It had been 174 days since Aberystwyth Town last took to the field at Park Avenue. Over 4,000 hours and nearly six months had elapsed whilst preparations were made for our brand new facility. Finally, after 17 consecutive matches away from home, the Seasiders returned to their home of 132 years on Friday night and what a return it was. A crowd of 1,168, the highest in Aberystwyth for 16 years and the best in the Dafabet Welsh Premier League so far this season, saw Town defeat Rhyl 4-0 in a game that had everything. Goals, sending's off, a goalkeeper scoring and fantastic atmosphere to boot; the Black and Greens ensured that their maiden game on our new surface will live long in the memory. “I’m delighted we’ve got the three points first and foremost as well as the four goals. But what is as important is the clean sheet. It’s the first time for about 6 games we’ve had a full squad available to us. It’s always going to be important, our home form.” Manager Matthew Bishop told Matthew Wallace, in an interview for Town's Youtube Channel at the end of the game. “Tonight was a credit to the Town. It’s a massive club with great support. Living in the Town, I know how important the football club is to the people of this Town. It was our job firstly to make sure we got a result and put on a performance and we’ve done that. “ “We had a good first half but second half, they grew into the game, we lost a little bit of our shape. Once the third goal’s gone in, the game is done. Thank you to everyone that did turn up tonight! I hope they went home happy.” After a nervous ten minutes, Aber opened the scoring from the most unlikely of sources. A soft freekick was given just outside the centre circle inside the home side’s half. Quick thinking goalkeeper Chris Mullock spotted his opposite number off his line and proceeded to chip the ball home from over 65 yards away. “The first goal has always been important for us. It started with Chris [Mullock]’s wonderful goal that will be played time and time again over various social media up and down the land and deservedly so. It’s a great bit of skill and vision from him and then to execute it was fantastic. That set us up." Club stalwart and leading goalscorer Geoff Kellaway added a second a minute later before striker Luke Borrelli added two more in the second half to cap a memorable night for all at the ground. Earlier in the evening, a celebration of the new pitch took place in the John Charles lounge with many important dignitaries and ex players joining together to usher in a new era for the club. A man who was credited with the advancement of Town off the field was chairman Tony Bates. A major driving force behind the project, his vision and determination has allowed Aberystwyth Town Football Club to become a much-revered facility. Bishop too was keen to publicly praise the chairman for allowing his side to have such a facility to push his side on. “We’ve got to give great credit to Tony [Bates], the board and everyone that’s put this project together. We’ve got such a great pitch and it can help make Park Avenue a fortress. We trained on it in the week and I know it inspired the players and they liked the surface. This was the first time many of the players had been here. It was wonderful to be home.” Watch the full interview with Mathew Bishop, plus additional interviews with Luke Borrelli and Chris Mullock on Aber Town's Youtube Channel here. Highlights on Friday night's game will be shown on S4C's Sgorio programme this evening at 6.30pm, and will subsequently be available online, linked from our fixtures page. Aberystwyth Town FC are reflecting on a historic night at Park Avenue. Club Officials knew that the launch of the new 3G Pitch was going to be a big night and a Launch Event in the John Charles Lounge at 6pm attracted 150 of the great and the good who have been closely involved in the development. University of Aberystwyth Students were also able to claim free entry to the game thanks to a Sponsorship deal. What the Club never anticipated was the huge crowd the match would attract. The Marketing Team were hoping for a crowd of around 750, but the crowds keep coming and coming until the ticker reached four figures - and with queues going round the block the crowd kept on growing until it reached the incredible figure of 1168. This is the 18th biggest attendance in the 23 year history of the Dafabet WPL and only 39 short of Aber Town's all time highest WPL attendance of 1207 set on 27th August 2000. The game of course went fully to plan with an incredible 65 yard opener from Keeper Chris Mullock stunning the Dias Stand, followed by further strikes from Geoff Kellaway and Luke Borrelli (two) mean that Matthew Bishop's men truly rose to the occasion and thrilled the enormous crowd with some clinical finishing. A good run in the five subsequent home games in October and November will set the Black and Greens up for a late run at the hallowed Top Six come the split in mid January. We have received some wonderful feedback on the night via social media, for example: "A very passionate club full of passionate supporters": Elizabeth Evans "@aberystwythtown celebrate state of the art 3G pitch with heartfelt speeches and a euphonic Sgarmes. Icing on the cake was 4-0 win againtst Rhyl": Mark Williams MP "Last night was special! 1000 plus crowd, four goals, goalkeeper scoring, pride, passion and belief! Welcome home @aberystwythtown": Matthew Wallace "Brilliant night at @aberystwythtown. Thanks for having us": Tamsin "Felt bad you let us in for free so bought a scarf, will be back again, great football on show tonight!" : Jjmoogle "I best not wake up tomorrow and find that all of tonight was a dream! 4 goals, clean sheet and a keeper scoring. Dreams do become reality!": Mart Smith The truth is that the Club couldn't have dreamed last night any better, and we on the Marketing Team now aim to harness and retain the huge interest and enthusiasm shown last night. If you were at the game thanks for coming: if you enjoyed it let us know: and of course ... come down again next Sunday! Thomas Crockett Aberystwyth Town FC Marketing Director tcrockettinterlinkrct@hotmail.co.uk A photo report of last night's game by Club Photographer Chris Howells can be seen here. Dafabet Welsh Premier League
Friday 14th October Aberystwyth Town 4 Rhyl 0 Tonight's 4-0 win over Rhyl this evening will doubtless live long in the memory as a game which had everything!! The match marked the official opening of our fantastic new 3G facility and thus attracted a bumper crowd of 1,168 and boy were they treated to a game! A 60 yard chip from goalkeeper Chris Mullock, a headed goal from Geoff Kellaway, record crowds and a red card will surely continue to fill stands on matchdays. Excitement was at fever pitch as the players entered the arena and this translated onto the field with a frantic opening 10 minutes of box to box action. The Black and Greens looked most likely to score with Kellaway and Luke Borrelli testing the waters early on. But it was from the most unlikely of sources that the breakthrough came on 19 minutes, loanee goalkeeper Chris Mullock chipping his opposite number from almost 60 yards out. Shaken by this, Rhyl's defence conceded a cheap free-kick in a dangerous area just two minutes later. Step up the influential Chris Jones to whip in an inch perfect ball to find the head of Kellaway who's flying header doubled the lead, sending the crowd into raptures. The visitors did little to threaten the resolute Aber defence, Mullock only tested once with a shot from distance. It seemed the second half would pass without incident, Aber content with their 2-0 lead and Rhyl posing no real danger. That was until a quickfire double from Luke Borrelli sparked the game back into life, on 76 and 78 minutes. The first was a result of tireless pressing play forcing the Rhyl 'keeper into a mistake and sending the Aber striker through on goal, finishing in the empty net with aplomb. The second required a sublime bit of skill to round the hapless goalkeeper before rifling into the net for 4-0. An outburst of Rhyl frustration resulted in them being reduced to 10 men, with Alex Jones receiving a straight red on 88 minutes as the game came to a thrilling conclusion. What a stunning match to mark a special occasion for everyone involved at this historic football club. The thrilling action is sure to leave rafts of tonight's attendance begging for more, and they don't have long to wait! Our next home match is only a week away! The club would like to issue a huge thanks to the dignitaries that attended our opening ceremony and to the supporters for turning up in your droves! Dafabet Welsh Premier League Friday 14th October (ko 7.45pm) Aberystwyth Town v Rhyl Excitement is mounting in Ceredigion ahead of Aberystwyth Town's return to Park Avenue for Fridays nights' big Dafabet Welsh Premier League Clash against Rhyl FC. The long wait is nearly at and end and after a Club record seventeen away games in a row, the Black and Greens will finally return home to a majestic state of the art 3G Surface. Aber Town's nomadic season so far is very much a case of how you look at things. Despite sitting in eleventh spot a positive outlook would note that having played eight of their eleven away pre-split games (and Champions TNS twice) Aber are just four points short of the Play Offs - and a win on Friday night will put Matthew Bishop's men within a point of the magic dotted line. Nine points from 8 away games represents the fourth best away record in the League (based on points per game), and with a full squad available to them Aber have won three from four this season. Fortunately that will be the case again on Friday and a huge crowd is expected to have new look Park Avenue creaking at the seams, with a vocal Dias Stand hopefully roaring the Black and Greens to a positive result. Rhyl of course won't make things easy for Aber and they have take advantage of the fact that six of their first eight games were at home to rack up fourteen points to date, placing them in fourth place in the Dafabet WPL as things stand. However, the Men in Black and Green now have a unique opportunity to kick start their season and create a huge buzz on the field to match the excitement off it. Cambrian Printers will be the Match Sponsors and guests in the Executive Lounge on Friday night, while Morrisons are kindly sponsoring the 3G Opening Ceremony. Having renewed their partnership with the Club, All Staff, Students and Open Day visitors from Aberystwyth University will be allowed in for Free on Friday to celebrate the strong relationship and start to the new term on a high. Admission prices have been frozen once again this year at £6 for Adults, £4 Concession and £1 for Children so value for money is guaranteed. Kick off is at 7.45pm - but large queues are expected - so come early. It's Good to be Home!! Aberystwyth Town FC hosted the first-ever match on Park Avenue’s new 3G pitch last Friday with a ‘Play With The Legends’ match, including the likes of Glyndwr Hughes, Aneurin Thomas, Gari Lewis, Donald Kane, Kevin Morrison, Nigel Nicholas, Gavin Allen, Andy Evans, Richard Morgan and Sion Meredith. Also playing were current Town Manager Matthew Bishop and Assistant Manager Wayne Jones, Mike Harris, Dylan Morris, Barri Rowlands, Peter Williams, Richard Lucas, Mel Evans, Martin Harris, Kevin Lewis, Tony Brauer, Ritchie Jones, Robbie Jones, Mark Hughes, Stan Richards, Peter Evans, Stephen Jones, Iwan Roberts and Paul Coyne. The Match will be officiated by Paul Morgan. A link with the past was ensured as the first kick on the new pitch was taken by 91 year old Aberystwyth Town supporter John Bitchell, who has been following the Club 86 years to date (see photo, left). Club Director Anthony Evans' son Peter made history by scoring the first-ever goal on the new 3G pitch, with Aneurin Thomas and Matthew Bishop also scoring in a 3-1 win for Rob Berner’s Team. Sion Meredith replied for Emyr Jones’ side. The Club thanks all the participants and looks forward to the next Legends Game once the legs have recovered! A new era dawns at Park Avenue on Friday evening with the long awaited Official launch of Aberystwyth Town's new once in a lifetime, £660,000 UEFA-standard, full-sized, floodlit Tiger Turf 3G football pitch, funded by the UEFA and the FAW's Hat Trick fund, to coincide with Aber's first home game in this year's Dafabet Welsh Premier League, at home to Rhyl (ko 7.45pm). The Launch marks the culmination of three years work by Club Officials on a project which will transform the Club into a seven days a week business. A "Play With The Legends " match held last weekend represented a successful trial of the surface which the Club can confirm is now up and ready for business. It's fair to say that major facility projects such as the new 3G pitch at Aberystwyth Town FC don't come around that often; nor do they happen by chance. ATFC Chairman, Tony Bates, the inspiration and driving force behind the ambitious project proclaimed, 'I am thrilled that after overcoming so many hurdles, this project has finally come to fruition. There is no question that the Club and wider-community will all benefit greatly from this much-needed facility. I am genuinely excited at the prospect of welcoming as many participants as possible to take advantage of this unique, international-standard pitch and hope to see football in the area progress as a consequence.' Mr Bates added, 'the Club sees the new pitch as a catalyst in helping achieve its longer term objectives and certainly player development and recruitment are both important elements that will be enhanced by having such a high-quality surface on which to train and play.' 3G or artificial grass pitches have come a long way in design, manufacture and technology since their earlier introduction in the 1980s. Modern 3G pitches now provide players with a surface many would argue is superior to grass. Newly appointed Facility Manager, Frank Rowe observed, '3G has all the benefits of a traditional grass surface but without the drawbacks. In an area with very high rain fall, the excellent drainage 3G provides allows the playing surface to remain consistent throughout the year. Furthermore, the pitch can be played on virtually continuously due to the fact that the surface does not cut up or become warn as with grass. Such playing qualities have made 3G pitches extremely popular across Britain and given the number of times water-logged pitches have prevented games and training in the region, Aberystwyth is extremely fortunate to now have its own.' Mr Rowe commented further, "Aberystwyth Town FC are keen that the 3G surface benefits the wider community and we aim to roll out facility and programme opportunities to as many participants as possible. We want to encourage local clubs, schools, events, College and University groups to take advantage of the all-weather surface. All too often training and games in the locality are cancelled due to water-logged pitches or the lack of access to a quality surface. The 3G pitch will enable many more participants to enjoy playing on a quality surface, which will also encourage increased technical development across all age groups. It is also worth emphasising that it is not only football that can be played on the pitch. So long as participants have the correct footwear, a number of sports can train on the pitch if not play competitive games. To ascertain suitability of your activity, contact me at the email address provided below". ATFC have entered into a partnership with Leisure Leagues, a 6-a-side football, small-sided game provider and will be running an exciting league on Monday nights. To enter a team and get to play on the new surface why not visit the Leisure Leagues' website and sign up? We are hoping to extend this provision and welcome suggestions for additional time slots during the day. The Club has had a great deal of interest in hiring out the pitch. Indeed, many of the prime time slots have already been filled so to avoid disappointment, please contact the Facility Manager ASAP at 3gbookings@atfc.org.uk or tel. 07400500442 to make an enquiry. To learn more about the 3G Facility or to make bookings please visit the 3G site here. |
Gem Nesaf
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Ebost / Email: AberTownFC@live.co.uk
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© 2023 Aberystwyth Town Football Club. All Rights Reserved
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Cyfeiriad / Address: ATFC Ltd, Park Avenue, Aberystwyth, SY23 1PG.
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