies, to keep Aber’s excellent defence on their toes. Manager Ian Hughes told atfc.org.uk this week: “They’re a strong side with a good manager so it’s going to be a difficult game, there’s no getting away from that. But we’re on a good run of form ourselves. We’ve got players who always look capable of scoring and we’re looking much more solid at the back.” The Coach to Connah’s Quay leaves Park Avenue at 9.30am and a return trip to Deeside will cost an inflation busting £10 for Adults and £5 Concessions. We have been advised by Club Marketing Volunteers Matthew Wallace and Chris Hefferan to expect a contingent of former members of a vocal set of student supporters en route – so it may well be an entertaining trip! See you on the Bus! I’m sure we’ve all dreamt of pulling on the famous colours of our hometown club, writes Club Media Assistant Matthew Wallace. I’m sure most of us still harbour those ambitions. I’m sure that some of us even believe that we are still capable of fulfilling that ambition. But for club skipper Stuart Jones, there’s been no dreaming about it. In a hugely successful career, Jones racked up a century of games in Aberystwyth colours having arrived at that milestone via spells at Swansea City and Llanelli Town. “I used to go and watch us play as a boy and even after leaving to go and play for Swansea, I said then that one day I wanted to come back and play for Aber. It may have taken a bit longer than I thought it would having spent a few seasons down in Llanelli but I’m glad I’m here now and play as many games for us as I can.” The milestone has come around quickly for Stu. Having joined the Seasiders from Llanelli in 2012, Jones has become a stalwart and a constant presence of stability at the heart of the Aberystwyth defence. “I was surprised to hear in the week that it was a hundred up for me. It’s come up quite quickly if I’m honest! I don’t know if that’s a sign of me getting old I don’t know but it’s an honour to play that many games for your home town club and hopefully there’ll be many more to come.” That century of games includea leading the side out at the Glyndwr University Stadium in the Welsh Cup final of 2014 and leading the side out for our two games against Derry City in the Europa league. These are games that the three-time Welsh Premier team of the year candidate lists as his highlights. “Taking the club into the Welsh Cup Final and the subsequent games into Europe (were highlights). I know the games in Europe didn’t work out the way we wanted them to but it was an extremely proud moment leading the lads into those games.” Although Town didn’t get the win they so desperately wanted to celebrate the centre back’s landmark, a 0-0 draw against Newtown turned out to be a very good point. It keeps the club undefeated in six league games which includes two clean sheets in succession. “We’ve been building on clean sheets and defensive work over recent weeks. In training it’s been 0’s and 1’s we’ve been working on as that gives us a great opportunity to go on and win matches. They’ve had a few chances to be fair but we’ve had a couple down the other end as well so it wasn’t as if it was a dull 0-0 draw. We’ve been defending pretty well as a whole but there’s still more to come from this side.” What is remarkable about this occasion is that Jones has been the captain for every single on of his appearances. In fact, Jones is only two appearances away from 300 in the Welsh Premier League with that milestone looking likely to arrive at home to TNS later in the month. “It means a lot to see managers think of me in that way,” add Stuarts. With a century quickly under his belt, Jones is already looking to build ahead for the next one hundred and has some very clear targets him mind. “We’re looking to build year on year. Last year was a bit of a setback with us losing out on European football on the last game but we set our targets quite high here as a squad. We’ve got a great squad of players who are capable of getting into Europe year on year and that is the target for us as a group.” But despite this momentous moment, there is still one member of the Aberystwyth squad that remains unimpressed. “I still get it in the ear from Wyn Thomas reminding me how many he’s got and how many more I’ve got to go before I catch him up!” Watch Matthew Wallace's post match interviews with Manager Ian Hughes and Stuart Jones on Aber Town's Youtube Channel here. We are delighted to remind you that Aberystwyth Town’s online shop is currently fully stocked with the Iconic Green and White Home Replica Shirts. Adult Shirts are Available for £43.99 in Extra Large (XL), Large (L), Medium (M) and Small (S), with Children's Shirts priced at £31.99 in Extra Large (XL), Large (L) and Medium (M). We also have three of Aber’s eye catching Orange Away Shirts left in stock: one Adult Extra Large and two Adult Large Tops remain (all at £43.99). Postage and packaging will cost an Additional £2.50, and customers are asked to specify the size required with their purchase. To purchase a shirt please order from our online Club Shop here. http://www.atfc.org.uk/store/p19/Replica_Shirts.html Home Shirts will also be available for purchase in our on site Club Shop at next Friday’s home game against The New Saints (ko 7.45pm). Supporters with any queries or feedback about the Online Store are invited to email the club at Abertownfc@live.co.uk. Thai Pham Memorial Shield Final
Friday 16th October (ko 7pm) CPD Y Geltaidd v CPD Premiership Stars As the link between the Aberystwyth University Football Digs League and Aberystwyth Town FC strengthens further, this year’s Memorial Shield will be held at Park Avenue in memory of Borussia Teeth player, Thai Pham. The Thai Pham Memorial Shield is the Community Shield equivalent of Digs, with the teams battling it out this year being CPD Y Geltaidd and CPD Premiership Stars. There is nothing friendly about CPD Y Geltaidd and CPD Premiership Stars playing on the same pitch. No matter the occasion, no matter the age, no matter their standing in Digs football (which is almost always pretty high anyway), these Digs teams simply hate each other. These two Welsh-speaking Digs teams were arguably the two most successful teams of last season as Geltaidd lifted the Aber Town Cup on penalties (after being 3-0 down in the 85th minute) and Stars lifted the Champions Cup after overcoming Goal Diggers on penalties. The rivalry resumes this Friday at Park Avenue, the home of Aberystwyth Town FC. By the time the game kicks off, both teams will have played one official friendly each, being the only indicator to how strong these teams are this season. Geltaidd fell 4-3 at the hands of Aber Kadabra and have been heard to blame it on the Rugby social the day before. Stars took on FC Beaver on the Sports Centre Astro Turf yesterday, but were seen to rest a number of players, so many in fact, that they showed up to the game with two men. Following the final whistle, the winning team will be presented with the Memorial Shield, and the Digs League Draw will commence. All teams will be keen to find out their fates for the season. First the three league draws will be made, to decide who will play in the Bundesliga, Premier League and La Liga. Following the League Draws, the Aberystwyth Town Cup will be drawn, with a new format being selected. Fixtures for all other Digs teams will commence on the 21st of October down where dreams are made at Blaendolau Playing Fields. The seedings for the League Draws have been calculated from last season’s performance in the League, with two top seeds and two second seeds being placed into each of the three leagues. The top seeds are the three League winners, Stars, Panthers and FCLMA and three League runners up, Goal Diggers, Geltaidd and SH Pandas. The second seeds are made up of AUFC Freshers, Aber Lions, FC Beaver, We Hate Ben FC, Tekkerslovakia and last but not least, NotInHer Forest. Despite losing a few teams this year, including Aber Town Cup finalists, Toke City, former Premier League winners Obi Wan Kenobi Nil, Pathetic Athletic and Ajax Trees Down, this season is already looking to be tightly contested with new teams Tigers FC and Expected Toulouse keen to make an immediate impact. If the last Digs game at Park Avenue is anything to go by, this game is a must-watch, even if just to find out your team’s fate in the Digs League Draw. Paramount among it all is simply the intense rivalry between these two teams. Expect some fireworks in this one. Aberystwyth Town ended a run of seven games in twenty one days with a hard earned point at Newtown on Saturday, writes Club Media Assistant Matthew Wallace. Although the game won’t be considered a classic, there were certainly enough chances to satisfy supporters of both sides. “It was a solid point. It was a game full of effort and full of determination from both sides. We had chances to win it.” Manager Ian Hughes told atfc.org.uk following the match.
Defensively, Aber are unrecognisable from the beginning of the season right now with just four goals being conceded in the past six league games including two clean sheets in succession. This is an aspect of the side’s play that pleases the manager. “We conceded six goals in one game here last season and three in the other. That’s nine goals in two games at an average of 4.5 a game so that was something that we needed to address. The back four have been great. Sion James and Craig Williams have been great at full back. Lee Surman has been great and fitted in really well alongside Stuart Jones. They’ve defended well today and a clean sheet is what they all deserved.” This game marks the end of a run of fixtures that has seen the Seasiders take to the field for competitive action seven times in three weeks. Aside from the exit from the Word Cup, Town have ended that run undefeated, picking up 12 points from a possible 18. But it’s not been without its trials and tribulations for the side. “It’s difficult because we’re semi-professional. The players and staff are all semi-professional so to play so many games in a short period of time. It’s tough. It’s been very difficult for the players over the last couple of weeks. We’ve picked up a couple of injuries over that period as well. Antonio Corbisiero is injured and Chris Mullock phoned up this morning with illness. We’ve had Chris Venables on the bench today like on Tuesday where he turned up late through no fault of his own due to work commitments and after the excellent result against Bala, we couldn’t really change it. He’ll be back in the team sooner rather than later.” The players will now enjoy a well earned break before next Saturday’s away fixture at Connah’s Quay. The two sides earned a share of the spoils last weekend with Rhys Griffiths grabbing the last minute equaliser. Both sides will be hoping to go one step better when they face off again. “They’re a strong side with a good manager so it’s going to be a difficult game there’s no getting away from that. But we’re on a good run of form ourselves. We’ve got players who always look capable of scoring and we’re looking much more solid at the back so we’ll get that game out of the way before the easy game against TNS at home!” Watch Matthew Wallace's post match interviews with Manager Ian Hughes and Stuart Jones, who was playing his 100th game for the Club, on Aber Town's Youtube Channel here. Dafabet Welsh Premier League
Saturday 10th October Newtown 0 Aberystwyth Town 0 On a historic day for Welsh Football, Aberystwyth Town showed defensive grit to earn a valuable away point at Newtown with a goalless draw which extends their unbeaten run to six games, and safeguards a spot in the WPL Top Five for another week. Manager Ian Hughes named an unchanged outfield after Tuesday night’s heroics at Bala, with Mike Lewis coming back for Chris Mullock in goal, but the hosts definitely started the game better, creating a number of early opportunities to take the lead. Luke Boundford failed to connect with an excellent cross from Craig Williams, and then drew a save from Lewis. The unfortunate Boundford then headed over a Jamie Price cross, and it was Aber’s turn. Darren Thomas scraped the near post with a cute right footed shot, Jamie Reed was inches wide with a controlled effort created by the imperious Rhys Griffiths, before Reed returned the favour by back flicking Griffiths in for a blocked effort on goal. Geoff Kellaway had a header saved by Dave Jones, Boundford was again off target with a back post header and Reed brought another save out of Jones before a fairly even half ended goalless. Although neither side looked entirely convincing in the second half, the chances kept coming. Griffiths had an attempt cleared off the line from the restart before Jason Oswell missed the target, the second time glaringly from another Williams cross. He then drew a save from Lewis before trying an acrobatic effort which was blocked, and back came Aber again. Luke Sherbon’s deep cross from out on the right was perfect for Reed, and he connected beautifully with the ball only to be denied by Jones. Mike Lewis in Aber’s goal then came out strongly three times in a row to block the hosts’ aspirations, and when Matty Owen headed over from a brilliant position with ten minutes to go the home groans indicated that it was not to be Newtown’s day. Sensing a late winner, Griffiths won a corner for Aber and from the resulting move Ross Stephens flashed a shot just over the bar. Mike Lewis got down well to block Keiron Mills-Evans’ injury time header, and that was that. While Aber were not at their absolute best yesterday, it is churlish to complain when the side has now taken 12 points out of the last 6 games over a tough three week period, conceding a mere four goals in that brilliant run. Ian Hughes’ men now stand in fifth place and in their current run of form can’t wait for Saturday’s visit to Gap Connah’s Quay (ko 2.30pm). The Coach will leave Park Avenue at 9.30am. |
Gem Nesaf
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Ebost / Email: AberTownFC@live.co.uk
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Cyfeiriad / Address: ATFC Ltd, Park Avenue, Aberystwyth, SY23 1PG.
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