Don't Go Back....... - Mission: Lower League Legend

[neilhoskins77]

'Don't go back'. That's what they say, right? Maybe it was somewhere that you had poor service. Maybe it was a girlfriend you had in the past who is still on the scene. Maybe it was somewhere you had a bad experience, a holiday possibly. This rule doesn't seem to apply in football however. The history of the game is littered with examples of players and managers returning to scenes of former glory, with varying degree's of success, and failure, the second time around. Now these board's will have a return of their own, as I revisit the local area of one of the most enjoyable spells I've had while documenting saves.

My first ever save on this section of the Forum as Manager of my hometown club, Cwmbran Town. That save became a 'sugar daddy' game when the club was taken over by a rich Argentinian. The save only came to an end when my laptop bounced very unskillfully down my stairs, destroying the hard drive. While there have been some saves that I've really enjoyed since then, it's never quite been the same. I've left the game alone for around 6 weeks or so now, and waited until I've really wanted to play it before starting again. When it came to choosing a starting point, 'home' was the natural choice. Cwmbran is home to many football clubs, and one of them is in the area of the town where I grew up and lived until my move to the North East over 11 years ago now. Coed Eva Athletic play at Cwmbran Park, a ten minute walk from where I used to live, and couple of hundred yards up the road from Cwmbran Stadium, where Town play, and where Cwmbran Celtic also host their games, on the purpose built Celtic Park right outside the Stadium perimeter. Coed Eva Athletic, like Cwmbran Town, play in the Gwent County League Division One. They're my starting point this time around.....

'Don't go back'.......we'll see about that......

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Season #1. 2013/14

July 2013.

The squad is an absolute blank canvas, not one player is officially signed to the club when I arrive at the beginning of July. The staff at the club are not exactly top class, and I make the decision early that I'll bring in my own backroom staff. The Board has expectations of the club achieving a mid table finish this season, while also getting into the Second Round of the FAW Trophy. While those are pretty realistic ambitions for this club, my own ambitions are a bit more lofty, and I'd like to build a team and staff to match those ambitions.

Mark Fish, who was the clubs Chief Scout, and Lloyd Pratt, the current Assistant Manager, were both relieved of their duties by the end of the morning of my first day at the club. By the time the day was out, three of the 'greys' who had been at the club were signed up on amateur contracts, and the process of building the playing squad was underway. The first pre-season fixture is a bit over two weeks away for us. Over the next few days, the gaps in the backroom staff were gradually filled. 35 year old Tom Richards took the job of Chief Scout, while 37 year old midfielder, Dylan McPhee, was convinced to leave Rhayader Town of the Cymru Alliance, the second tier of Welsh football. Clearly he wouldn't make that dramatic drop through the League's simply for playing reasons, but the chance to be a Player/Assistant Manager was enough for him to sign up.

It was a busy couple of weeks before the opening pre-season game, of which there are five scheduled, four at home, and the final one on Sunday 11th August. The following week should see us kick off the season properly with an FAW Trophy match, and the League begins on the final day of the month. A squad of sixteen has been assembled in time for our opening pre-season match, and it's hoped there will be additions to that in the coming days and weeks, as there are still gaps that need to be filled. I think this is a good time to introduce you to the squad members that have arrived so far......

[neilhoskins77]

*:- Please note, as the Lower Welsh Leagues are an expansion in the game, the career appearances and goals will not be accurate for most players*

Goalkeepers :-

Darren Bakker. 30 yrs old. Right Footed. 6'4. Welsh. 14st 0lbs. Goalkeeper.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 0. Career Goals : 0.

Previous Clubs : Cemaes Bay (Cymru Alliance). Signed : Free Transfer (20/7/13).

The only Senior keeper at the club at this point, didn't arrive at the club until the morning of the first pre-season match. Quick reflexes, but with no Senior football under his belt, this season will be a learning curve for Darren.

Defenders :-

Jason Price. 37 years old. Right Footed. 6'4. Welsh. 14st 6lbs. Centre Back, Sweeper.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 70. Career Goals : 4.

Previous Clubs : Haverfordwest County (WPL), Cwmbran Town (WPL), RTB Ebbw Vale (WPL), Carmarthen Town (WPL), Weston-Super-Mare (Evo-Stik Southern D1SW), Merthyr Tydfil (Evo-Stik Southern D1SW), Cinderford Town (Evo-Stik Southern D1SW), Cwmbran Celtic (Welsh League Div 3), Caerleon (Welsh League Div 1). Signed : Free Transfer from Caerleon (17/7/13).

Uber experienced veteran centre back, who has played much higher up the Welsh Leagues for many years, as well as experience of the English lower levels too. Was Player/Assistant Manager at Caerleon, but wasn't part of their plans for the coming season following their relegation last season, and we snapped him up.

Craig Sampson. 27 years old. Right Footed. 6'1. Welsh. 13st 0lbs. Centre Back.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 0. Career Goals : 0.

Previous Clubs : Cardiff Corinthians (Welsh League Div 2). Signed : Free Transfer from Cardiff Corinthians (17/7/13).

A reliable centre back, but nothing much beyond that. Craig is your old fashioned 'win the ball, and get rid of it' type of defender. Fate means he will play for us for the first time against the club we signed him from, just three days after the deal was done.

Antony Bishop. 17 years old. Left Footed. 5'10. Welsh. 11st 6lbs. Left Back, Left Wing Back, Left Midfielder.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 0. Career Goals : 0.

Previous Clubs : None. Signed : From 'Grey' (2/7/13).

Signed up after being a 'grey' at the club. This will be Antony's first season of Senior football, and while efforts continue to bring in an experienced left back, they may find that Antony is tougher competition than they expect for the First Team spot.

Midfielders :-

Geraint Goodridge. 29 years old. Right Footed. 5'9. Welsh. 12st 1lbs. Defensive Midfielder.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 43. Career Goals : 2.

Previous Clubs : Port Talbot Town (WPL), Gwynfi United (Welsh League Div 1), Maesteg Park (Welsh League Div 1), Stirling Albion (Scottish League Div 1), Aberystwyth Town (WPL), Cwmbran Town (WPL), Pen-Y-Bont (Welsh League Div 1), Pontypridd Town (Welsh League Div 3), Goytre United (Welsh League Div 1). Signed : Free Transfer from Goytre United (18/7/13).

Combative midfielder who once earned himself a move to the third tier in Scotland, but has primarily played in the higher reaches of the Welsh Leagues. Will tackle all day, but lacks ability once he wins possession of the ball.

Frank Oppong. 26 years old. Right Footed. 6'1. Ghanaian/Welsh. 13st 7lbs. Defensive Midfielder.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 8. Career Goals : 0.

Previous Clubs : Cardiff Bay Harlequins (WPL). Signed : Free Agent (19/7/13).

Very similar player to Geraint, but has a bit more size to back up his tenacious style. Expected to be one of the clubs leaders this season, and is in the frame to be Club Captain.

Lee Matthews. 34 years old. Right Footed. 5'8. Welsh. 11st 4lbs. Right Midfielder.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 133. Career Goals : 4.

Previous Clubs : Barry Town (WPL), Cwmbran Town (WPL), Rhayader Town (WPL), Llanelli Town (WPL), Port Talbot Town (WPL), Ton Pentre (Welsh League Div 1), Newtown (WPL), Cambrian & Clydach Vale (Welsh League Div 1). Signed : Free Transfer from Cambrian & Clydach Vale (15/7/13).

Hugely experienced wide player, with his entire career spent in the top two tiers of Welsh football up to now. Returns to Cwmbran for the second time, after a spell with Cwmbran Town in the past. Stil quick off the mark, but has lost a yard or two of top speed in recent years.

Gavin Kinsey. 29 years old. Right Footed. 6'2. Welsh. 13st 3lbs. Right Midfielder.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 23. Career Goals : 0.

Previous Clubs : Afan Lido (WPL), TATA Steel (Welsh League Div 1). Signed : Free Transfer from TATA Steel (20/7/13).

Another player who didn't confirm his signing until the morning of the game against Cardiff Corinthians. With more size and grit to his game, Gavin offers an alternative to Lee when defence is a requirement. That's not to say he can't be a threat going forward, as he's quicker than Lee, but not as good a crosser of the ball.

Dylan McPhee. 37 years old. Right Footed. 5'10. Welsh. 11st 0lbs. Centre Midfielder.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 194. Career Goals : 21.

Previous Clubs : Rhayader Town (WPL), Camarthen Town (WPL), Newtown (WPL), Caersws (WPL). Signed : Free Transfer from Rhayader Town (7/7/13).

The club's Player/Assistant Manager, a role that convinced him to drop down the League's and sign for us from Rhayader Town. Another player with huge WPL experience, but also another who is more adept at the physical side of the game than he is at the technical side.

Ryan Dorrian. 30 years old. Right Footed. 5'7. Welsh. 10st 12lbs. Centre Midfielder.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 109. Career Goals : 2.

Previous Clubs : Newport County (Evo-Stik Southern, Premier Div), Rhayader Town (WPL), Clevedon Town (Evo-Stik Southern D1W), Merthyr Tydfil (Evo-Stik Southern D1W), Cwmbran Town (WPL), Bath City (Evo-Stik Southern, Premier Div), Mangotsfield United (Evo-Stik Southern, Premier Div), Barry Town United (Welsh League Div 1). Signed : Free Transfer from Barry Town United (17/7/13).

Likely to be the clubs playmaker, and the man looking to spark the club going forward. Doesn't get as many goals as he should, but his experience at higher levels speaks for itself, and he would be expected to be far to good for the Gwent County League.

Marc Lloyd. 30 years old. Right Footed. 5'9. Welsh. 10st 1lbs. Centre Midfielder, Attacking Midfielder, Striker.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 33. Career Goals : 8.

Previous Clubs : Garden Village (Welsh League Div 1). Signed : Free Transfer from Garden Village (17/7/13).

A candidate to be pitched into the attacking midfield role and profit from Ryan's creativity. Has a good goalscoring record for the small amount of games he has played, though his lack of size may make it more difficult for him to get amongst the goals with us.

Geraint Owen. 18 years old. Right Footed. 6'0. Welsh. 12st 12lbs. Attacking Midfielder.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 0. Career Goals : 0.

Previous Clubs : None. Signed : From 'Grey' (2/7/13).

Geraint has the physical stature that Marc lacks. One of the trio of 'greys' that I signed up on the first day, Geraint may be the best of them, and it may be a matter of time before he establishes himself in the First Team.

Strikers :-

Jodie Jenkins. 33 years old. Right Footed. 5'5. Welsh. 10st 7lbs. Striker.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 171. Career Goals : 50.

Previous Clubs : Barry Town (WPL), Cwmbran Town (WPL), The New Saints (WPL), Croseyceiliog (Welsh League Div 1), Haverfordwest County (WPL). Signed : Free Transfer from Croseyceiliog (15/7/13).

A bit of a local legend of Cwmbran football, was part of the all conquering Barry Town squad, before returning to Cwmbran for a spell with the fallen giants from down the road. Was also part of the early success with TNS. Has bought in to what we hope to achieve at Cwmbran Park, and moves here from across town club, Croseyceiliog, where he was Player/Assistant Manager, but not getting much game time.

Tinashe Mutanha. 36 years old. Right Footed. 6'1. Zimbabwean/Welsh. 16st 3lbs. Striker.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 12. Career Goals : 0.

Previous Clubs : Lex XI (Cymru Alliance), Airbus UK Broughton (WPL), Penycae (Cymru Alliance). Signed : Free Transfer from Penycae (17/7/13).

A pure striker, and an all round team player. Combines immense size with a high skill level, and a great work ethic. At this level, it would be something of a surprise if the Harare born forward doesn't notch a decent amount of goals.

Shane Williamson. 31 years old. Right Footed. 6'1. Welsh. 13st 3lbs. Striker.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 60. Career Goals : 39.

Previous Clubs : Caerleon (Welsh League Div 1), Cwmbran Town (WPL), Tredegar Town (Welsh League Div 2), Cwmbran Celtic (Welsh League Div 2). Signed : Free Transfer from Cwmbran Celtic (17/7/13).

A goal record that speaks for itself, and a player who knows Gwent football very well, having played for both Cwmbran Town and Cwmbran Celtic. In fact, Celtic were playing here at Cwmbran Park when he was there, before moving down the road to Celtic Park, so it's a homecoming of sorts for Shane.

Huw Bennett. 17 years old. Right Footed. 5'10. Welsh. 11st 13lbs. Striker.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 0. Career Goals : 0.

Previous Clubs : None. Signed : From 'Grey' (2/7/13).

The final of the 'Grey' trio. I have high hopes that Huw will mature into a prolific striker for Coed Eva, but with three other quality strikers in the squad, it's likely to be for the Under-19's side in their age group League this season.

[jdoyle9293]

Now, this is something. LLM in British leagues other than England are great reads. Don't mind Cwmbran as a place, either. Definitely be following this one.

[neilhoskins77]

Good to have you along jdoyle. Hope you enjoy the story. You'll be pleased to know that there will not be a spelling test of Welsh football team names to check you're paying attention.

Saturday 20th July 2013 - Pre-Season Friendly.

Cwmbran Park, Cwmbran.

Coed Eva Athletic v Cardiff Corinthians.

(4-1-3-1-1) :- Darren Bakker; Geraint Goodridge, Jason Price (capt), Craig Sampson, Antony Bishop; Frank Oppong; Lee Matthews, Ryan Dorrian, Marc Lloyd; Geraint Owen; Tinashe Mutanha.

Substitutes :- Gavin Kinsey, Hywel Callaghan, Dylan McPhee, Jodie Jenkins, Shane Williamson, Huw Bennett.

And so, it begins. Cwmbran Park is, literally, a park. Sitting near the centre of town, and as mentioned, a few hundred yards up the road from the town's Stadium. For many years, this was the home of Cwmbran Celtic, who eventually out grew the park. Coed Eva Athletic then moved in, and we start our journey with a pre-season Friendly against a club from two steps up the ladder, Welsh League Division Two outfit, Cardiff Corries. We're slight underdogs for this match, but with the signings made, and the experience we have at the club, I believe we can shock them. There are no defenders on the bench for us, in fact, defensive midfielder Geraint Goodridge is pushed into an emergency right back role. With no left midfielder in the squad yet, Marc Lloyd plays in that role, allowing Geraint Owen a chance to impress in the attacking midfield position.

It was a bright start by us, and Geraint Owen rolled his marker well in the 15th minute. He played a ball into the right channel of the box for Tinashe Mutanha, but the big striker cut back inside onto his weaker left foot, and blasted his shot right at a defender. The players who had been available to train this week had been concentrating on the defensive aspects of what I expected, and it was working well, as the higher profile club were really struggling to break us down and get clear cut options on goal. When the visitors did find a route to goal, Jordan Sprudd reached a pass towards the far post, and cut the ball back across the goal face and inside the far post. His celebration was cut short by the assistant's flag though, and Corries struggle to create anything continued. With a little under ten minutes to the break, we opened the scoring. Geraint Goodridge took a short throw on the right, and the ball was worked infield, and eventually landed at the feet of Ryan Dorrian. Our midfielder showed his eye for a pass, threading the ball into the box and finding the feet of Lee Matthews. The winger had a crowd of players in front of him, and banking on the keeper being slow to see the ball, Lee hit a low drilled shot through the forest of legs, and found the net from 15 yards out. It could have been two before the break, Matthews sending in a cross from the right that Mutanha couldn't get enough on, and his header looked like it would go behind. One of the Corries defenders deceided to keep it in play though, and then lost the ball to Geraint Owen, who tried a shot from an impossible angle, and only found the side netting.

Half Time :- Coed Eva Athletic 1 Cardiff Corinthians 0

Goodridge took a knock late in the first half, and not wanting to risk him being out for any period of time, I brought him off at the break. With no defenders on the bench, it was the turn of right midfielder, Gavin Kinsey, to try his hand at right back. As a light drizzle started to fall, we got the second half underway on the front foot. Marc Lloyd curled a pass down the left flank, which Mutanha chased down. With support slow to arrive, he blasted an optimitsic effort towards goal, which replacement keeper, Robert Davies, struggled with, and only just managed to push onto his own post, before scooping it behind. Mutanha and Dorrian both came off in the 62nd minute, replaced by Jodie Jenkins and Dylan McPhee, and just two minutes later, Geraint Owen also took his leave, with Shane Williamson coming on to play out of position in the attacking midfield role. The changes didn't seem to impact on our nice short passing game, and the subs played their role in giving us some breathing room with a 65th minute goal. McPhee sent the ball wide to Lee Matthews, and the winger skipped past a tackle, before delivering a perfect cross to the near post. Veteran assistant manager, McPhee, had continued his run, and met the ball with a crashing header, the keeper had no chance. Marc Lloyd stung Robert Davies' hands with a free kick that the keeper couldn't handle, Matthews wasted the chance to get his name on the scoresheet for the second time, thumping the rebound straight at the keeper. When a corner was sent across in the 82nd minute, the Corries defenders threw themselves at the ball to prevent a third goal. Shane Williamson showed great composure, sending the ball back wide and into space for Frank Oppong. He got his reward too, when the Ghanaian got the ball back to him, this time with a yard of space, and Williamson showed how deadly he is in front of goal, sending his powerful shot in off the post to wrap up an excellent first outing of the season for the lads.

Coed Eva Athletic (1) 3 Cardiff Corinthians (0) 0

Scorers :- Lee Matthews (36), Dylan McPhee (65), Shane Williamson (82)

Darren Bakker; Geraint Goodridge (inj - Gavin Kinsey 45), Jason Price (capt), Craig Sampson, Antony Bishop; Frank Oppong; Lee Matthews, Ryan Dorrian (Dylan McPhee 62), Marc Lloyd; Geraint Owen (Shane Williamson 64); Tinashe Mutanha (Jodie Jenkins 62).

Attendance :- 92. Man of the Match :- Lee Matthews (Coed Eva).

[neilhoskins77]

I was hoping that match would act as a signal of our intentions, and show how competitive we would be when the League season got underway. Perhaps it was a little naive of me to hope it would help us attract some further new players, as the right back I'd been chasing gave us the knock back, instead signing for FC Nomads of Connah's Quay in the Welsh National League Division 1 instead. A highly rated and experienced centre back also had the option of playing at a much higher level, and signed for a Cymru Alliance club instead. Still, it was a productive week off the park, as six new signings were confirmed before our second pre-season match. Four of them would be available for the match, one is currently injured, and the final one signed too late to be considered for that game. With three more possible signings still to come, our squad is starting to look strong, and with some depth too.

William Ponissi. 30 years old. Right Footed. 6'3. Italian. 14st 6lbs. Goalkeeper.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 3. Career Goals : 0.

Previous Clubs : Pontypridd Town (Welsh League Div 1), Dinas Powys (Welsh League Div 2). Signed : Free Transfer from Dinas Powys (22/7/13).

Technically, a better keeper than Darren, but has a tendency to punch the ball more than he should. His lack of experience for his age didn't put us off pursuing him, and he will give Darren a run for his money for the keepers jersey.

Gareth Williams. 31 years old. Right Footed. 5'7. Welsh. 11st 6lbs. Right Back, Left Back, Right Midfield, Centre Midfield, Left Midfield, Striker.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 107. Career Goals. 14.

Previous Clubs : Gresford Athletic (Welsh National Premier Div), Wrexham (Sky Bet League 1), Rhyl (WPL), Bangor City (WPL), Welshpool Town (WPL), Cefn Druids (Cymru Alliance), Caersws (Cymru Alliance). Signed : Free Transfer from Gresford Athletic (25/7/13).

The epitomy of the term 'utility player', and for us, a much needed one. The Gresford Athletic fans were outraged that their club didn't do more to stop Gareth coming South to join us. His best position is right midfield, but he gives us plenty of options. Won't feature in pre-season due to a twisted ankle.

Lloyd Davies. 25 years old. Right Footed. 6'0. Welsh. 12st 10lbs. Centre Back.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 31. Career Goals : 2.

Previous Clubs : Merthyr Tydfil (Evo-Stik Southern Premier Div), Cwmbran Celtic (Welsh League Div 1). Signed : Free Transfer from Cwmbran Celtic (24/7/13).

Raided from close rivals Cwmbran Celtic, where he was a regular playing on this park before their move. A much needed centre back signing, who will look to oust Price or Sampson from their starting position.

William Davies. 35 years old. Left Footed. 5'11. Welsh. 12st 6lbs. Left Midfield.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 0. Career Goals : 0.

Previous Clubs : Newcastle Emlyn (Welsh League Div 3). Signed : Free Transfer from Newcastle Emlyn (24/7/13).

Don't be fooled by Will's age and lack of games. He still has a first touch and turn of pace that will cause issues for defenders at this level of football. His work rate is high, and he doesn't neglect the defensive aspect of the game.

Paul Davies. 36 years old. Right Footed. 5'10. Welsh. 13st 7lbs. Centre Midfield.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 0. Career Goals : 0.

Previous Clubs : Newcastle Emlyn (Welsh League Div 3). Signed : Free Transfer from Newcastle Emlyn (24/7/13).

Joins his long term team mate from Newcastle Emlyn in making the move to play for us. Capable of playing both the playmaker and ball winning roles of midfield, Paul is a class act with a football, and will likely be a key addition to our midfield.

Paul Mazarella. 32 years old. Right Footed. 5'11. Welsh/Italian. 12st 1lbs. Centre Midfield, Right Midfield, Attacking Midfield.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 248. Career Goals : 10.

Previous Clubs : Wrexham (Sky Bet League 1), Gap Connah's Quay (WPL), Cefn Druids (WPL), Penycae (Cymru Alliance), FC Cefn (Welsh National Premier Div). Signed : Free Transfer from Penycae (27/7/13).

Wrexham born, and a player who I believe can assist in taking us through the next few levels and still be effective. Took a fair amount of convincing to not only drop through the League's, but also make the move South. Doesn't get the goals his play deserves, something that may change in the Gwent County League.

Saturday 27th July 2013 - Pre-Season Friendly

Cwmbran Park, Cwmbran

Coed Eva Athletic v Abermule

(4-1-3-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Geraint Goodridge, Jason Price (capt), Craig Sampson, Antony Bishop; Frank Oppong; Lee Matthews, Ryan Dorrian, William Davies; Geraint Owen; Tinashe Mutanha.

Substitutes :- Lloyd Davies, Darren Bakker, Dylan McPhee, Paul Davies, Gavin Kinsey, Marc Lloyd, Jodie Jenkins, Shane Williamson, Huw Bennett.

A week after kicking off our adventure, we return to Cwmbran Park for our second pre-season friendly, against opposition of a similar calibre to last weekends game. This week, the visitors come from a bit further north, Abermule, which is in Powys. They compete in the Spar Mid Wales League 2, which is the fourth tier of football in Wales, one above us. Our new keeper gets his first opportunity to impress, while the back four remain the same, Geraint Goodridge continuing to fill in at right back with no recognised Senior alternative arriving at the club as yet. In the only other change to last weeks lineup, Marc Lloyd drops to the bench, and William Davies takes the role of left midfielder. The bench has filled out a little, with nine players available as substitutes today, Paul Mazarella has yet to arrive at the club, and Gareth Williams is injured.

I was expecting us to at least match the standard of performance we managed last week, and I wouldn't be disappointed with our start, as we dominated proceedings in the early stages, eventually making our advantage tell in the 13th minute. Antony Bishop did well on the left, before sliding his pass between defenders and into the path of William Davies. The new arrival, who as mentioned when introduced, isn't short of pace despite his veteran status, dropped his shoulder, and then took on his marker on the outside, earning enough room to get his cross in. The ball arrived at an awkward height for Tinashe Mutanha, but he improvised well, adjusting his body shape, and stooping to guide the ball inside the near post with his head, and net his first, albeit unofficial, goal for the club. I fully expected us to push on from there, but that didn't happen, as Abermule forced their way back into the game. Only a perfectly timed tackle from Craig Sampson prevented Kevin Jones from walking right in on goal almost right from kick off. Ten minutes later, and the visitors did unlock our defence. From a short throw on the right, a series of quick, short passes, allowed Jamie Williams to move towards goal. He didn't have an angle to shoot, instead passing neatly to Darren Holland, who swept his shot across goal and levelled the score midway through the half. I prowled the touchline, encouraging my players to get their heads back in the game, and reassert ourselves, which we did quickly. From right back, Goodridge lifted the ball forward, and visiting defender Matthew James had plenty of time to deal with the threat. He failed to do so, managing an awkward first touch, before appearing to stand on the ball. Mutanha didn't need a second invitation, swooping in on the stricken defender and stealing the ball, moving towards the box, and then lifting an accurate shot over Graham Pughe's head, and into the far corner of the net to restore our lead. With little more action in the first half, we held our lead at the break.

Half Time :- Coed Eva Athletic 2 Abermule 1

I used all bar one of my outfield subs at the break. Everyone from Frank Oppong forward was substituted, and Jason Price also came off after a pretty unspectacular opening half from the Captain. I was looking for the lads to resume the game with plenty of possession, but the match started to slide into a messy, error strewn affair. Bookings are not the norm in Friendly matches, but there were some tackles that were certainly worthy of some, and on the hour the ref lost his patience and started with a yellow card for sub centre back and debutant, Lloyd Davies. It turned out the yellow card was enough to get the players from both sides focused on the football again, and Paul Davies found Jodie Jenkins in plenty of room. The usually prolific striker showed some distinctly early season form however, firing right at sub keeper, Daniel Birch. The ball went straight back to Jenkins, and with Birth still on the floor, it looked like an easy finish, but Lee Idzi slid in, taking Jenkins off his feet, and from where I was standing, taking none of the ball whatsoever. The ref waved away our appeals for a spot kick though. Instead, Jenkins turned goal provider, as in the 79th minute, we wrapped up the game. Shane Williamson found Jenkins in acres of space around 30 yards from goal. The striker held the ball up, waiting for support, before lifting it over the heads of the defence, where Gavin Kinsey was arriving quickly. The technique from the winger was nothing short of outstanding, as he took the ball on the volley, and lashed it beyond the keeper, and high into the roof of the net. A knock for Jenkins a few moments later took the shine off the result, though did allow a short cameo appearance from young Huw Bennett. Another confident performance from our team, and they are coming together nicely, allowing just one shot on target from the visitors, although this week it did result in a goal against us.

Coed Eva Athletic (2) 3 Abermule (1) 1

Scorers : Tinashe Mutanha (13,29), Gavin Kinsey 79)

William Ponissi; Geraint Goodridge, Jason Price (capt - Lloyd Davies 45), Craig Sampson, Antony Bishop; Frank Oppong (Dylan McPhee 45); Lee Matthews (Gavin Kinsey 45), Ryan Dorrian (Paul Davies 45), William Davies (Marc Lloyd 45); Geraint Owen (Shane Williamson 45); Tinashe Mutanha (Jodie Jenkins 45 - inj, Huw Bennett 81)).

Attendance :- 73. Man of the Match :- Tinashe Mutanha (Coed Eva).

With the signing of Paul Mazarella already a done deal, I got news after the game that another player had committed himself to the club to join our assault on the Gwent County League. The following day, two more signed on the dotted line, and the squad was almost complete, except for what was proving to be an elusive right back. July had drawn to a close, and August arrived. It would bring with it the start of the new 2013/14 domestic season, one which I hoped would see this club manage to significantly increase it's profile in the game in Wales, which in turn, would do my profile as a rookie manager no harm at all.

[neilhoskins77]

August 2013 :

The first day of the month saw the local bookmakers publish their odds for the forthcoming season in the Gwent County League Division One. It came as a surprise to no-one that they had made Cwmbran Town the nailed on favourites for the Title. Down the road, Barry Hughes had brought some new blood into the club, though it's worth pointing out that he had lost some players too. I have my own personal doubts about Town's credentials as Title challengers, in fact, I considered our squad superior to theirs. The bookies didn't agree, in fact, they had picked out a group of clubs who they thought might have an outside chance of preventing Cwmbran from running away with this Division, and we didn't figure in that group either.....

1/5 Favourites - Cwmbran Town.

6/1 - Abertillery Excelsior, Albion Rovers, Fairfield, Newport Corinthians, P.I.L.C.S

40/1 - Abercarn United, Clydach Wasps, Coed Eva Athletic, Govilon, Panteg AFC, Pentwynmawr Athletic, Trethomas Bluebirds

1000/1 - AC Pontymister

5000/1 - Pill AFC.

Everything was set up for a very interesting season, with the League favourites only a heavily wind assisted goal kick away from us, Albion Rovers a little further down the dual carriageway on the way into Newport. Panteg and Fairfield are both also a short distance away if you head the other direction out of town and into the foot of the valleys. It's a County League, so no one is too far a distance from us, and rivalries can be easily developed. This club never gets any press coverage in the town, and we intend on changing that in the coming season. A one year kit sponsorship deal with a local firm brings £7,000 into the clubs coffers. That money was much needed, as while the club has no debt, and pays no rent as we are the freeholders for football at Cwmbran Park, there was just £50 in the pot before that sponsorship money arrived. The groundsman asks for his instructions for the pitch for the season, and he is told to make the markings short, and wide.

Our next pre-season friendly is scheduled for Saturday, but before that, the FAW hold the draw for Round One of the Welsh Trophy, currently held by Cymru Alliance club, Caernarfon Town. This is the only Cup competition we will participate in this season, and we intend to do as well as possible in it. The Board simply want us to make the next round, and are eager to see who we're pitted against. 328 clubs are in the hat from the first stage, and it was a long wait for us, as we were one of the later clubs drawn. It was worth the wait though, as we get a home tie against Johnston, an amateur club from the Pembroke League Division One. We'll fancy our chances of beating them when they arrive at Cwmbran Park on Saturday 17th August, in what will be our first competitive match of the season.

Speaking of arriving at Cwmbran Park, it's time for the third of our warm up matches for the season, so I should introduce you to the latest three players to become part of our squad for this season.....

Jamie Hillier. 33 years old. Left Footed. 5'8. Welsh. 10st 1lbs. Left Back.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 0. Career Goals : 0.

Previous Clubs : Caerleon (Welsh League Div 1). Signed : Free Transfer from Caerleon (28/7/13).

Newport born, and a one club player up until now. Jamie is a very competent left back, but we could do with him learning to be a bit more of an attacking threat. It would be surprising if he turns out to be anything other than a reliable player.

Fraser Williams. 24 years old. Left Footed. 5'10. Welsh. 11st 13lbs. Left Back, Left Wing Back.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 0. Career Goals : 0.

Previous Clubs : Tonyrefail BGC (South Wales Senior Div 1), Ton Pentre (Welsh League Div 1). Signed : Free Transfer from Ton Pentre (28/7/13).

Why do we need Fraser when we already have Antony, and now Jamie as well? The difference is that Fraser can also cover right back if needed to. Considerably more attack minded than Jamie, but not as good defensively, Fraser may find that right back is where he'll be used for the time being.

Dale Price. 30 years old. Right Footed. 5'4. Welsh. 10st 1lbs. Centre Midfield, Right Midfield, Left Midfield, Striker.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 59. Career Goals : 7.

Previous Clubs : Afan Lido (WPL), Gwynfi United (Welsh League Div 1), Carmarthen Town (WPL), Ton Pentre (Welsh League Div 1), Pen-Y-Bont (Welsh League Div 1), Caerau FC (Welsh League Div 2). Signed : Free Transfer from Caerau FC (27/7/13).

Capbale of playing anywhere on the park from midfield forwards, the diminutive playmaker has started to steadily drop down the Leagues in recent seasons. Hopefully that trend will reverse during his time with us at Coed Eva, though his versatility has possibly prevented him making more regular appearances at his former clubs.

Saturday 3rd August 2013 - Pre-Season Friendly

Cwmbran Park, Cwmbran

Coed Eva Athletic v Llandrindod Wells

(4-1-3-1-1):- William Ponissi; Geraint Goodridge, Jason Price (capt), Craig Sampson, Jamie Hillier; Frank Oppong; Lee Matthews, Ryan Dorrian, William Davies; Geraint Owen; Tinashe Mutanha.

Substitutes :- Fraser Williams, Darren Bakker, Antony Bishop, Lloyd Davies, Dylan McPhee, Paul Davies, Gavin Kinsey, Dale Price, Marc Lloyd, Paul Mazzarella, Shane Williamson, Jodie Jenkins.

Our penultimate home Friendly, and with another game scheduled in midweek, and a full bench this afternoon, I let the players know that they should expect wholesale changes at half time, so to make the most of the time they get on the park. I resisted the opportunity to start Fraser Williams at right back, keen to let him have his audition for the left back spot, so he starts on the bench, with Jamie Hillier getting the first half. For the second week in a row, our opposition comes from the Spar Mid Wales League 2, in the form of Llandrindod Wells.

It was a very quiet start to the match, with nothing happening of any note until the 33rd minute, when Geraint Parry caught Geraint Goodridge and Jason Price napping, and nipped between the two with the ball, but then sliced his shot way of target. As half time approached, the game seemed to be drifting aimlessly towards the interval, until Lee Matthews delivered a corner from the left, aiming for the far post, and finding Craig Sampson, who managed to hold off a Wells defender, and force the ball across the line and into the net from a few yards out. It was a half almost entirely without goalmouth action, but we held a slender lead, and I was ok with that.

Half Time :- Coed Eva Athletic 1 Llandrindod Wells 0

As promised to the players, there were changes galore at the break, ten to be exact, with everyone who started except Jason Price coming off. Fraser Williams got his chance to impress at left back, with Antony Bishop asked to do a job at right back for the second half. It crossed my mind that while Geraint Goodridge has done a decent job filling it at the back, he hasn't yet had his chance to stake his claim in the defensive midfield role he is most adept at, and that is something I'll need to look at in our two remaining games. For now, Dylan McPhee plays there in the second half, Marc Lloyd plays centre midfield to allow Paul Mazzarella to play the attacking midfield role, Dale Price gets his first outing on the left wing, and Shane Williamson will play up front.

If the first half was short of action to get excited about, the opening spell of the second half didn't look like it was going to be much different. It was becoming frustrating to watch, and became even more so in the 58th minute when Wells found an equaliser. Their keeper, Michael Smolka sent a long goal kick up the park, and while Lloyd Davies did well to win it in the air, he didn't take too much care about where his header went. It fell to Leighton Delaney around 30 yards from goal, and the sub angled a pass quickly into the space in front of John Williams, and he lifted his shot over the advancing Darren Bakker and squared the match. In the 70th minute, we were unlucky not to retake the lead. Marc Lloyd lifted a free kick towards the far right corner of their penalty box, where Jason Price won his aerial battle to head the ball down. On a hard and bouncy surface, Paul Mazzarella just couldn't get the ball to sit for him, eventually getting in a shot that thumped the right upright with the sub keeper, Lewis Mainwaring, beaten. The ball bounced back into play, where Gavin Kinsey latched onto it and sent it right back towards the goal, Mainwaring doing a great job to get down to push that one around the post. Fraser Williams sent in the resulting corner from the left, Jason Price throwing himself at it, and failing to get the required contact on the ball by the slimmest of margins, Mainwaring gratefully clutching the ball. Our visitors attempted to apply some pressure in the final moments of the match, but it was pleasing to see us defend resoloutely, and then launch an 88th minute counter attack, Kinsey sending the overlapping Antony Bishop into space, and the teenager sent in a cross on the run with his weaker right foot, picking out Mazzarella, who struck the frame of the goal for the second time in the half, this time rattling the cross bar with a header that he did well to direct towards goal while being pressured by two defenders. Frustrating that we were not able to claim another win against higher League opposition, but very encouraging that we once more allowed our more illustrious opposition just a single shot on target, which has now been the case in each of our three Friendly matches to date. Sometimes I need to remember that we're actually the lower League side in these matches.

Coed Eva Athletic (1) 1 Llandrindod Wells (0) 1

Scorers : Craig Sampson (41)

William Ponissi (Darren Bakker 45); Geraint Goodridge (Antony Bishop 45), Jason Price (capt), Craig Sampson (Lloyd Davies 45), Jamie Hillier (Fraser Williams 45); Frank Oppong (Dylan McPhee 45); Lee Matthews (Gavin Kinsey 45), Ryan Dorrian (Marc Lloyd 45), William Davies (Dale Price 45); Geraint Owen (Paul Mazzarella 45); Tinashe Mutanha (Shane Williamson 45).

Attendance :- 70. Man of the Match :- Craig Sampson (Coed Eva).

[neilhoskins77]

The right back we were chasing was spotted at our match on Saturday, and also enjoying a drink with the players after the match. For now though, that's as far as it went, he as yet, has not given a commitment to Coed Eva Athletic, or reached an agreement with his current club for transfer of his registration.

It would be a week of 'first's', our first midweek fixture, and for the first time, we're on the road too, as we board the bus and head down the M4 to take on Neath Premier Division club, Park Travellers FC. On the morning of that match, Chris Coleman picked his first Wales squad of the new season for a Friendly with Montenegro. He's been heavily criticised for including Southampton midfielder, Lloyd Isgrove, who has yet to make a Senior appearance and was himself shocked to be called up. Even more controversial, in the eyes of the press at least, was the inclusion of Ash Taylor, a 22 year old centre back with Sky Bet League 1 club, Tranmere Rovers. The nations media believe that going that far down the League's for players shows the inherent lack of quality that currently exists in the Wales setup. Still, the Wales setup is far above and beyond the level I need to worry about right now.

Wednesday 7th August 2013 - Pre-Season Friendly

The Welfare Ground, Neath

Park Travellers AFC v Coed Eva Athletic

(4-1-3-1-1) :- Darren Bakker; Fraser Williams, Lloyd Davies, Craig Sampson, Jamie Hillier; Geraint Goodridge; Lee Matthews, Ryan Dorrian (capt), William Davies; Paul Mazzarella; Shane Williamson.

Substitutes :- Antony Bishop, William Ponissi, Jason Price, Frank Oppong, Dylan McPhee, Paul Davies, Gavin Kinsey, Dale Price, Marc Lloyd, Geraint Owen, Tinashe Mutanha, Jodie Jenkins.

It was a bit of a shock to arrive in Neath and find a full blown stadium setup where we would be hosted for this midweek evening kick off. It was soon explained that this was only the Park Travellers temporary home, the caravans must have been down the road. The Welfare Ground is actually the home of Seven Sisters FC, but this ground is being used while some work is done to our hosts usual ground. This ground could have done with some work on the pitch, which was in a pretty dire state. The wings were not so bad, but the middle of the park and both goalmouths were rutted and short of grass. Darren Bakker is in goal for this game, with Fraser Williams starting at right back to help with some match fitness. Lloyd Davies partners Craig Sampson at centre back, while Paul Mazzarella sits behind Shane Williamson at the other end of the park. With a full bench now, our teenage striker, Huw Bennett, is sent back to the Under-19's to continue his preparation for the season.

In our away strip of black shirts for this match, and greeted out of the changing rooms by a fairly heavy summer downpour which didn't help the state of the pitch at all, the game started badly, as Jamie Hillier needed to be helped from the pitch within two minutes, replaced by young Antony Bishop. The teenage replacement would be in the wars himself before long, picking up a knock in the 14th minute, but braved it out. There was nothing else to report in the opening 25 minutes, and we were made to wish that the remainder of the first half had been that way too. Goalkeeper for the hosts was John Doyle, who lifted a long goal kick deep into our half in the 26th minute, which Wyn Powell got to, and flicked on. His effort to help the ball on was enough to take it over Lloyd Davies head, and find Carl Sprudd, who raced in on goal, and slotted the opener low past Darren Bakker. We weren't playing well, and were punished again in the 41st minute. Wyn Powell again claimed the assist, taking control of the ball with his back to goal, holding off Geraint Goodridge, and sliding his pass into the path of Rob James, who took one touch to control the ball, and then a second to curl it low into the far corner. Needless to say, I was fairly unimpressed with my side's first half display. For the first time we'd conceded more than one shot on target. The Travellers had managed two, and both had found the net.

Half Time :- Park Travellers AFC 2 Coed Eva Athletic 0

I tried to keep in mind that the match was a Friendly before laying into my players first half showing, opting for the assertive rather than aggressive tone. I then changed all of my five forward players from midfield through to striker, plus took off Antony Bishop, who was still struggling with his knock. Fraser Williams moved to left back, Geraint Goodridge went to right back, and Frank Oppong came on in the defensive midfield role.

The change in the game was immediate, and Paul Davies quickly started to run the show in the middle of the park. Just three minutes into the second half, he played in a pass to Marc Lloyd, who then sent an outrageous backheel to the edge of the box, where Jodie Jenkins had an early pop at goal, but missed the target by a foot or two. We continued to force the issue, and on the hour, got ourselves back into the match. Jenkins attempt at goal from 25 yards out was partially blocked, but only went to the feet of Dale Price out on the left wing. He whipped his cross to the near post area, Marc Lloyd slammed it inside the near post to net for the first time in a Coed Eva jersey. We had control of the game, and a second goal looked inevitable. It came in the 63rd minute, Frank Oppong and Paul Davies linking well in midfield, Lloyd directing Jenkins into the space, and the striker turned his defender inside out, before planting his shot high into the top corner of the net. I really wanted my players to push on and finish the job now, and they didn't disappoint in that, though they got a huge helping hand. In the 77th minute, the Lloyd and Jenkins combination once again caused an issue, and Lloyd played the striker in for a run in on goal. No doubt frustrated by the second half collapse of the Travellers, their centre back, Michael Bromley did a hatchet job on our striker, kicking him right up in the air as he made his way into the penalty area. Friendly or not, it could be nothing other than a red card, and a penalty. Jenkins picked himself up, and showed no ill effects from his crash landing, finding the opposite top corner to the one he hit around quarter of an hour previously. Some fighting spirit was required for the first time since I took charge, and we showed it, coming away with a win that looked fairly unlikely at the break.

Park Travellers AFC (2) 2 Coed Eva Athletic (0) 3

Scorers : Marc Lloyd (60), Jodie Jenkins (63,78 pen)

Darren Bakker; Fraser Williams, Lloyd Davies, Craig Sampson, Jamie Hillier (inj - Antony Bishop 2 (inj - Frank Oppong 45)); Geraint Goodridge; Lee Matthews (Gavin Kinsey 45), Ryan Dorrian (capt - Paul Davies 45), William Davies (Dale Price 45); Paul Mazzarella (Marc Lloyd 45); Shane Williamson (Jodie Jenkins 45).

Attendance :- 74. Man of the Match :- Jodie Jenkins (Coed Eva).

It was mixed emotions on the bus back into Cwmbran after that match. I was delighted that we'd shown we can come good when the chips were down, as we would certainly need that quality if we were going to make this a successful season. However, I was very annoyed that I'd lost not one, but two left backs to injury this evening. Antony Bishop has bruised ribs, and will miss two weeks, while Jamie Hillier has a gashed leg, which will keep him out of action for around 3 weeks. While neither injury was directly attributed to the poor playing surface, I still had a quiet word with my assistant manager, Dylan McPhee. I explained to him that I was aware he hadn't arranged that match, and that I wasn't laying any blame at his door, but for future reference, I didn't want us voluntarily playing on pitches like that where the risk of injury was higher than normal. We would come across enough awkward surfaces through the natural progression of the League and Cup fixture list, lets not make our life anymore difficult. He understood where I was coming from. Still, a text message received meant I'd be in a better mood the following day.....

[EvilDave]

Neil back in Wales, it was always meant to be. Good to have you back and on familiar soil, and a nice little start you seem to have made too. Big fan of your detailed yet easy-going style, consider me following!

[neilhoskins77]

Good to have you along EvilDave, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. It's certainly nice to be back in familiar surroundings.

It was an early start for me on the Thursday morning, as I had a breakfast meeting with the sender of last night's text message. It was the right back that we'd been trying to persuade to join us for some time. He explained that his defection from his previous club to us had caused some ill feeling, and that we should be aware that the club would potentially look to even the score down the line. I told him to let me worry about that, and that I was glad to have him on board. I saw him again at training that night, where a copy of the evening paper was given to me. It appeared as though the landscape of the Gwent County League was changing somewhat in this final run in to the new season. Panteg AFC had a group of supporters who were disgruntled with their Chairman at the club, Scott Roberts. The disgruntled group created a fans trust, and quickly reached agreement to buy Roberts out, the club now to be headed by Gavin Price. What impact this would have on the club remained to be seen. Further east, in Abergavenny, and altogether different type of takeover was taking place. Cydach Wasps have become the latest UK club to have a foreign owner, a consortium headed by Trabzon based Turkish businessman, Yahya Bas. How much wealth the consortium has, and how much they are prepared to push into the football club, is not yet known, but it could be interesting times on the horizon for the Wasps. It's worth noting that our own Chairman, a Mr Rhys Davies is currently listed as 'Open To Offers', in relation to his position at the club, so that could be worth keeping an eye on. I seriously doubt that there is any oil under Cwmbran Park, though there is a petrol station just down the street, but I won't hold my breath for a rich Middle Eastern to show up anytime soon.

Friday brought more transfer news at Cwmbran Park, and another right back arrival at the club. You know how it is, you wait 5 weeks for one to arrive, and then two come along at the same time. Saturday morning, and no match for us today, our final pre-season match is a Sunday game. Huw Bennett has been sent to the Under-19's squad, but the 17 year old striker has suffered a hernia injury while lifting weights, and will miss the opening three months of the season, which is a blow for the young lad. I'm due to name the Club Captain for the season today, and had been all set to hand the armband to Jason Price. However, his pre-season outings haven't been particularly good, and now his place is at threat, given that a new centre back arrives on the morning of our final pre-season game. So instead, the honour goes to defensive midfielder, Frank Oppong, with attacking midfielder, Paul Mazzarella, named as his Vice-Captain. So, three more new faces at the club, and unless anything drastic happens injury wise, or there is a considerable upturn in the quality of players available to us and willing to join the club, there are not likely to be any further major additions now.

Ryan Timms. 21 years old. Right Footed. 6'1. English. 14st 2lbs. Right Back, Centre Back.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 36. Career Goals : 1.

Previous Clubs : Lewes (Skrill Premier), Horsham (Isthmian Premier), Worthing (Isthmian D1S), Cwmbran Celtic (Welsh League Div 1). Signed : Free Transfer from Cwmbran Celtic (8/8/13).

The right back we've been chasing for weeks, and Cwmbran Celtic are not happy that the 21 year old has jumped ship up the road. But we waited so long for Ryan to make up his mind, that he's now going to have competition for that spot. At just 21, the Brighton born defender will be hoping to climb back up the football ladder.

James Kincaid. 30 years old. Right Footed. 5'11. English. 12st 1lbs. Right Back, Right Wing Back.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 0. Career Goals : 0.

Previous Clubs : Chester City (Sky Bet League 2), Colwyn Bay (Skrill North), Llandudno (Cymru Alliance). Signed : Free Agent (9/8/13).

A slightly better defender than Ryan, but not as good going forward as his younger team mate. James can also cover at left back if required. Hasn't had a club for a while, so needs to build up his match fitness.

Gareth Taylor. 27 years old. Right Footed. 6'0. English. 13st 3lbs. Centre Back, Right Back, Centre Midfield.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 0. Career Goals : 0.

Previous Clubs : Taffs Well (Welsh League Div 1), Cardiff Corinthians (Welsh League Div 1). Signed : Free Agent (11/8/13).

The final of a trio of Englishmen to arrive this week at the club. A very good defender, who prefers to play right back, but is a much better centre back in my opinion. His ability to play in midfield gives us valuable options too.

Sunday 11th August 2013 - Pre-Season Friendly

Cwmbran Park, Cwmbran

Coed Eva Athletic v Cromwell Youth

(4-1-3-1-1) :- Darren Bakker; James Kincaid, Jason Price, Lloyd Davies, Fraser Williams; Frank Oppong (capt); Lee Matthews, Paul Davies, William Davies; Paul Mazzarella; Tinashe Mutanha.

Substitutes :- Ryan Timms, William Ponissi, Craig Sampson, Geraint Goodridge, Dylan McPhee, Ryan Dorrian, Gavin Kinsey, Dale Price, Marc Lloyd, Geraint Owen, Shane Williamson, Jodie Jenkins.

A rare Sunday fixture for our final preparation game before we kick off for real here next weekend. Todays visitors make the short trip from Newport, and are Cromwell Youth, who play the tier below us in the Gwent County League Division 2. That would mean that this should be, the easiest game we play in our pre-season schedule. At least, in theory anyway. James Kincaid gets first shot at impressing in the right back slot, Gareth Taylor isn't available in time for this match, so it's Lloyd Davies and Jason Price at centre back. Paul Davies gets a chance to continue the impressive form he showed in the second half of the game in Neath in midweek.

A breakdown in communications saw Cromwell arrive with their home kit, which was the same blue and white we wear, but in hoops instead of stripes. A short delay then while we quickly changed into our black away strip, and the game was underway. We had the better of the opening exchanges, and a goal kick from Darren Bakker was flicked on by Paul Mazzarella. On the right wing, Lee Matthews easily had the beating of the defence for pace, and sprinted into the box, his shot whistling just the wrong side of the far post, when maybe a square pass to Tinashe Mutanha would have been the better option. The striker would get a chance in the 16th minute though, some well worked short passing opened up the Cromwell defence, and Paul Davies found Mutanha, who blazed over the bar from 12 yards out. He didn't let his head drop though, and showed how lethal he was in the 25th minute. James Kincaid played the ball down the right channel, and Mazzarella cut back inside his defender, squaring across goal, and Mutanha arrived between the centre backs to sidefoot us into the lead. Darren Bakker justified his selection for this game by producing a superb stop from a close range effort by Mickey Morris, after Wyn Sedgemore had headed the ball over our defence and sent the striker in on goal. That save proved to be an important one too, as we increased our lead in the 33rd minute. Once more it was Paul Davies pulling the strings in the middle of the park, and he found namesake William Davies on the left corner of the box. A few strides closer to goal, and a curling shot that just about found a home in the netting just inside the far post, and we had a healthy looking two goal advantage to take into the break.

Half Time :- Coed Eva Athletic 2 Cromwell Youth 0

I made just two changes at the break, bringing on two players I wanted to see a little more of, Craig Sampson and Geraint Owens, who replaced Lloyd Davies and Paul Mazzarella. But the second half didn't start well for us, with sub Mark Parry sending across a corner, Kincaid and Rob Harris participating in a spot of wrestling at the far post, while the ball hit the angle of post and bar, and dropped back to David Jones, who fired home to half our lead. Craig Sampson, who already has form for popping up at the near post for corners where we're on the attack, attempted to repeat the trick on the hour, this time only finding the side netting though. Corners were proving to be the only real source of good scoring chances for both teams, and with 20 minutes left, Parry forced a save out of Bakker with a cross that found it's way on target after his original corner was headed back to him by Jason Price. In the 73rd minute I made seven more changes, so I didn't have to explain to a touchline full of players why they'd wasted their Sunday afternoon. Kincaid switched across to the left of the back four to allow Ryan Timms some time at his natural right back position. The changes almost provided immediate rewards, as Dale Price came off the left wing and linked with Geraint Owen, who in turn combined with Dylan McPhee. The veteran played a pass into Jodie Jenkins who got beyond the defence, and fired past the keeper, his shot coming back off the underside of the bar, and bouncing just too high and going beyond the reach of Gavin Kinsey, who would have had an open goal. Within two minutes another opportunity had come and gone, Geraint Owen playing into the feet of Jenkins, who brilliantly spun away from the challenge of Tim Andrew, and attempted a curling shot from the edge of the box, Paul Bassett getting fingertips on it and pushing just past the frame of his goal. He flapped a bit at the resulting corner though, Jason Price heading the ball against the post, and Geraint Owen saw his effort to net the loose ball blocked by a defender. That spell didn't yield any further scoring, and on the whole, the performance was a little bit more pleasing than the result itself. We'll need to be more clinical when the real action starts.

Coed Eva Athletic (2) 2 Cromwell Youth (0) 1

Scorers : Tinashe Mutanha (25), William Davies (33)

Darren Bakker (William Ponissi 73); James Kincaid, Jason Price, Lloyd Davies (Craig Sampson 45), Fraser Williams (Ryan Timms 73); Frank Oppong (capt - Geraint Goodridge 73); Lee Matthews (Gavin Kinsey 73), Paul Davies (Dylan McPhee 73), William Davies (Dale Price 73); Paul Mazzarella (Geraint Owen 45); Tinashe Mutanha (Jodie Jenkins 73).

Attendance :- 52. Man of the Match :- William Davies (Coed Eva).

[neilhoskins77]

Pre season is now over, and we have the week to prepare for our first competitive match of the season, the FAW Trophy First Round match. While we concentrated on getting ourselves ready for that big match, the International season would also get underway in midweek. The Under-19's were up first on the Tuesday afternoon, taking on their counterparts from New Zealand in a Friendly at The Kennels, in Aberystwyth. Twice the Welsh youngsters fell behind, and twice Manchester United teenager, Tom Lawrence, dragged his nation level. A crowd of just over 250 enjoyed an entertaining first half, but a bit of a snoozefest after the break, and the match ended 2-2. Later on Tuesday, the Welsh Under-21's started their campaign to Qualify for the 2015 European Championships. Drawn into Group 8, they'll compete against next door neighbours England, and the two home nations are joined by Luxembourg, Slovakia and Sweden. The Qualifiers begin with a home game against Luxembourg, which is played at Swansea City's home ground, The Liberty Stadium, in front of just over 4,500. Two goals in a minute shortly after the half hour mark got Geraint Williams side off to a winning start, the goals netted by Jake Cassidy of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Gwion Edwards on his home patch.

The following evening, Chris Coleman took his Wales side to Llanelli, where they would take on Montenegro in a Friendly match. Without Real Madrid star Gareth Bale, there may be a point to prove, that they're not a one man team. West Ham United's midfielder Jack Collison notched his first goal for his country with just three minutes on the clock. That lead held until the hour mark, when Juventus' striker, Mirko Vucinic levelled the game. The former Yugoslav state were on level terms for little more than five minutes, when James Collins became the second West Ham player to score for Wales on the night, heading in the winner from a corner. With four qualifiers for next summers World Cup left, Coleman has some competitive games coming up where he can try some things out.

With the Internationals out of the way, attention turned to our season opener, and the first official game of my managerial career. We were Even money favourites for the match against our West Wales visitors. In the morning, our Under-19's played for the first time this season, defeated 1-0 away to Ton & Gelli BGC thanks to an own goal from our midfielder Danny Page. It was a full 90 minute outing for Geraint Owen, while Antony Bishop played the second half.

Saturday 17th August 2013 - FAW Trophy, First Round

Cwmbran Park, Cwmbran

Coed Eva Athletic v Johnston

(4-1-3-1-1) :- Darren Bakker; James Kincaid, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Frank Oppong (capt); Lee Matthews, Ryan Dorrian, William Davies; Paul Mazzarella; Tinashe Mutanha.

Substitutes :- Ryan Timms, William Ponissi, Lloyd Davies, Geraint Goodridge, Dale Price, Marc Lloyd, Jodie Jenkins.

There were several decisions to be made before the team sheet was handed in to face our Pembroke League Division One opponents. There was due cause for a few of my players to feel a little hard done by that they weren't in the line up, but I hope to try and give them all a chance. Darren Bakker takes the first chance in goal, with James Kincaid selected ahead of Ryan Timms at right back. Ryan Dorrian has seen off the challenge of Paul Davies in the middle of the park for now, with Paul Mazzarella preferred in the advanced midfield role ahead of Marc Lloyd. With seven substitues to be named, I was looking to cover as many positions as possible, with only the left back spot not covered on the bench today.

We started well, attacking the space that Johnston were allowing us down the wings. Lee Matthews did a good job winning back the ball after it was taken off his toe in the 15th minute, and Ryan Dorrian played it through the defensive line to find Paul Mazzarella in space on the right wing. His cross from the byline found Tinashe Mutanha five yards out, and while he didn't catch the ball particularly well, Andy Cann couldn't on this occassion, the visiting keeper beaten and we went ahead. I was more than content with our start, as we asserted ourselves on Johnston, giving them no time on the ball, and passing it around confidently when we had possession ourselves. Ten minutes later, and we had another. From his position at left back, Fraser Williams sent in a long free kick from halfway and right out on the touchline. The ball went over the heads of most in the very crowded penalty box, towards the far post, where Jason Price met it with a header that looped over Cann and into the far corner of the net. A half full Cwmbran Park was delighted with what they were seeing from their new squad. In the 37th minute the game could, no, should, have been over as a contest. A Gareth Jones throw in was headed clear by our defence, and Mutanha picked up the ball inside his own half. He spun away from the first defender, and then showed the pace that his size made surprising to the uneducated opponents. He powered forward, beating two more defenders and getting into the box, shooting low, Cann only just managing to get a touch with a flailing leg and the ball going inches past the post.

Half Time :- Coed Eva Athletic 2 Johnston 0

If the first half had seen us comfortable control the game, the second half saw us succeed in shutting down the visitors, and the match as a result. Johnston made their first change ten minutes after the break, and when that didn't work, they made another in the 72nd minute. I made two changes myself at that point, Fraser Williams had played well, but was feeling the pace with a lack of match fitness. James Kincaid moved across to left back, and Ryan Timms came on for his club debut in the right back spot. Marc Lloyd came on for Paul Mazzarella at the same time. Johnston were failing miserably to breach our back line, while we'd long since contented ourselves with passing the ball around and making them chase late afternoon shadows by the time Jason Price left the park with a few minutes remaining, allowing Lloyd Davies a short cameo appearance. It was a pleasing performance, and we would be in the hat for the Second Round draw.

Coed Eva Athletic (2) 2 Johnston (0) 0

Scorers : Tinashe Mutanha (15), Jason Price (25)

Darren Bakker; James Kincaid, Jason Price (Lloyd Davies 87), Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams (Ryan Timms 72); Frank Oppong (capt); Lee Matthews, Ryan Dorrian, William Davies; Paul Mazzarella (Marc Lloyd 72); Tinashe Mutanha.

Attendance :- 127. Man of the Match :- Jason Price (Coed Eva).

[neilhoskins77]

Sunday brought the draw for the Second Round of the FAW Trophy, and it would take a bit of time, with 258 teams going into the draw, meaning someone would get a bye in Round Three. This Second Round stage has the Welsh Premier League clubs entering the competition. With us having already reached the Boards minimum criteria for this Trophy just one game in, I was hoping for an away draw against a top side to bring in some revenue, or failing that, a home match against a club we could beat without breaking too much of a sweat. I got neither, as we were drawn away from home to Pwllheli of the Welsh Alliance Premier, the third tier of the pyramid in the Principality. We would travel to Recreation Road to face the seaside club on the North West coast on September 21st. They're also an amateur club, and will be the favourites for the match, but I believe we can make life very difficult for them, and maybe spring a surprise, if we play to our potential on the day. Despite the large number of clubs in the draw, fate still managed to produce an all WPL clash between Afan Lido and Newtown. The only other news from Sunday would be that we have sold 65 season tickets for the season, those tickets were priced at £37. It will cost walk up fans £4 to enter one of our home League matches, so buying a season ticket doesn't exactly represent bad value for money.

Monday brought news of Fairfield hiring a new manager, and Pentwynmawr Athletic placing a transfer embargo on the club as word escapes of an upcoming takeover. On Tuesday our Reserves had their first fixture of the season. With no game coming up on the weekend for the First Team, I made all the players who didn't start on Saturday available for the trip down to Neath to face Bryn Rovers Reserves at Cae Cricet. We got the opening goal through Jodie Jenkins, only to be pegged back by a Luke Powell equaliser. Just before the break, Derek Bellamy scored an own goal, and our second string led at the break. A horror five minute spell in the second half sealed our fate on this evening though, Luke Powell levelling again from the penalty spot, before Ryan Timms scored an own goal. It wasn't all bad news, as some players got some valuable playing time, including 45 minutes for Gareth Williams on his way back from injury.

The rest of the week saw local businessman David Evans complete his takeover of Pentwynmawr in record time, though he doesn't appear to have any immediate plans of shaking things up too much at the Caerphilly club. Jamie Hillier is back in training after his injury, and Saturday saw the Under-19's back in action, with a match at Cwmbran Park against Swansea based club, Port Tennant Colts. An early goal from Lewis Davies gave us the lead, before Ben Baldwin equalised early in the second half. Both Antony Bishop and Geraint Owen played the full 90 minutes. Bank Holiday Weekend came and went, and Tuesday saw the Reserves turn to host Port Tennant Colts second string side. This time, I didn't make the subs from the last First Team game available, as the Gwent County League gets underway on Saturday, and we face three matches in seven days. Those who weren't in the matchday squad against Johnston were in action though, and Gavin Kinsey got his name on the scoresheet in a 2-1 defeat for our boys. Gareth Williams and Jamie Hillier both played 90 minutes. Chris Coleman and his age group managers announce their latest squads for the next round of Internationals in September, but for us, it's finally time to get stuck into some League action.

Saturday 31st August 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One

Cwmbran Park, Cwmbran

Coed Eva Athletic v AC Pontymister

(4-1-3-1-1) :- Darren Bakker; James Kincaid, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Frank Oppong (capt); Lee Matthews, Ryan Dorrian, Williams Davies; Paul Mazzarella; Tinashe Mutanha.

Substitutes :- Ryan Timms, William Ponissi, Lloyd Davies, Geraint Goodridge, Dale Price, Marc Lloyd, Jodie Jenkins.

The opening day of a League season is always a big day in the calendar of football fans, regardless of whether it's the Premier League, or the fifth level of Welsh football. It was no different at Cwmbran Park as we hosted the first of what would be 28 League games in the Gwent County League Division One. The difference between previous seasons was that there was an air of expectation this time, brought about the huge overhaul of the squad, the successful pre-season, and the encouraging start to competitive action last weekend. The starting lineup and substitutes remain as they were last weekend for the visit of near neighbours from Risca, the green and yellow clad AC Pontymister, with rotation expected for the midweek game.

It took just eleven seconds for us to show our intentions, Tinashe Mutanha dispossessing the opposition right from kick off and barrelling his way towards goal, but his shot from the edge of the box was off target but some way. If our fans thought that we would have things all our own way, they'd be mistaken though, as the visitors nearly took the lead in the 22nd minute, Paul Mazzarella misplaced a pass to Frank Oppong, and some short, sharp passing, cut our defence open, Kim Owen firing an angled shot that Darren Bakker got a piece of and the ball hit our cross bar, Oppong was on his toes to head the ball behind and clear the danger momentarily. In the 28th minute, we launched a speedy counter attack that put Mutanha in on goal, he aimed an effort towards the top corner, Corey Button pushed it away. From the resulting corner floated in by William Davies, the ref deemed Craig Sampson to have been impeded by the defenders, and he pointed to the spot, outraging the Pontymister players. It was a bit of a delay before William Davies took the spot kick, but it didn't faze him, and he drilled his left footed spot kick down the middle and gave us the lead.

The game started to get a little ill tempered in the latter stages of the first half, with Oppong getting his name taken in the 37th minute, his challenge on Scott Hughes leaving the visiting midfielder writhing on the turf clutching his ankle, though I suspected he was making the most of it. Pontymister wasted the free kick, though, and James Kincaid easily headed the ball to Lee Matthews, who started a counter attack. He played the ball into the centre for Mutanha, who held the ball up, drew in several defenders, and then slotted the ball beyond them into the path of Mazzarella, who lifted his shot over the keeper and found the net to make it 2-0. With first half injury time almost at an end, Pontymister were awarded a free kick around 30 yards from goal. Jamie Thomas got it on target, Bakker should have dealt with it easily, but fumbled the ball, and Kim Owen was on hand to prod it into the net to bring the visitors back into the game.

Half Time :- Coed Eva Athletic 2 AC Pontymister 1

I thought we had done okay in the opening 45 minutes, but I was more satisfied with the performance than I was with the scoreline, especially with it being such an avoidable goal all round. We could have re-established that two goal lead in the opening minutes of the second half, Mazzarella running at the defence and causing havoc, then laying the ball off to Ryan Dorrian. Our playmaker had been quiet so far, but picked a great pass to Mutanha, who was guilty of shooting too early and giving Button an easy save. Just over ten minutes into the second half and I felt forced into taking Oppong out of the game, his personal battle with Scott Hughes, which had been evened up when Hughes got a yellow, was continuing, and Oppong received a stern lecture after fouling his nemesis again. I couldn't risk the side being reduced to ten, and brought on Geraint Goodridge. At the same time, William Davies, who had done very little apart from take the penalty, was replaced by Dale Price. We almost saw our lead wiped out in the 72nd minute, Sampson did a poor job of trying to get Button's long clearance back to his own keeper, and Jamie Thomas got the run on Jason Price. Our centre back did a great job to get back goal side of Thomas, and blocked his effort on goal, before repeating the trick when the ball bounced back to Thomas. I made our final change with just over ten minutes left, Kincaid came off, and Ryan Timms came on for the remaing time. We shored up the defence well, and shut down the Pontymister attack well, securing the win. I was pretty impressed by the visitors today, and was pleased with what I saw from my own players.

Coed Eva Athletic (2) 2 AC Pontymister (1) 1

Scorers : William Davies (29 pen), Paul Mazzarella (37)

Darren Bakker; James Kincaid (Ryan Timms 78), Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Frank Oppong (capt - Geraint Goodridge 56); Lee Matthews, Ryan Dorrian, Williams Davies (Dale Price 56); Paul Mazzarella; Tinashe Mutanha.

Attendance :- 181. Man of the Match :- Paul Mazzarella (Coed Eva).

[neilhoskins77]

September 2013 :

We head into September with our first win under our belts, though our match was one of the less dramatic of the opening day in our League. A second half comeback wasn't enough for Abertillery Excelisior, who lost 3-4 to Trethomas. The favourites for the title, Cwmbran Town, got themselves top after one game, courtesy of a 3-1 home win against Clydach Wasps. I'm really looking forward to pitting our wits against them, with the first meeting currently scheduled for mid-October. The end of month review from the Board was pleasing enough. They're confident the club is heading in the right direction, and are particularly pleased with the form we've shown during pre-season.

The draw is made on the Monday morning for the First Qualifying Round Groups for the UEFA Under-19's European Championships. Fate deals it's cards to draw Wales and England together, joined by Kazakhstan and Norway. That's a pretty tough group, and it will be a challenge for the Welsh youngsters to progress into the next round. The opposition for the Reserves and Under-19's this week for us, are Briton Ferry based side, Giants Grave, who's First Team play in the Neath Premier. The Reserves travel to Parc Newydd for their fixture on the Tuesday evening, and with the First's playing the following evening, they take just two Senior players with them, Dylan McPhee and Shane Williamson, and lose 2-0. The Under-19's make the same trip down on Wednesday afternoon, doing much better, and winning 1-0 thanks to a late Wayne Jones goal. Geraint Owen, who hasn't yet made the impact I would have expected in the age group side, played 67 minutes, while Antony Bishop played the whole game and put in a better performance. On the same afternoon, Wales continue their European Under-21 Qualifying campaign with a trip to the Vicarage Road stadium in Watford, where they face an England side opening their campaign. A goal in each half from Tottenham Hotspur striker, Harry Kane, condemns the Welsh lads to defeat against a side packed full with Premier League experience in front of a crowd just under 17,000 strong. We've got an away game of our own to worry about, there most certainly won't be 17,000 people there though....

Wednesday 4th September 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One

Abercarn Welfare Ground, Abercarn

Abercarn United v Coed Eva Athletic

(4-1-3-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price (capt), Lloyd Davies, Jamie Hillier; Geraint Goodridge; Gavin Kinsey, Paul Davies, Dale Price; Marc Lloyd; Jodie Jenkins.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Frank Oppong, Gareth Williams, Paul Mazzarella, Shane Williamson.

A trip to face Abercarn, who also won on the opening day, a 3-2 win away to Pentwynmawr. It's all change for us tonight, and debuts galore, as the squad rotation begins. William Ponissi gets his first competitive start in goal, with Ryan Timms starting at right back, Jamie Hillier in at left back, and Lloyd Davies starts at centre back with Jason Price. There's a start for Geraint Goodridge, and all change in front of him, with Gavin Kinsey, Paul Davies and Dale Price coming into the midfield three, Marc Lloyd getting a start in place of Paul Mazzarella, while up front, Jodie Jenkins gets his first start, with Tinashe Mutanha dropping out of the matchday squad for tonight.

If anyone would like a lesson on how not to make friends and influence people in your full first team debut, look no further than Lloyd Davies effort on this sunny Wednesday evening in the Welsh valleys. He got himself booked for a ridiculous dive after finding himself unable to play his way out of trouble just five minutes in. And then, less than twenty minutes later, he clattered Richard Ellis from behind, with their striker a full 40 yards from our goal, and with no support around him. The ref had no choice but to show Davies his second yellow card, and I had some choice words for him when he walked past me on his way to the changing rooms too. He couldn't even look me in the eye. His rash decision making meant that Geraint Goodridge's debut was also brought to an abrupt end, as the defensive midfielder was sacrificed, and Gareth Taylor came on at centre back to make his first appearance for the club. That left us playing a 4-3-1-1 formation. Despite being a man light, the few chances that were created came from us, the best of which came in the 32nd minute. Ryan Timms stepped into midfield and won a fifty/fifty challenge, and played Gavin Kinsey into space. The wide man used his pace to beat a man, and with limited options in the box, continued his run himself, flashing a shot just the wrong side of the post. A goalless first half in Abercarn in front of a full house at the Welfare Ground.

Half Time :- Abercarn United 0 Coed Eva Athletic 0

When I told the players still on the park that I thought they could still go on and win the match at half time, I really meant it. I had little doubt that we were the better side, and even a man down, I still made us favourites to create the better chances. I nearly had to eat those words in the 52nd minute, as Ellis dropped the ball right over the top of our defensive line, who stood there claiming offside while Danny Williams raced onto the ball. He took the ball on the bounce and sent it towards goal from 15 yards out, but debutant keeper, William Ponissi, produced a top class save to keep the ball out and make sure the game remained without a goal for the time being at least. With twenty minutes left, Dale Price, who had been particularly ineffective, and Paul Davies came off, with Gareth Williams coming on for a debut, and Paul Mazzarella going into the attacking midfield role, leaving Marc Lloyd to drop back into centre midfield. As we reorganised, Abercarn attempted to take advantage, Ricky Thorpe sending Liam Walkley into the space on their left wing. He cut infield and sent a cross shot that floated beyond Ponissi, and just out of the reach of Ellis, but bounced back off the frame of the goal. With twelve minutes left to play, finally, we made the breakthrough. The ref awarded a free kick to us right on the edge of the box, and with no room to get the ball over the wall and then back down, Marc Lloyd went for power, and thumped the ball right into the top corner, leaving home keeper William Miller stranded. Anxious to hold onto what we now had, I moved Mazzarella, who had already taken a knock, back into midfield to shape a defensive 4-4-1. We stood firm, and made it impossible for Abercarn to create anything of note, picking up our second win. In my mind, I already thought that we were good enough to beat most sides in this League even in a situation like this, it was nice to have some tangible proof of it, though I'd have preferred Lloyd Davies to have shown at least a little bit better composure and decision making.

Abercarn United (0) 0 Coed Eva Athletic (0) 1

Scorers : Marc Lloyd (78)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price (capt), Lloyd Davies, Jamie Hillier; Geraint Goodridge (Gareth Taylor 25); Gavin Kinsey, Paul Davies (Paul Mazzarella 69), Dale Price (Gareth Williams 69); Marc Lloyd; Jodie Jenkins.

Attendance :- 225. Man of the Match :- Jason Price (Coed Eva).

[neilhoskins77]

To say Lloyd Davies was apologetic about his indiscipline was an understatement. He would serve an automatic one game suspension for his red card, and received an official warning from me, which was pretty much the only option I have as he's on an amateur contract with us. Perhaps the biggest punishment for him will be pushing down to fourth choice of the four recognised centre backs in the squad. He's going to need to earn another shot by proving he deserves it. Just two matches into the new League season, and already there are only three clubs with 100% records. Ourselves, as you know, are joined by Cwmbran Town, who won 1-0 away to winless Fairfield, and more surprisingly, Abergavenny based club, Govilon, who followed up their opening day victory with a 2-0 win at AC Pontymister.

The Internationals continued, with Wales Under-19's heading across to Holland for a Friendly with the always talented age group team. On a windy afternoon in Nijmegen, the Welsh lads gave a great account of themselves. They were a goal down at the break thanks to a stike from FC Utrecht striker, Romano van der Stoep. But they didn't stop battling, and got an equaliser ten minutes after the break from Gateshead full back, Jack Gurr, who had only been called up for the first time as an injury replacement a few days before the game. A cracking draw will do the Welsh youngsters the world of good for their confidence going forward. The good feeling in the National setup continued on Friday evening, when the Senior side managed to roll over Serbia 2-1 in Swansea. They had lost 2-0 in Belgrade when the sides met a year ago, but this time Wales had one of their talismen back in the lineup, as Gareth Bale was fit, though Aaron Ramsey was still missing. It was Liverpool midfielder Joe Allen who slotted Wales ahead inside three minutes with his first International goal, but Dortmund midfielder Milos Jojic matched his feat in the 15th minute. Burnley striker Sam Vokes won it for Wales with a header on the hour, and moved his nation onto seven points with the Serbs. I was still embarking on what looked set to be a fruitless effort to get an International player to Cwmbran Park. 21 year old midfielder, Ibrahim Farah, is without a club after being at Cardiff City for three years, and only getting some football when he went on loan to Tamworth. Despite being without a club, he's picked up his first cap for Somalia, netting the winner in a 2-1 Friendly win over Djibouti in Mogadishu. He's miles out of our League, ridiculously so, but while he can't find a club, I'll not give up trying to persuade him to at least come to us to keep his fitness up.

Saturday comes around, but before our game, our Under-19's side travel to Pontypridd, where they will face the age group side of the Welsh League Division Three club at the Ynysangharad War Memorial Park in the Welsh Under-19's Cup First Round. We were ahead in the 5th minute through Lewis Davies, before Steven Payne equalised, and then put Pontypridd ahead in the 46th minute. Within a minute, Lewis Davies had us level from the penalty spot. The match went to a shoot out, and after our first four spot kicks found the net, and Watkins had already missed, Ramsey missed as well from the spot, and our youngsters are into the next round with a 4-2 penalty victory. Later in the day, we play our second home match of the campaign, hosting unbeaten Newport side, Pill AFC, who have a win and a draw to their name so far.

Saturday 7th September 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One

Cwmbran Park, Cwmbran

Coed Eva Athletic v Pill AFC

(4-1-3-1-1) :- William Ponissi; James Kincaid, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Frank Oppong (capt); Lee Matthews, Ryan Dorrian, William Davies; Paul Mazzarella; Tinashe Mutanha.

Substitutes :- Ryan Timms, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Geraint Goodridge, Gareth Williams, Marc Lloyd, Jodie Jenkins.

William Ponissi keeps the number one jersey after his fabulous save in the game against Abercarn. Yes, it's down to margins that fine between the two keepers to decide who plays at the moment. James Kincaid takes back over at right back, while Fraser Williams does the same at left back. With Lloyd Davies suspended, and for now out of contention for a spot, I go back to the pre season partnership of Jason Price and Craig Sampson in the middle, and Gareth Taylor is on the bench. Geraint Goodridge didn't get much of a chance to show what he can do when he did get a start, but Frank Oppong is back in the lineup today. The front five all revert back to the players who started the season against Johnston and AC Pontymister.

We had the better of the early stages, particularly down the right side of the park, where James Kincaid was going forward at every opportunity. In the tenth minute his cross hung in the wind, causing huge problems for keeper Russell Curtis. He only managed to push the ball onto the cross bar, and fell into the path of Tinashe Mutanha. There was very little in the way of subtlty about his attempted finish, and Craig Jones would've felt it as well, but he got the job done as far as his side were concerned, as he blocked the effort and kept the scoresheet blank. We paid for failing to make our early dominance tell, and in the 18th minute a lapse in concentration was our undoing. We gave away a free kick on our left side of our box. As our defence tried to organise themselves, Neil Lloyd-Williams took the free kick quickly, and played a low ball to the feet of John Paul Tippett. As the striker was pulling the trigger on the shot, it became apparent that we were in trouble, and it was too late to do anything about it, other than a partial block that was only enough to deflect the ball beyond William Ponissi and send us behind. With a goal advantage, our visitors went into defensive mode, but to be fair, they need not have worried, we were playing poorly, and a goal didn't look likely anytime soon.

Half Time :- Coed Eva Athletic 0 Pill AFC 1

I made one change at the break, as Ryan Dorrian had been pretty poor in the first half, and was looking a bit fatigued too. Marc Lloyd came on in his place, but that didn't seem to make a great deal of difference, and we looked a shadow of the side that had played so well for the last few weeks. I wasn't keen to pull the trigger on a change in formation and tactics, I figured that if we upped our game and played to our potential, we had enough to turn this around, despite having an ideal opportunity to change tact in the 74th minute, when Frank Oppong had to come off with an injury. Geraint Goodridge replaced him, and at the same time, Jason Price came off, with Gareth Taylor in as his replacement. Our fans were starting to get on our back a little, and it was going to take something special to turn it around. I don't know if it qualifies as special, but in the 82nd minute, after playing the ball forward from the back in easily the best move we'd managed all afternoon, Lee Matthews slipped an inside pass to Paul Mazzarella, who was shoved in the back by Paul Walker in the act of shooting. The defender was furious when the ref pointed to the spot, and even more angry when the ref produced the red card, he needed to be ushered off the park by his team mates before he got himself into further trouble. The coolest person on the pitch proved to be William Davies, who wasn't tempted to deviate away from his tactic that worked last time, and drove the ball right down the middle once more, levelling the game.

Back on even terms, the heads of my players lifted, and they set about throwing everything at our opponents to try and steal all three points. In the 85th minute, William Davies lifted a left wing cross to the edge of the box, and Mutanha beat two defenders in the air, and flicked the ball onto Mazzarella. Eight yards out, he hit a shot on the turn, and once more Craig Jones found himself in the right place at the right time, blocking the effort just as he did in the first half. In the first minute of injury time, Haworth sent a free kick from the edge of the centre circle into our penalty area, which Pritchard headed down, and Nathan Harrison thundered a volley off the cross bar. With time running out, and the clock running into the final minute of the scheduled three minutes injury time, Marc Lloyd sent Mutanha into the left channel of the box, and he shot from a narrow angle, Curtis pushing it around the post. Our final chance came from the resulting corner, Lloyd sending it to the near post, Gareth Taylor connecting with a header, but the ball was an inch the wrong side of the post, hitting the side netting, and bringing the final whistle. We arguably didn't deserve the point that we did get, and I let the players know I wasn't happy with their performance this afternoon.

Coed Eva Athletic (0) 1 Pill AFC (1) 1

Scorers : William Davies (83 pen)

William Ponissi; James Kincaid, Jason Price (Gareth Taylor 74), Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Frank Oppong (capt - inj - Geraint Goodridge 74); Lee Matthews, Ryan Dorrian (Marc Lloyd 45), William Davies; Paul Mazzarella; Tinashe Mutanha.

Attendance :- 178. Man of the Match :- John Paul Tippett (Pill AFC).

[neilhoskins77]

Frank Oppong's injury was nothing more than a bit of an impact knock thankfully, and he won't miss any time at all. Govilon comtinued their winning run with a 2-0 home win over Abercarn United. They're the only team who now have a 100% record now, as Cwmbran Town are beaten by the same scoreline at home to AC Pontymister, who record their first points of the season. Fairfield and Pentwynmawr are the only clubs still waiting to get off the mark points wise. The FAW make the draw for the Second Round of the Under-19's Welsh Cup on Sunday afternoon, and we get a good chance to progress, with a home tie against Pentwynmawr Athletic's Under-19's.

The International window continues on Monday, with both of Wales' age group sides in action. The Under-19's are at home in a Friendly against Italy that takes place at Parc Mawr in Abergele. It's a first half of dominance from the Italian teenagers, as strikes from Andrea Petagna (10), Roberto Insigne (32) and Mario Pugliese (40) of AC Milan, Napoli and Manchester United respectively, condemn Wales to a 3-0 defeat. It was an entirely different story down at Swansea's Liberty Stadium, where a very small crowd watched the Under-21's take on a pretty weak Chinese Tapei age group side. Shrewsbury Town striker Tom Bradshaw scored a first half brace, added to goals from Liverpool forward Harry Wilson, and Cardiff City full back, Kane Owen. In the second half, two more goals were added, Wolves striker Jake Cassidy and Bristol City winger Wesley Burns netting to finish off a 6-0 win.

Tuesday would bring this International fixture window to an end, and Wales would travel to face Croatia in Split. For a change, Chris Coleman had an almost fully fit squad to choose from, that was until Gareth Bale was injured early in the second half. By that time, we were 2-0 down, thanks to late first half goals from Mario Mandzukic and Luka Modric. Another International goal for Joe Allen proved to be merely a consolation marker, and Wales slipped back into 5th place after Serbia won away to Macedonia. On the same night, our Reserves were playing at Cwmbran Park, taking on the second string side of AC Pontymister. I'd made Lloyd Davies and Dale Price available for selection for this game, and along with Dylan McPhee, they played the full ninety minutes, Shane Williamson playing just the first half. It was Price who settled the match, scoring with an outrageous lob from 30 yards just after the half hour mark, and that proved to be the only goal of the game.

Saturday 14th September 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One

Cwmbran Park, Cwmbran

Coed Eva Athletic v P.I.L.C.S

(4-1-3-1-1) :- William Ponissi; James Kincaid, Jason Price, Gareth Taylor, Fraser Williams; Frank Oppong (capt); Lee Matthews, Ryan Dorrian, William Davies; Paul Mazzarella; Tinashe Mutanha.

Substitutes :- Ryan Timms, Darren Bakker, Craig Sampson, Geraint Goodridge, Gareth Williams, Marc Lloyd, Jodie Jenkins.

If, like me, you've been sat there wondering what P.I.L.C.S stands for, then I'm about to disappoint you, and tell you that I don't know, and neither does Google apparently. I did eventually manage to find out that the visitors are actually the football club that was run out of the old Pilkington's Glassworks factory, that is now owned by Knauf Insulation. The premises stand almost right on the area where Cwmbran becomes Pontypool, and the club play in the New Inn area of the latter town. Despite Pilkington's moving out of the area some years ago, the club has never changed it's name. For ourselves, despite a very average performance last time out, I make just one change to my lineup, with Gareth Taylor starting at centre back alongside Jason Price, and Craig Sampson dropping down to the bench.

There were signs that today might be more of the same average football from us, as the early chances went to PILCS in the opening fifteen minutes. Firstly, visiting Captain, Stephen O'Sullivan curled a free kick over the wall but just cleared the cross bar. Mark Garmey then swung in an inswinging corner that hit the face of the cross bar and bounced clear. PILCS continued to press, and O'Sullivan hit another effort, and shot from outside the box that was dipping, and required a save from William Ponissi to push it over the top of the goal frame. Our passes weren't hitting their targets, especially when James Kincaid was trying 50 yard cross field passes. From that particular giveaway, O'Sullivan played in Lloyd Dodd, but the winger shanked his shot wide of the target. It was a few minutes after that before we created anything of note, Lee Matthews getting his foot to a loose ball first, and diverting the ball to Paul Mazzarella, who played a through ball into Tinashe Mutanha. The striker, as he has done all too often for my liking, took his shot far earlier than he needed to, and curling this one wide of the post.

Half Time :- Coed Eva Athletic 0 P.I.L.C.S 0

I told my players that I wanted to see a higher work rate from them, and that the passing needed to move up several gears in terms of quality. It was a determined looking blue and white clad team that reappeared for the second half. William Davies took a free kick that he couldn't get beyond the well organised defensive wall, but Frank Oppong retrieved the ball for us and gave it back to Davies, who hit a vicious curling effort that flew past the far post. We had a much better spell at the start of the second half, Davies again involved when he took the ball down the left, and fed it inside to Mazzarella, who spun past a tackle and moved forward at pace, hitting a low drive narrowly off target. Our best chance so far to get off the mark came in the 57th minute. William Ponissi's clearance up field was met by Mutanha, and knocked back to left back Fraser Williams. The defender volleyed the ball right back over the visitors heads, and sent Mutanha away and clear in on goal. He had the strength to hold off a defender, and tried to guide his low shot inside the near post, but Jackson Wynne pushed it away for a corner.

Still, it was the visitors who were creating more chances, Richard Barnard beating the wall with a free kick, Ponissi showing good hands to keep hold of the ball. At the other end, from a corner, Jason Price headed the ball down to William Davies, who couldn't get his shot through the crowd of players in front of him. I made three attacking changes to try and get us going, Ryan Dorrian, William Davies and Mutanha all coming off in the 74th minute, Gareth Williams, Marc Lloyd and Jodie Jenkins coming on. That failed miserably, as the only chance we had was another set piece, which Jason Price missed the target with by quite some way. I was happy with the clean sheet, but disappointed that we didn't manage to break down the well organised visiting defence.

Coed Eva Athletic (0) 0 P.I.L.C.S (0) 0

Scorers : None

William Ponissi; James Kincaid, Jason Price, Gareth Taylor, Fraser Williams; Frank Oppong (capt); Lee Matthews, Ryan Dorrian (Marc Lloyd 74), William Davies (Gareth Williams 74); Paul Mazzarella; Tinashe Mutanha (Jodie Jenkins 74).

Attendance :- 195. Man of the Match :- Jason Margetson (P.I.L.C.S).

[i][u]Gwent County League, Division One Table. Up to & Including Saturday 14th September 2013[/u][/i]

[i]| Pos   | Inf   | Team                   |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | [/i]

| 1st   |       | Govilon                |       | 4     | 3     | 1     | 0     | 9     | 2     | +7    | 10    | 
[b]----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [/b]
| 2nd   |       | Cwmbran                |       | 4     | 3     | 0     | 1     | 5     | 3     | +2    | 9     | 
| 3rd   |       | Panteg                 |       | 4     | 2     | 2     | 0     | 3     | 0     | +3    | 8     | 
[b][i]| 4th   |       | Coed Eva               |       | 4     | 2     | 2     | 0     | 4     | 2     | +2    | 8     | [/i][/b]
| 5th   |       | AC Pontymister         |       | 4     | 2     | 0     | 2     | 6     | 4     | +2    | 6     | 
| 6th   |       | Clydach Wasps          |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 6     | 6     | 0     | 6     | 
| 7th   |       | Abercarn               |       | 4     | 2     | 0     | 2     | 6     | 7     | -1    | 6     | 
| 8th   |       | Pill                   |       | 4     | 1     | 2     | 1     | 3     | 2     | +1    | 5     | 
| 9th   |       | Newport Corries        |       | 4     | 1     | 1     | 2     | 5     | 5     | 0     | 4     | 
| 10th  |       | P.I.L.C.S.             |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 2     | 3     | -1    | 4     | 
| 11th  |       | Trethomas              |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 4     | 6     | -2    | 4     | 
| 12th  |       | Abertillery Excelisior |       | 4     | 1     | 0     | 3     | 9     | 10    | -1    | 3     | 
| 13th  |       | Fairfield              |       | 4     | 1     | 0     | 3     | 3     | 6     | -3    | 3     | 
| 14th  |       | Albion Rovers          |       | 3     | 0     | 1     | 2     | 1     | 5     | -4    | 1     | 
[b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [/b]
| 15th  |       | Pentwynmawr            |       | 4     | 0     | 1     | 3     | 2     | 7     | -5    | 1     | 

[neilhoskins77]

We had an almost immediate chance to get ourselves back into the winning habit, though I wish we didn't. A midweek fixture away to Newport Corries, was one we could have done without, with the game in the Second Round of the FAW Trophy next up on the fixture list on the weekend. It's a delicate balance to try and strike, the League is our bread and butter, and with just one promotion spot up for grabs, we can't afford to let our League form tail off after a decent start. However, these Cup games are going to be rare chances for us to improve our profile and compete against clubs higher up the pyramid.

Wednesday 18th September 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One

Coronation Park, Newport

Newport Corinthians v Coed Eva Athletic

(4-1-3-1-1) :- Darren Bakker; James Kincaid, Jason Price (capt), Craig Sampson, Jamie Hillier; Geraint Goodridge; Gavin Kinsey, Paul Davies, William Davies; Marc Lloyd; Shane Williamson.

Substitutes :- Ryan Timms, William Ponissi, Gareth Taylor, Frank Oppong, Gareth Williams, Dylan McPhee, Jodie Jenkins.

A warm Wednesday evening near the Spytty area of the city of Newport, and a stones throw from the River Usk, sits the leafy home of the Newport Corries. The squad was rotated again to try and keep players fresh, and give some lads the chance to get some game time and show what they could do. Darren Bakker took over the keepers gloves for tonights game, Craig Sampson coming in to partner Jason Price at centre back, with Gareth Taylor back on the bench, and Jamie Hillier replacing Fraser Williams at left back. Two of the midfield trio were altered as well, with Gavin Kinsey coming in on the right for Lee Matthews, and Paul Davies replacing Ryan Dorrian in the middle of the park. The top two are also changed, with Marc Lloyd playing the attacking midfield role in place of Paul Mazzarella, and a first chance for Shane Williamson up front, as Tinashe Mutanha is rested from the matchday squad.

It was the worst possible start, as we fell behind without touching the ball with just 35 seconds on the clock. The Corries passed the ball around us with ease, making us look like a sub standard club. Elliot Saddler rolled the ball into the path of the speedy arrival onto the scene of Tommy Gibson, and the winger hit a curler with the outside of his boot, showing fabulous technique....and something I couldn't quite manage myself when I furiously booted a water bottle down the touchline. Things weren't about to get any better either, as in the 12th minute, from a short throw routine, the ball was played into Lee Povey, who was just inside the corner of our penalty area. That would prove to be crucial, as James Kincaid clattered into him clumsily, and gave away a penalty kick. Up stepped centre back Ken Evans, and he drilled the ball low past Darren Bakker, and found the bottom corner, despite our keeper going the right way. We found our feet into the match, and started to build some momentum as we glimpsed a way back into the match. Marc Lloyd forced home keeper, Derek Curtis, into a wonderful 16th minute save after good build up work, Gavin Kinsey's short cross found him, and Lloyd chested the ball down for himself, striking a volley towards the far corner that Curtis got to and pushed away. From the resulting corner, the roles were reversed, Lloyd waving everyone right into the six yard box, and then in a move from the training ground, picked out Kinsey with his cross, the winger's volley just clearing the angle of upright and cross bar. In the 21st minute, we finally got our reward for our forward play, William Davies heavily involved down the left, and finding Lloyd, who curled a through ball beyond the home defence, picking out Shane Williamson, who delighted the handful of travelling fans by lifting the ball over the head of Curtis, and seeing the ball drop just underneath the bar and into the net.

I suspected that goal would be all that would be required to lift the players heads, and see them press on and put some heavy pressure on the Corries, and that they would cave under that battering. Wrong. Very, very wrong. From kick off, Corries almost repeated their trick from the opening minute, Gibson cheekily trying to beat Bakker from out on the wing, our keeper beating the ball away just before it made it's way beyond him into the top corner. But from the corner, Bakker certainly could've done more. He tried to punch clear Dylan Higgins delivery from right under his cross bar, but got an awful connection with the ball, and it dropped to the ground. Jamie Hillier came off his post and swung a boot at the ball in an attempt to clear it, but that effort was in vain, and the ball hit Ross Giggs square in the shins, and rolled with an agonising lack of pace over the goal line, not even reaching the back of the net. I couldn't believe we'd managed to cough up the momentum we had built up in record time, and couldn't wait for the half time to arrive so I could give the players a piece of my mind. The question now seemed to be, how many behind would would be. Evans brought a save out of Bakker from a free kick, and Lloyd sidefooted a golden opportunity to reduce the arrears for us past the post.

Half Time :- Newport Corinthians 3 Coed Eva Athletic 1

James Kincaid had a miserable first half, and at the break he was replaced with Ryan Timms. I told the players that they had dug themselves into a pretty big mess here, and they had damned well better make sure they get us out of it in the second half. They did nothing of the sort though, and in the 51st minute, Corries added another. The ball was switched from left to right, and found Gibson in acres of room, and he sent in a low cross towards the far post, where Giggs arrived to slide the ball into the net. We've now conceded twice as many goals in less than an hour than we have in all of our League games previous to this one. I immediately made my two other changes, taking off Craig Sampson, and Paul Davies, the latter having been almost anonymous so far. They were replaced by Gareth Taylor, and a debut for my veteran player/assistant manager Dylan McPhee. Almost right away, we nearly snatched a goal back, Lloyd, who had been the catalyst for anything good that we had managed, rolled a defender in the middle, and swung the ball to the far side of the box towards Kinsey. The winger got the jump on the defender, and hit a first time volley that beat Curtis, but was an inch the wrong side of the target. Our heads lifted once more, and Lloyd continued tormenting the oppositions centre back pairing. In the 56th minute, he went on a mazy run, before laying a pass in for Kinsey, who got into the box, and cut the ball back towards Lloyd, who sidefooted the ball into the top corner to reduce the arrears slightly.

We pushed forward almost at will now, and our hosts seemed to be in survival mode. Dylan McPhee was supporting Lloyd well in the middle, and Williamson was putting himself about to good effect up top. In the 69th minute, Williamson held up the ball, and found McPhee, who released Lloyd into space. For the umpteenth time this evening, Kinsey beat his defender for pace, but this time his shot was wild, and didn't threaten Curtis' goal. Our work rate continued to soar, and the Corries back line dropped deeper and deeper towards their own goal. In the 83rd minute, Lloyd ran at the defence again, drawing them towards him, before releasing William Davies on the left. Davies' cross picked out Williamson, who had a defender in close attendance, but hooked a shot goalwards, Curtis getting a gloved hand to it and pushing it around the post. From the resulting corner by Lloyd, skipper for the day, Jason Price, met it at the near post with a thumping header, and we were within a goal. With around five minutes of the ninety left, and nothing to lose, I ordered my players to go all out on the attack to try a salvage a thoroughly undeserved point. Lloyd joined Williamson up front, with McPhee stepping into his role, and Goodridge also moving further upfield. My two wide midfielders moved up to inside forward roles, and the full backs went into wing back positions. No more patient build up or short passing, get the ball up the park and try and find someone's head. With time running out, and the home supporters imploring the ref to blow the final whistle, we made one last assault after winning the ball on halfway from a wayward throw in. Geraint Goodridge sent the ball wide right to Ryan Timms, who tried to get it into the box, but it was headed right back to him. At the second attempt, he sent it down the line to Kinsey, and the winger whipped in a cross that Curtis misjudged and jumped underneath, leaving Williamson with what would be a tap in, but for Darren Graham hacking it behind for a corner with a last ditch swing of the boot. Davies' corner attempt was poor, the ball was cleared, and we were handed our first League defeat of the campaign. I was gutted that our inept first half display had cost us dearly, and told the players that I wouldn't tolerate that kind of performance on anything approaching a regular basis. I wasn't too harsh with them, as the second half effort had been a huge improvement, but it was too little, too late on this night.

Newport Corinthians (3) 4 Coed Eva Athletic (1) 3

Scorers : Shane Williamson (20), Marc Lloyd (56), Jason Price (85)

Darren Bakker; James Kincaid (Ryan Timms 45), Jason Price (capt), Craig Sampson (Gareth Taylor 53), Jamie Hillier; Geraint Goodridge; Gavin Kinsey, Paul Davies (Dylan McPhee 53), William Davies; Marc Lloyd; Shane Williamson.

Attendance :- 225. Man of the Match :- Marc Lloyd (Coed Eva).

[neilhoskins77]

Double the amount of shots that the Corries managed, and more possession. Just goes to show you that stats don't necessarily mean anything. The write up in the local paper on Thursday evening described it as a game of two halves, and said that both Marc Lloyd and Shane Williamson had done their future selection prospects no harm at all, despite the defeat. A lot of the blame seemed to be pinned on Darren Bakker, with the local media pointing out that Newport Corinthians scored from 4 of their 5 shots on target. I guess we should be happy that we're finally getting some media coverage, albeit on a very local level. We didn't have too much time to ponder our defeat, as we had a long coach trip to the North West coast to make.

Saturday 21st September 2013 - FAW Trophy, Second Round

Recreation Road, Pwllheli

Pwllheli v Coed Eva Athletic

(4-1-3-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Frank Oppong (capt); Gavin Kinsey, Ryan Dorrian, Gareth Williams; Paul Mazzarella; Tinashe Mutanha.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Geraint Goodridge, Dale Price, Marc Lloyd, Shane Williamson.

A big day for the club, a first chance to show how far we've come against higher League opposition, and I was relishing the challenge. William Ponissi takes over in goal once more, and there is one change in the back four, with Ryan Timms taking over from James Kincaid after the latter's midweek horror show. Club Captain and defensive midfielder, Frank Oppong, comes back into the lineup, and Gavin Kinsey's good showing on Wednesday night has seen him leap ahead of the so far disappointing, Lee Matthews. There is a recall for Ryan Dorrian, and a chance to impress on the left for Gareth Williams, as William Davies veteran legs are not up to two matches in four days. Both Marc Lloyd and Shane Williamson can both consider themselves very unlucky to be on the bench, but that was as much to do with their tiredness as anything else after their efforts in midweek.

It's a long trip up here, and I was concerned that my players would suffer from 'bus legs' as we began the match against our hosts, who have won just once in their four matches so far in the Welsh Alliance League Premier Division. I needn't have worried about that, as we started brightly in the rain. The pitch was a little heavy in places, but had held up quite well in the deluge for the most part. We cut the hosts defence open inside 25 seconds, Tinashe Mutanha holding up the ball with his back to goal, and picking out Ryan Dorrian. The midfielder sent the ball into the left channel, where Gareth Williams surprised his marker by cutting inside him on his right foot, and driving a shot that was high and wide. We continued to press, aided by Ryan Timms new found ability to play cross field passes with a pretty good success rate. He picked out Williams, who tried a lofted ball, centre back Steve Harrison comfortably cut it out, but then wanted more time than Paul Mazzarella was prepared to allow him, our forward taking the ball off his toe, sprinting in on goal, but saw Colin James use his legs to turn away the low, and slightly tame, effort. Moments later, Dorrian picked out Gavin Kinsey on the far edge of the box, but his shot drifted over the bar. It wasn't until the twenty minute mark that Pwllheli threatened us, though they did nearly take the lead. Ceri Jones sent in a free kick from near halfway, that was lofted towards the penalty spot. The ball pinged around a little, before falling to Brian Griffiths. He was denied the chance to get a shot off by a superbly timed sliding tackle from Frank Oppong, but the ball fell to Michael Latham, who's shot just cleared William Ponissi's cross bar. In the 25th minute, we got our best chance of the half. Oppong was alert and picked up Leon Jones' attempted long throw, and he played it Ryan Dorrian in the middle of the oppositions half. He twisted and turned to earn a yard of room, and found Kinsey. The ball arrived at an awkward height, but Kinsey used his knee to control it, and then fired a low volley that Colin James blocked well with his body. Pwllheli's best chance came as the half hour approached. Leon Jones threaded a through ball to a suspiciously offside looking Ceri Jones on the right. He controlled the ball nicely, and Fraser Williams dived in with a sliding tackle, Jones moving the ball out of his path with good feet, and hitting a low shot across goal, that was well off target and spoilt the skill that preceeded it.

Half Time :- Pwllheli 0 Coed Eva Athletic 0

With my words of encouragement ringing in their ears, the players started the second half in the same way they had started the opening half, very much on the front foot. Ryan Dorrian was having his best outing in a Coed Eva shirt since his arrival at the club, and he linked with Mazzarella, as the pair looked to unlock the hosts defence. Kinsey stepped in from his wing, and from the corner of the box, sent a low shot skidding across the wet grass, and Colin James struggled to get enough purchase on it to barely get it into the side netting. With around fifteen minutes left, we were starting to struggle to create meaningful chances, so I made two changes. Kinsey was out of gas, and Dale Price came on in his place, while Mazzarella was replaced by Marc Lloyd. The latter sub combined well with Dorrian with 87 minutes on the clock, and found Price. He elected to shoot, ignoring the screaming Mutanha in the middle who was unmarked, and his glory effort only hit the side netting. And wouldn't you know it, we'd pay a heavy price right at the end of the ninety minutes. Dorrian dispossessed his opposite number and headed through the middle, but a heavy touch lost him the ball, and Pwllheli countered. Kieron Morris linked with Latham, and sent a curling pass through our leaden footed defence. Substitute striker, Alun Garner, sprinted onto it, drew out Ponissi, and then lifted the ball deftly over him, and broke our hearts with just 30 seconds left on the clock. We'd had 60% of the ball, and double the amount of shots on target to our more illustrious opponents, but we were out, and now winless in four matches.

Pwllheli (0) 1 Coed Eva Athletic (0) 0

Scorers : None

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Frank Oppong (capt); Gavin Kinsey (Dale Price 76), Ryan Dorrian, Gareth Williams; Paul Mazzarella (Marc Lloyd 76); Tinashe Mutanha.

Attendance :- 145. Man of the Match :- Alun Garner (Pwllheli).

It was a slightly sombre bus ride home for us. In the aftermath of the match, I was asked the usual questions, and was truthful with the press, telling them that without wishing to appear disrespectful to the victors, I thought we were the better side for large parts of the match, and that the late winner was harsh on us. I think it spoke volumes that Pwllheli manager, Danny Edwards, didn't disagree with that assessment, stating that he didn't have any particular response to my comments.

The following day, the defeat took an even more depressing turn, when the draw was made for Round Three. Assuming we had been allocated the same numbered ball in the draw as Pwllheli had been, then we would have had a home tie against Cwmbran Celtic to look forward to, which would have been a plum local derby. I was gutted all over again. With League matters to now concentrate on, I started to assess the players who had come to the club, and which dead wood needed stripping out, and where we could improve....

[neilhoskins77]

With a week between fixtures, I took stock of our start to the season. On the whole, we were meeting the expectations of the Board and the clubs supporters, all of whom considered us to be a mid table side at this level. The Boards expectations in the FAW Trophy had been met for the season. However, I had set my expectations higher than the Board members, and I didn't think that we were getting quite up to those standards just yet. Lloyd Davies, Lee Matthews, Dale Price and Jodie Jenkins were all individually called into the office, and told that until further notice, they would play for the Reserves, and not be considered for First Team duties until they could improve their performances. Should they fail to improve sufficiently, they would be leaving the club. None of them were happy with the decision, though both Davies and Price accepted it, and replied that they fully intended to use the game time to show what they can do. Not so Matthews and Jenkins. The right winger said he was furious with the decision, so I challenged him to show me I was wrong, a challenge he accepted. Jenkins was issued the same challenge, but replied that he refused to take part in mind games, and walked out of the meeting.

If these players were annoyed now, they would be even more annoyed when two arrivals to the playing squad were unveiled. I'd sat down with my backroom staff, and we'd had a very productive meeting that lasted several hours. We all agreed that in goal, and the back four, we were doing ok, excluding the poor showing against Newport Corries. In midfield, it was agreed that we should see if we can get any benefit from pushing Frank Oppong forward from defensive midfield into the centre of the park. As rightly pointed out by our coaching team, if Oppong can continue his work in winning the ball, then playing alongside Ryan Dorrian would allow our playmaker to receive the ball to feet facing either out to the wings or forward, rather than having to take the ball with his back to goal. This would need to be an experiment, as Oppong playing in front of the back four could equally be part of the reason why we'd done such a good job defensively. Further up the park, the role of Paul Mazzarella or Marc Lloyd would change from a shadow striker to an attacking midfielder. The striker role would also change, with Tinashe Mutanha or Shane Williamson now being asked to play the target man role, instead of a poacher or complete forward. That brings us neatly onto our wingers. It's been deemed that with the possible exception of Gavin Kinsey, our wingers haven't yet done a good job with either quantity or quality of the crosses they have supplied. To assist with our transition to the striker playing the target man role, that needs to change immediately.

That is where the two new arrivals come in, as they are both wingers. On the left wing, William Davies may have dispatched a few penalties so far, but his crossing hasn't been effective, as his only assist this season was in a Friendly fixture. In comes 33 year old left footer, Graham Austin. His age, in football terms, has not diminished his pace, and the 5'9 wide man has spent his entire career at a higher level. On the other wing, Gavin Kinsey has seen off the challenge of Lee Matthews, and has performed well, especially in the last handful of outings. But far be it from me to allow Kinsey an easy ride for the rest of the season, and in comes a new right winger, in the form of 21 year old James Saddler. The 6'0 right footer is very experienced for his age, but comes with a little bit of a maverick reputation. A pretty reserved character, he has form for flitting in and out of games when the mood takes him, but on the other hand, has the pace, skill set and crossing ability to light up the touchline, and supply the killer crosses for our forwards to fill their boots in front of goal.

Graham Austin. 33 years old. Left Footed. 5'9. Welsh. 11st 9lbs. Left Winger.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 127. Career Goals : 4.

Previous Clubs : Conwy Borough (WPL), Cemaes Bay (WPL), Llangefni Town (Cymru Alliance), CPD Porthmadog FC (WPL), Caernarfon Town (Cymru Alliance). Signed : Free Transfer from Caernarfon Town (27/9/13).

I'm expecting Graham to be an upgrade for us on the left flank, though he missed pre-season after dislocating his shoulder. I won't be anxious about his lack of goals as long as he helps create some instead.

James Saddler. 21 years old. Right Footed. 6'0. Welsh. 13st 0lbs. Right Winger.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 111. Career Goals : 4.

Previous Clubs : Ely Rangers (Welsh League Div 1), Barry Town (Welsh League Div 1). Signed : Free Agent (27/9/13).

Cut loose by Barry at the end of last season as they reassembled their squad following the demise of the original club. Quick, and a deadly crosser. James will likely battle with Gavin Kinsey for the number 7 shirt, but will build up his fitness in the Reserves first.

The final Saturday in September arrives, and we have a trip to nearby Panteg AFC in a League match that offers us a chance to try and get ourselves back on track, and see if our efforts through the week had been worthwhile. That morning, our Under-19's play at Cwmbran Park against the age group side of FC Clydach from the Neath Premier League. It was a full 90 minutes for both Antony Bishop and Geraint Owen, with Owen finally getting himself a goal, the first in our 4-1 victory.

Saturday 28th September 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One

Panteg House, Pontypool

Panteg AFC v Coed Eva Athletic

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Tinashe Mutanha.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Geraint Goodridge, Gareth Williams, Paul Mazzarella, Shane Williamson.

Panteg started the game ahead of us in the League table, and were made favourites for the match by the bookies and media. I used that as a tool to motivate my players before the match, asking them to take a look at the players they were facing today, and ask themselves if they really thought that Panteg were a better team than us. Gareth Williams drops to the bench, replaced by debutant Graham Austin on the left wing, and Marc Lloyd is selected ahead of Paul Mazzarella, in the only changes to personnel from the defeat at Pwllheli.

Gary Fletcher had the first shot at goal in the 5th minute, receiving the ball around 25 yards out from a short free kick, then curling his shot on target, but William Ponissi was right behind it. Ian Parselle sent the next free kick that Panteg were awarded into the box, Fletcher not quite able to get a touch on it, and Ponissi collecting it. Parselle was involved again a few moments later, Mark Morison sliding a pass into the left side of the box, Parselle striking low towards the near post, Ponissi turning the ball away. Our defence were having some teething problems dealing with the new tactics and formation, clearly. But they were keeping the scoresheet blank admirably, with some help from Ponissi in goal. When we did go on the attack, we showed a bit more of an edge. Gavin Kinsey did a superb job retaining possession by winning a fifty/fifty tackle, and got the ball back to Ryan Dorrian. He dropped his shoulder to beat his man, and found Marc Lloyd. He played the pass in between defenders, spotting the run of the debut man, Austin running off the full backs shoulder and in on goal, cooly slotting the ball low inside the near post in front of the handful of travelling Coed Eva fans. Things would get even better in the 26th minute, with many of the same players involved. Austin showed well to take possession, and pointed Dorrian into the right spot to take the pass, the ball pushed down the touchline to isolate a defender. Dorrian sent it back inside to Lloyd, and he provided a second crucial pass in ten minutes, this time lifting it over the defence for the run of Tinashe Mutanha, who had timed his move perfectly to stay onside, and he rounded the keeper and made it 2-0.

All was going well, and I was quite happy on the touchline with how things were shaping up, but Austin lasted less than five more minutes, going down after a firm tackle, and sat on the grass shaking his head at the dugout to say he couldn't continue, Gareth Williams on in his place. Five minutes before the break, we nearly had another to goal to go in with. Marc Lloyd took a free kick that was awarded in a central position, curling it over the wall and beyond the reach of Owain Vaughan, but it hit the top of the cross bar and bounced over. The good feeling we'd created kind of went pop before we could get into the changing rooms for the half time cuppa. Ryan Timms attempted long ball to Mutanha was picked off, and Panteg played short passes to get themselves to the edge of the box. Parselle played a diagonal pass into the path of Dean Atkinson, who let fly with an early shot. Ponissi got himself across the goalmouth, and he got both hands to the ball too, but didn't manage to get enough on it to push it anywhere than up into the top corner. Our lead had been halved at a crucial point, and now the morale needed to be built back up all over again.

Half Time :- Panteg AFC 1 Coed Eva Athletic 2

I tried to lift the spirits of the players during the interval, telling them that they were doing a good job, and now they just had to see the task through, and that I believed they could do it. It didn't seem to have too much of an impact on them though. Marc Lloyd's free kick cross was easily collected by Vaughan, and Gareth Williams was failing to provide the attacking threat that Austin had managed earlier in the game, primarily as the right footer had to cut inside to try and get his crosses in. Only a well timed tackled from Dorrian prevented Panteg counter attacking at pace when one of Williams' early second half cross attempts was easily blocked, the attack thwarted enough that Fletcher had to settle for a weak shot from range that Ponissi comfortably caught. Panteg were the side in the assendency, and Ponissi had to pull out a superb close range save to prevent Neil Bartley from equalising after he connected with a Gary Fletcher cross at the near post. At the other end, Mutanha was doing a great job of dropping deeper to drag opposition defenders around the park, and while he was holding the ball up, Marc Lloyd was getting ahead of him to exploit the space. The only problem with that was our big striker was not nearly as adept at playing the passes required to allow Lloyd to profit from those situations, often the ball weighted too heavily and the move breaking down.

From set pieces, Jonathan Outlaw's deliveries were quickly becoming a cause for concern to us, and in the 69th minute, he lifted one right into the danger area, looking for Bartley, and only some fine defensive work from Mutanha to get in between Bartley and Ponissi and head over his own cross bar, stopped the game from going all square right there and then. Moments later, the golden opportunity we'd been craving presented itself. This time the ball played in for Lloyd was perfect, mainly as it was from the boot of Ryan Timms and not Mutanha. He sent Marc into the right channel of the box, and he caught the ball just before the goal line, and cut it right back across the goal face, where Gareth Williams arrived to try and stuff it home at the far post. He got plenty on his shot, but Vaughan threw himself in front of it, getting enough on the ball to divert it onto the post, and then gratefully clutch it at the second attempt as Williams stood with his head in his hands. Just after Mutanaha took his leave, to be replaced by the fresh legs of Shane Williamson, then a corner from Colin Davies picked out Barltey at the far post, and he flashed his header just past the post. Another chance to cement the points came and went in the 89th minute, Fraser Williams repeating the training ground trick that Marc Lloyd had tried in the past, waving everyone right into the six yard box, and then picking out Gavin Kinsey near the penalty spot. The wideman caught his shot well, but Vaughan saw it all the way, and held the ball. With around 15 seconds of the alloted injury time remaining, it all fell apart for us. Mills long throw found Davies, and he hooked the ball into our penalty area, and on a fairly hard surface, the ball had every chance of bouncing through to Ponissi. But that situation never arose, and Craig Sampson put his hand on the shoulder of late replacement Dean Pilling, allowing the forward a perfect opportunity to crash to the turf, and the ref to award a penalty. I couldn't believe we were about to throw this away, but had no choice but to accept it when Neil Bartley slammed his left footed spot kick down the middle, and stole two points from our account. At least the only saving grace was Sampson didn't get a red card.

Panteg AFC (1) 2 Coed Eva Athletic (2) 2

Scorers : Graham Austin (16), Tinashe Mutanha (26)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin (inj - Gareth Williams 29); Marc Lloyd; Tinashe Mutanha (Shane Williamson 78).

Attendance :- 225. Man of the Match :- Marc Lloyd (Coed Eva).

At least there was some good news after the match, with Graham Austin's knock is only an impact injury that he's showing no lasting affect from, and he shouldn't miss any match time. In the grand scheme of things, the draw with Panteg is half decent result. But when we lost at the Corries, we didn't really feel any impact as everyone around us also dropped points. This time, those sides have won while we were dropping two late points, which makes it feel worse than it probably should.

[jdoyle9293]

A lot of effort goes into this, fantastic stuff, shame about the result on the last update, looks as though you've strengthened the squad - the team's starting to come together.

[neilhoskins77]

Cheers jdoyle. Hopefully the team can turn the corner and start putting some consistent performances together and climb the table.

There can be little doubt who the man in form for us right now is, Marc Lloyd set up both our goals in Pontypool on the weekend, and is playing some great football right now. The media are firm favourites of the attacking midfielder, and gave a glowing write up of his performance. The fans were pretty impressed with the half hour they saw of Graham Austin, and the guy is nowhere near fully fit yet. The left winger could end up becoming a vital cog in our team.

October 2013 :

Tuesday is the first day of October, and see's our Reserves travel to Pontypridd to take on their Seconds at Ynysangharad War Memorial Park. I was not impressed by what I saw. I didn't tell the players I was going to watch the match, and arrived just before kick off. Eight 'Senior' players were involved from the start, including James Saddler. The performance was abject to say the least, with Lee Matthews coming off after the break after doing a poor job in the support role behind Jodie Jenkins. The striker was the next one taken off with less than an hour on the clock, and James Saddler wasn't too far behind, given 65 minutes on his first run out. Nobody did anything better than mediocre, and our Reserves were beaten 2-0.

The start of another month, means that another round of Internationals is just around the corner, and Chris Coleman looks to shake up his squad somewhat for the games with FYR Macedonia and Belgium, leaving out Crystal Palace midfielder, Joe Ledley. If his decision was aimed at showing the rest of the squad that no one is assured of their place, it backfired spectacularly, when another midfielder dropped out with injury, forcing Coleman to call Ledley up to the squad again within three days of dropping him. Awkward.

The first weekend in October presents us with a very winnable looking home game, as we entertain lowly Pentwynmawr Athletic, a welcome return to Cwmbran Park after three away fixtures in a row. After five fixtures without a win, it is now becoming vital we get ourselves back on the winning trail to prevent our hopes of being among the promotion race from faltering as the League season reaches the one quarter played point. As is the norm on a Saturday morning, our Under-19's play, this time making the short trip to Cold Bath Road to face Caerleon, and losing 2-1, once more with Antony Bishop and Geraint Owen playing the full match, the latter getting plaudits for his efforts in the match from the Craig Owen, our Head of Youth Development.

Saturday 5th October 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One

Cwmbran Park, Cwmbran

Coed Eva Athletic v Pentwynmawr Athletic

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Tinashe Mutanha.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Geraint Goodridge, William Davies, Paul Mazzarella, Shane Williamson.

The Caerphilly based club start the day in 13th place in this fifteen club Division, just one point better of than the club currently occupying the one relegation spot, Abertillery Excelsior. Our starting lineup is unchanged from the team that played against Panteg last week, with Graham Austin passed fit. The only change in the matchday squad is on the subs bench, where William Davies replaces Gareth Williams.

I had reason to be concerned just four minutes in, as right back Ryan Timms collected a yellow card for a stiff challenge, and would now have to watch his step for the remainder of the afternoon. I almost had more to concern myself with in the 13th minute, as from the edge of the 'D', Ioan Evans blasted a low free kick towards our goal, which riccocheted off our wall to wrong foot William Ponissi, and drifting just past the post. Midway through the half, Evans came even closer, winning a tussle with Craig Sampson, and whipping a low shot that had Ponissi scrambling across goal to try and get there. Whether he would have or not was rendered meaningless when the ball grazed the outside of the post, but it was clear that Evans was their danger man.

We'd struggled to get ourselves going offensively, and it took us until five minutes before the end of the first half to create anything of real note, but when we did, we should have been in front. Ryan Dorrian easily intercepted an attempted diagonal pass across the field, and played a one touch pass to Marc Lloyd. The man who was quickly becoming our talisman turned and sent a pass through the defence for Tinashe Mutanha to run onto, putting enough backspin on it that it didn't run away from the striker. It was a pass that deserved a goal, but didn't get one as Mutanha lost his composure and blazed his shot over the cross bar. In first half injury time, Dorrian was again the man who broke up play, getting a foot in to make a tackle in the oppositions half, and feed the ball quickly to Frank Oppong. We had a keen runner in Ryan Timms, and he joined the attack, collecting the pass and playing it down the line to Gavin Kinsey. The defence almost en masse gravitated towards Mutanha, presuming him to be the target for the anticipated cross, but Kinsey instead played a short ball inside to Lloyd, however his finish was no better than Mutanha's. It was still all to play for at the break.

Half Time :- Coed Eva Athletic 0 Pentwynmawr Athletic 0

I was probably more pleased than I had right to be after that first half, but I felt we'd done well against the early pressure and then created the better chances, while still getting used to altered tactics. As the second half unfolded, slowly, it started to become one way traffic. The right wing was increasingly becoming a fruitful avenue for us, as Timms was finding ample opportunities to support Kinsey. The latter slung a 50th minute cross into the middle of the box, where Mutanha got between two defenders, and headed downwards, beating the keeper, but also the upright. At times you'd be forgiven for thinking that Dorrian was the ball winner in our midfield, as he showed another side to his game, and that he was more than willing to get involved in the gritty side of the game, lacking no heart helping out Oppong in the midfield battle.

In the 70th minute, as the substitutes were being prepared, the two players who were about to make their exit from the match almost gave us the lead. Frank Oppong lifted the ball out wide, and Graham Austin showed great pace to burn past his marker and reach the corner of the box. Once there, he had to hold the ball up, as he had out paced his team mates, but eventually picked out Mutanha, who put his laces through it, but missed the target. Austin and Mutanha both left the park right after that, replaced by William Davies and Shane Williamson respectively, as we searched for a way through the visitors defence. In the 77th minute, William Davies went on a mazy run towards the left touchline after picking up the ball in centre midfield. With no one to aim for in the middle, he unleashed a cross shot that had Josh Rogers back pedalling, before getting a fist to it and punching it over the bar and onto the roof of the net. That led to a series of corners, and the visitors defending desperately, and it looked like it simply wasn't going to be our day. In the 80th minute, Davies sent in a corner that Jason Price rose to meet with a firm header. The ball struck the underside of the bar, and then down onto the base of the post. It came out into the path of Oppong, who struck a fierce rising shot, Rogers getting fingertips to it and pushing it onto the bar. The ball looped in the air, and seemed to stay there far longer than gravity should allow, before dropping just in front of the prone keeper, who could do nothing as Kinsey had the task of nodding it into the net. I leapt out of the dugout, and punched the air in delight.

It was the wingers first competitive goal for the club, and I couldn't help but feel that he was really rising to the challenge of Saddler's arrival, and he wasn't prepared to risk giving the youngster a sniff of the First Team. At the other end, Pentwynmawr weren't quite done yet, and Sam Davies found Phil Hooper on the edge of the box, and he sent a snap shot towards goal, William Ponissi making the catch look more routine than it probably was. I was sorely tempted to get my team to fall back into a defensive formation, but with the memory of what happened last weekend against Panteg fresh in my mind, I left things unchanged. The visitors continued to knock at the door, Sam Davies sending a dipping free kick just over the bar in the 87th minute. A giveaway from Oppong, who had otherwise had a faultless match, set hearts fluttering in injury time, but Sam Davies hit a wild shot, and this time we've held on for a crucial victory.

Coed Eva Athletic (0) 1 Pentwynmawr Athletic (0) 0

Scorers : Gavin Kinsey (80)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin (William Davies 70); Marc Lloyd; Tinashe Mutanha (Shane Williamson 70).

Attendance :- 165. Man of the Match :- Gavin Kinsey (Coed Eva).

Panteg AFC win 1-0 away to Govilon, who are now dropping down the table like a stone and are winless in their last four League matches, including three defeats in a row. That win leaves Panteg as the only unbeaten club in the Division, which is a new Gwent County League First Division record of six matches without defeat. With three wins and three draws though, their 12 points is only good enough for 5th place, ahead of us on goal difference, though they have played a game less too. The pace setters, are our near neighbours Cwmbran Town, who have 15 points from their seven games, and are our next opponents, as they come to face us at Cwmbran Park in a fortnight's time in the eagerly awaited first Derby of the season. We have no fixture next weekend as it's our free week, with there being an odd number of teams in the Division. On our weekend off, Panteg will host Cwmbran, so it will be interesting to see how that match goes.

[neilhoskins77]

Our Reserves have their Tuesday night fixture, a home match at Cwmbran Park against Swansea Division One outfit, Swansea Dockers. With no First Team game coming up this weekend, I allow most of the players who've been sat on the bench for the main squad to have a run out for the Reserve side. James Saddler plays the first half, Lloyd Davies struggles again at centre back, and is now edging fairly close to the exit door. At least there's a reaction from Jodie Jenkins at last, as he nets twice in a 3-2 win. Gareth Williams gets our other goal.

Wednesday sees the International fixtures return once again, and it starts with Wales Under-19's getting their Group 6 fixtures underway in the First Round European Under-19 Championship Qualifiers underway. They start against Kazakhstan, and with England in the Group with them, they'll be looking to get off to a good start. The hosts of the Group are Norway, who were fairly blatant in their attempts to gain an advantage in that regard. They took the games to a place called Austrheim. Never heard of it? Nope, I'm not surprised. It's right up in the North West tip of Norway, and the Arasbanen Sports Ground the games would be played at holds just 75 people, so no one could accuse our Norwegian friends of looking to profit financially from this. Sam Tattum of Manchester City gave Wales the lead just before half time, and five minutes after the break Wales looked good when the Kazahk's went down to ten men when Marat Sandybaev collected his second yellow card. Despite that, Wales still managed to ship an equaliser, and came away with a 1-1 draw. All was not lost however, as England and Norway took part in a goalless draw. A win against either of those two nations would now put Wales in a decent position.

Onto Thursday and Wales Under-21's continued their campaign in Group 8 of the European Under-21 Championship Qualifiers. They hosted unbeaten Slovakia at the Parc Y Scarlets in Llanelli. They went a goal down in the 16th minute, but their chances improved when Simon Smehyl earned a straight red card with ten minutes left in the first half. That didn't seem the case though, as in the 53rd minute, the ten men of Slovakia went two goals up. When Dionatan Teixeira, a Brazilian born former Manchester City youngster, earned two quick yellow cards, the Slovaks went down to nine men, surely opening the door for a home fightback. Or not. Adam Zrelak netted his second of the game, and it was 3-0 to the visitors. It was only then that Wales mounted a comeback, with goals from Swansea City pair Daniel Alfei and Alex Samuel, but they couldn't get the equaliser, going down 3-2. England's win against Sweden on the same night saw them move three points clear of Wales, who were now pushed down to third place.

Friday, and a double header of action for Welsh football fans to get excited about. Somewhere, probably just north of the Northern Lights, the Wales Under-19's played the second game of their campaign in the stadium that held exactly one third of the capacity we could hold at Cwmbran Park. Needless to say, the town of around 3,000 inhabitants came out in force to support Norway in their match against Wales, well, the 75 that got tickets did anyway. Two goals in the opening half hour, one a rebound from a missed penalty, had the hosts in control, and they wouldn't relinquish that, despite Welsh efforts yielding a 78th minute strike from Coventry City forward, George Thomas. The fact that England had played earlier in the day, and come from behind after a 3rd minute goal to beat the Kazahkstan side with three second half strikes of their own, left Wales with the task of needing to beat England by two clear goals in Sunday's final round of matches. Later on Friday, the Senior team took to the field at Liberty Stadium in Swansea to play their dead rubber match against bottom of the group nation, FYR Macedonia. Finally, football fans of the Principality had something to cheer about, as Chris Coleman's side produced three goals in ten minutes over the end of the first half, and early stages of the second half. Craig Bellamy, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Ledley got the goals in a 3-0 win that put Wales level on points with Serbia, though with a far less pleasant goal difference, and just a point behind Scotland. A draw between those two on the final day, and a win for Wales over already confirmed Group winners Belgium, would see Coleman's boys move into a previously unlikely looking third place.

Saturday morning saw Coed Eva's Under-19's play at Cwmbran Park, hosting Pentwynmawr Under-19's in the Second Round of the age group Welsh Cup. There was a man of the match performance from Antony Bishop, and a goal for Geraint Owen in a 2-1 win. I had a chat after the match with Craig Owen, the club's Head of Youth Development who runs the Under-19's side on matchdays. He said he thinks that Owen is ready for the First Team when an opportunity presents itself. He also said he doesn't think Bishop will be too far away either. It's encouraging to see the progress these two are making, and I'll certainly be keeping an eye on them over the coming weeks. Striker, Huw Bennett, who suffered an injury before the season really got going, is also well on the way back, playing the second half of this Cup match. The reward for the the youngsters is another home tie in Round Three, where they'll come up against Talgarth Rovers, the Brecon based club play in the Spar Mid Wales Southern League. I thought I'd make a day of it on the football front, and got myself up to Panteg to watch their clash with Cwmbran Town in the Gwent County League, ahead of our own fixture with the neighbours next weekend. A full house saw a fiery affair, which caught light after Dean Atkinson gave the home side the lead in the 16th minute. The ref dished out nine cards all told, including a red to Jonathan Foligno for the visitors, who'll now be suspended for next weekend. Panteg held on for a 1-0 win.

Sunday in North West Norway, and the hosts take the afternoon slot against Kazahkstan. The weather has taken a turn for the worse, and the opener for the day is played in a hail storm, strong winds, and freezing temperatures. A 10th minute goal for the Norwegians does the job, and they are now through to the next round, but will need to wait on the result of the late match to find out if they top the Group or not. The Group is now quite straightforward. An England win puts them through as Group winners. A draw will send England through, but Norway win the Group. A Wales win by two clear goals sends them through as runners-up, the only chance they have to progress. At half time, Wales were in the box seat to progress as well in the increasingly detiorating conditions. George Thomas had got his second goal of the tournament, and Chelsea forward Chike Kandi got a second. Unfortunately, it all came crashing down in the second half though, a penalty from Sulley Kaikai of Crystal Palace and an equaliser from Jerome Binnom-Williams of the same club put Wales out, and England it is who move forward.

Monday afternoon, and Wales Under-21's reach the midway point of their Qualification campaign, and do so in some style too, pinching a 2-1 victory away in Halmstad against Sweden, coming from behind to do so with second half goals from Wesley Burns of Bristol City, and a winner from Morgan Fox of Charlton Athletic. That puts Wales in third place, though there is still plenty to be done if they are to get into the sole automatic qualification spot, with the Slovakians still unbeaten, and England in second after victory in Luxembourg. In the evening, I get a text message from right winger, Lee Matthews. He doesn't see a future for himself at the club anymore. I'm inclined to agree with him, it doesn't seem to be working out here for Lee. I think he thought he was going to be first choice, but he was put in the shade by Gavin Kinsey, and it speaks volumes to me that Dylan McPhee has been opting for a half fit James Saddler instead of Matthews for the Reserve matches. I tell the player that I can't guarentee him any First Team football, never mind regular chances. It's looking likely he'll leave, or be released, sooner rather than later.

The Senior side for Wales round off the International window, and their World Cup Qualifying campaign on Tuesday evening, as they host Group winners and Brazil 2014 World Cup bound nation, Belgium. It was a full house at Swansea's Liberty Stadium, and they saw Wales put up a good, but ultimately unsuccessful showing, going down to a single goal from Eden Hazard shortly after the hour mark. Scotland and Serbia play out a 1-1 draw at Hampden Park, despite Gordon Strachan's men being down to ten men for almost the entire game after Alan Hutton was sent off less than ten minutes in. So Wales finish in 5th place, which won't help them get an easier draw when the Groups for Qualification for the 2016 European Championships in France are decided in February. The final four places for European nations for next summers World Cup will be determined by the four Playoff games, and defending Champions from the last tournament, Spain, will need to get past Slovakia to get a chance to defend the title they won in South Africa in 2010. Elsewhere, Portugal versus Turkey will the highlight of the Playoffs, the Republic of Ireland will face Croatia, and the Czech Republic meet Poland.

*Editors Note.

I had a few issues with 'crash dumps' during this segment of the save. Those who have followed my stories in the past will know I play with as many Leagues running as possible, to add an element of the unpredictable to the save, and see where it takes me. I've had to switch some Leagues to background to try and stabilise the game again. I don't know why it's happened now, as it's never been an issue in the past. I'm hoping it won't continue to be an issue.*

[Cheesey1975]

im enjoyin this one

[neilhoskins77]

Thanks Cheesey. Good to have you along.

Friday evening's editions of the South Wales Argus had a piece about the upcoming action that weekend in the Gwent County League's top tier as a matter of course. But this Friday evening it had a little bit more space than normal, and there was a good preview of tomorrow afternoon's 'derby match'. I use the term loosely, as I very match doubt that Cwmbran Town considered a big derby match at all. They would consider their big local matches these days to be occassions against Cwmbran Celtic or Croseyceiliog. Not us. For Coed Eva Athletic, this was a huge game. It was only 20 years ago that Town were the Champions of Wales, and representing the country in the early rounds of the Champions League, plus playing Friendlies against the likes of Manchester United and AFC Bournemouth, before facing the might of Glasgow Celtic in European competition. I was hoping the big match atmosphere would be a gee up for my players. They wouldn't be short of support, as for the first time this season, Cwmbran Park was sold out.

Saturday 19th October 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One

Cwmbran Park, Cwmbran

Coed Eva Athletic v Cwmbran Town

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Tinashe Mutanha.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Geraint Goodridge, William Davies, Paul Mazzarella, Shane Williamson.

Right now, the team was really picking itself, as players started to produce some form that comes with a run in the side. The matchday squad, and the starting lineup both stayed the same as it had been in the previous match. It was obvious that if we were to have any success against our neighbours this afternoon, we would need to marshall the visitors striker, Huw Bowtell, a recent arrival at Cwmbran Stadium, and already the League's leading goalscorer.

The visitors tried to find their in form striker straight from kick off, but Craig Sampson was having none of that, and cleared the stand with a clearance. Less than a minute later, a through ball sliced right between Sampson and centre back partner Jason Price, and Bowtell easily had the beating of them, running in on goal and sliding the ball past William Ponissi and into the corner of the net. His celebration was cut short by the assistants offside flag, thankfully for us. In the fifth minute, following a quick counter attack from a corner that Price just failed to get his head onto, Andrew Stokes was too quick for our desperately scrambling back defenders, and got into the box, but his shot across goal was a bit wild, and threatened nothing more than the safety of the corner flag. As the clock struck ten minutes, Marc Lloyd took a free kick on our right, sweeping it over the wall, but harmlessly across the face of goal. That would turn out to be meerly a sighter for the attacking midfielder, and in the 16th minute, he took another free kick, this time on the left corner of the box. Keeper, Mark Snell appeared to still be organising both his defenders and himself when Lloyd took the dead ball effort, and placed it right inside the near post, Snell getting across goal, and getting a hand to it, but not able to do enough to keep it out of his net, and give us a precious one goal lead.

Cwmbran came right back at us, Harding's free kick pinging around the edge of the box, Coles effort blocked, but the ball falling to Bowtell, but he was prevented from getting in a shot by a perfectly timed sliding tackle from Sampson. Now Town were starting to pour forward almost at will, and we were struggling to keep them at bay, handcuffed slightly by Graham Austin, who was struggling a fair bit on the left wing with a knock. Calum Miller attempted to take advantage, backheeling the ball to Bowtell and getting it right back, but his shot clearing the bar. Stokes poor first touch in the 27th minute allowed Frank Oppong just enough oportunity to deny the forward a shooting chance, and two minutes later the same player forced Ponissi to turn his low cross from the right around the post, just when it appeared it was going to sneak inside the near upright. From the resulting corner, and a second attempt to get the ball into our box, the ball sat nicely for Miller 10 yards out, but he snatched at the chance, and fired wide of goal. The tackling had been firm, but fair up to this point, but the latter stages of the first half saw the fire stoked a little, and the ref booked three players before the break, two from Cwmbran, and one from us, left back Fraser Williams.

Half Time :- Coed Eva Athletic 1 Cwmbran Town 0

Graham Austin couldn't come out for the second half, and William Davies replaced him. I told the players to make sure the concentration levels remained high, and to pick their moments to try and stretch Cwmbran, use the width wisely, and take the chances we get. The fact that right from the restart, the ball went out wide to Davies means that at least my team talks are being listened to. Within ten minutes of the second half, Cwmbran were starting to show their frustration, and Bowtell was shooting from range rather than holding the ball up and waiting for support. He looked fairly annoyed with himself when his effort from at least thirty yards out in the 56th minute was miles off target. Still Town created chances, Jason Cowan twice denied shooting chances, firstly by the block of the excellent Frank Oppong, and then seconds later by Gavin Kinsey, who had come back to help out his defence and made a vital challenge. Cowan did get a shot off a moment or two later, but curled his shot beyond the far post.

By the 66th minute, the visitors had used two of their subs, and one of them, Neil Roberts, managed to get outside Fraser Williams on their right channel after the ref played a good advantage, Bowtell appearing to have been fouled in the air by Sampson. The new man in Cwmbran's lineup earned himself a yard of room, but buried his shot into the side netting to the relief of Ponissi. When we did get forward, which was becoming an increasingly rare event, we were guilty of overplaying, Kinsey could have whipped in an early cross, but instead played the ball back into the midfield, before it eventually came back to him after being worked into the box, he too also hit the side netting. Ponissi was called into action in the 75th minute, as Miller drove a shot from the edge of the box towards the top corner, our keeper pushing it away with a save that looked more spectacular than he probably needed to make it look. Harding had a chance to send the loose ball back into the middle with our defence outnumbered, but Ryan Timms got across and prevented him from sending the ball across. I made my second change, a fairly ineffective Tniashe Mutanha came off, and Shane Williamson comes on to play up front. We launched a counter attack, Kinsey showing good intelligence, stepping infield with the ball, laying it off to Oppong, and pointing to the overlapping run of Timms to show the skipper where to play the ball. Unfortunately, Cwmbran had spotted that too, and Timms was met by two defenders, who dispossessed him, and then played a long ball down the flank into the space where he needed to be. Harding took the ball, and played it in Bowtell, who looked to have a great chance, until Jason Price made a superbly timed sliding tackle to prevent the danger man from getting in on goal. In the 81st minute, Cwmbran's best chance to level it up arrived, Bowtell holding up the ball on the edge of the box, and then backheeling it into the path of sub Wayne Morely, who's sidefooted shot had no power and was easily dealt with by Ponissi. I made my final change in the 82nd minute, and parked the bus, sacrificing Ryan Dorrian for Gareth Taylor, going to five at the back, Marc Lloyd dropping back to make a four in midfield, and Williamson left up front to chase any long balls we could manage. Bowtell had managed to find space against two centre backs, but he had no space to work in against three of them, and Town failed to create anything of note. A big derby day win for us, even if our opponents didn't necessarily see it that way.

Coed Eva Athletic (1) 1 Cwmbran Town (0) 0

Scorers : Marc Lloyd (16)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian (Gareth Taylor 82), Graham Austin (inj - William Davies 45); Marc Lloyd; Tinashe Mutanha (Shane Williamson 75).

Attendance :- 225. Man of the Match :- Marc Lloyd (Coed Eva).

[neilhoskins77]

The good news after the match was that Graham Austin has done no more damage than strain a muscle in his neck, and will only miss a couple of weeks. It's starting to look like the winger might be a touch on the brittle side, I'm hoping that's not the case. The big news came the following day, as on Sunday it was announced that Cwmbran Town manager, Barry Hughes, and the club, have parted company by mutual consent. I'd been asked after Saturday's match what my views were on the speculation that Hughes is under pressure at Town with the club desperate to secure promotion this season. I'd answered that what went on down the road was no concern of mine, though I then added that football is a results based business, regardless of the level it's being played at.

The latest outing for the Reserves side came on Tuesday evening at Cwmbran Park, as we hosted the Neath Premier Division club, Sunnybank WMC. Two second half goals, one apiece from Jodie Jenkins and Dylan McPhee, saw our second string side come from behind to win. At the training session the following day, Jenkins asked to speak to me, and he wasn't alone. He had Paul Davies with him too, and both wanted to discuss their First Team opportunities, or lack of. Both are told to stop complaining and get on with their football, as impressing me on the park is the only way they're going to get themselves into the First Team reckoning. Neither is happy, both are considering their futures. In reality, Jenkins is too small at 5'5 to play the target man role that we're currently deploying up front. Davies is a poor second to Ryan Dorrian, who has really upped his game in the last few weeks.

Saturday 26th October 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One

King George V Playing Fields, Abergavenny

Govilon v Coed Eva Athletic

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, William Davies; Marc Lloyd; Tinashe Mutanha.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Geraint Goodridge, Gareth Williams, Paul Mazzarella, Shane Williamson.

Govilon won each of their opening three League matches, and have been winless in six games since, five of them in the League. After last weekends win over the promotion favourites, and with Govilon's poor run of form, we were firm favourites for the trip to Abergavenny. I was forced into a change with Graham Austin being unavailable, so William Davies comes into the starting lineup, and Gareth Williams comes onto the bench.

Both sides created early opportunities at goal. We refused to give up possession from the kick off, passing the ball around patiently, William Davies eventually taking the shot, sidefooting into the side netting. At the other end, Ryan Dorrian's attempt to pick out a team mate was intercepted by Andrew Raymond, who quickly moved the ball to Mark Morgan. He found their front man, Anthony Osbourne, who fired over the bar from about 15 yards out. It was still early in the game when we created another good chance, Marc Lloyd sending a pass through for Tinashe Mutanha. The big striker's first touch wasn't great, but he had enough time to take a shot on the bounce, stinging the hands of keeper Steve Darlington, who pushed the ball into the path of Davies, but the angle was too tight for him to trouble Darlington too much. In the 13th minute, we fell behind, Darren Hurley taking the free kick about 20 yards out, curling it over the defensive wall, and William Ponissi unable to get across goal quick enough as the ball went inside the near post. Five minutes later, Hurley took another free kick from out on the right touchline, Ponissi needing two attempts to smother the ball.

Out attempts to get back on level terms were hindered to a degree when Frank Oppong went off injured midway through the half. I had a couple of options, and elected to bring on Paul Mazzarella to join Dorrian in the middle of the park. Both Dorrian and Gavin Kinsey were doing their level best to get the ball upfield to Mutanha, but I don't think it's being harsh to say that the striker isn't on top form right now. Combine that with our defence coping reasonably well, and the vast majority of the match was being played in the central third of the pitch. The exception to the rule came in the 32nd minute, when Craig Sampson took too long to make up his mind what he wanted to do with the ball, Hurley closed in on him, Sampson stood on the ball, and Hurley burst through on goal, thankfullly curling the ball past the post. The centre back tried to atone for his near gift to Govilon, getting up field to meet Davies' corner at the near post ten minutes before the break, stooping to head it, but failing to hit the target. It was a mark of how frustrating our half had been that both Fraser Williams and Marc Lloyd picked up bookings with petulant fouls late in the half.

Half Time :- Govilon 1 Coed Eva Athletic 0

I told the players I expected better of them in the second half, and I was convinced that if they could up their game, there were still points for the taking in this one. But the second half was even more scrappy than the first half, with neither side managing to produce anything of real note in front of goal, and settling for winning the increasingly competitive midfield battle. Jason Price picked up a booking with twenty minutes left, and our best chance of cutting open the home defence looked to be down the right flank. Through that route, we finally managed to get Mutanha into some space in the box in the 73rd minute, but a defender forced him wide, and his shot only hit the outside of the near post. Ryan Dorrian came off a few minutes later, Marc Lloyd dropping back into the middle, and Shane Williamson coming on and playing behind Mutanha. But that didn't make any difference to our issues, and Govilon took the points without too many scares. Our lack of goals is starting to become a concern. One step forward, two steps back.

Govilon (1) 1 Coed Eva Athletic (0) 0

Scorers : None

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt - inj - Paul Mazzarella 22), Ryan Dorrian (Shane Williamson 76), William Davies; Marc Lloyd; Tinashe Mutanha.

Attendance :- 225. Man of the Match :- Darren Hurley (Govilon).

[u][i]Gwent County League, Division One Table. Up to & Including Sunday 27th October 2013.[/i][/u]

[b]| Pos   | Inf   | Team                   |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | [/b]

| 1st   |       | Abercarn               |       | 10    | 6     | 2     | 2     | 20    | 12    | +8    | 20    | 
[b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] 
| 2nd   |       | Cwmbran                |       | 10    | 6     | 0     | 4     | 13    | 9     | +4    | 18    | 
| 3rd   |       | Panteg                 |       | 9     | 4     | 4     | 1     | 9     | 6     | +3    | 16    | 
| 4th   |       | Newport Corries        |       | 10    | 5     | 1     | 4     | 17    | 17    | 0     | 16    | 
| 5th   |       | Clydach Wasps          |       | 9     | 5     | 1     | 3     | 14    | 15    | -1    | 16    | 
| 6th   |       | Pill                   |       | 10    | 4     | 3     | 3     | 20    | 10    | +10   | 15    | 
[b]| 7th   |       | Coed Eva               |       | 9     | 4     | 3     | 2     | 11    | 9     | +2    | 15    | [/b]
| 8th   |       | AC Pontymister         |       | 9     | 4     | 2     | 3     | 14    | 13    | +1    | 14    | 
| 9th   |       | Govilon                |       | 9     | 4     | 2     | 3     | 12    | 13    | -1    | 14    | 
| 10th  |       | Trethomas              |       | 9     | 3     | 2     | 4     | 17    | 17    | 0     | 11    | 
| 11th  |       | P.I.L.C.S.             |       | 9     | 3     | 1     | 5     | 13    | 15    | -2    | 10    | 
| 12th  |       | Albion Rovers          |       | 9     | 2     | 3     | 4     | 10    | 15    | -5    | 9     | 
| 13th  |       | Abertillery Excelsior  |       | 10    | 3     | 0     | 7     | 19    | 25    | -6    | 9     | 
| 14th  |       | Fairfield              |       | 9     | 2     | 2     | 5     | 9     | 12    | -3    | 8     | 
[b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [/b]
| 15th  |       | Pentwynmawr            |       | 9     | 1     | 2     | 6     | 5     | 15    | -10   | 5     | 

Frank Oppong is going to miss around three weeks of action, he has damaged his elbow in the defeat against Govilon, and it was that injury that forced him off the park midway through the first half. He'll certainly be a miss from our lineup, his defensive work in particular has been superb. But we do have adequate cover, with Paul Mazzarella, Geraint Goodridge and Gareth Williams all able to cover for him. I'm more worried about our strikers right now, with Tinashe Mutanha struggling to find the net, and Shane Williamson not adept at the target man role that I'm sure is going to work best for us in the long run. My scout, Tom Richards, is instructed to find me a new striker as quick as possible.

Our Under-19's played on the Sunday this weekend, and it was visitors from the Neath Premier Division, in the shape of Bryn Rovers. Our youngsters came up with a 2-1 win that looked more comfortable than the scoreline suggests. Even more pleasing than that were the names on the scoresheet. Geraint Owen is now consistently finding the net, and opened the scoring just before the quarter hour mark. Huw Bennett marked his first start of the season with the winner ten minutes into the second half. Antony Bishop had another excellent game at left back.

By Monday, a new striker was signed and sealed. Tom Richards text me back immediately on the Saturday evening, telling me he had the perfect guy for the role, and that he thought he would jump at the chance to join us. He was right, and the new striker has been playing all season as well, so he arrives match fit, and in good goalscoring form as well. With the new arrival to compete with Mutanha for the starting spot up front, it's now likely that Shane Williamson will contest the attacking midfield role with Marc Lloyd, while Paul Mazzarella will be deployed in centre midfield, competing for a spot with current regulars, Ryan Dorrian and Frank Oppong. I am in the market for a new centre midfielder as well.

October ends with a Reserve fixture at Tonteg Park, Pontypridd, as our second string side travel to face their equivalants from Llantwit Fadre of the South Wales Amateur Division One. The home side took the lead in the 25th minute, before an equaliser in the 81st minute from the man of the match, our forward Dale Price.

[displaced_seagull]

I do like this, clearly written with love and knowledge of the local football scene. KUTGW

[oche balboa]

Great story

How do you export the Tables?

[neilhoskins77]

I do like this, clearly written with love and knowledge of the local football scene. KUTGW

That's quite the compliment from someone who has earned the respect that you have on these Boards. Thanks very much, and I hope you continue to enjoy the progress.

Great story

How do you export the Tables?

Thanks oche, good to have you along once again. I'll send you a private message in a few moments with the procedure if that's ok.

November 2013 :

Into November, and we're a third of the way through my first campaign with Coed Eva Athletic. There's still very much everything to play for, with the League showing a very bunched together top half of the table. Two successive fixtures against clubs near the foot of the table would give us an opportunity to push ourselves a bit closer to the dotted line. Our new striker would be available for the weekend too, 32 year old Nana Baah. The Londoner is a natural target man, and stands at 6'3, with strength one of his primary assets. He's been bouncing around the clubs in Wales for over a decade since failing to make the grade at Aldershot Town at the turn of the century. It's not his first time plying his trade in Cwmbran either, as he had half a season with Cwmbran Celtic a few seasons ago. He joins from Caerau Ely, where he had already found the net three times so far this season in the Welsh League Division One.

Nana Baah. 32 years old. Right Footed. 6'3. English. 14st 2lbs. Striker

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 36. Career Goals : 9.

Previous Clubs : Egham Town (Evo-Stik Southern Div 1C), Aldershot Town (Isthmian Premier), Cardiff Met Uni (Welsh League Div 1), Pen-y-bont (Welsh League Div 1), Cardiff Bay Quins (WPL), Dinas Powys (Welsh League Div 1), Clevedon Town (Evo-Stik Southern Premier), Caerau Ely (Welsh League Div 1), Ton Pentre (Welsh League Div 1), Cwmbran Celtic (Welsh League Div 1). Signed : Free Transfer from Caerau Ely (28/10/13).

Not everything went our way this week though, as my attempt to bring a combative midfielder into the club failed. 26 year old Joe Doyle had made an impressive start to the season with Gresford Athletic in the Welsh National Premier, and we offered the 6'4 box to box midfielder a contract to join us, which he refused, instead signing for Llandudno Junction in the Welsh Alliance Premier instead. This meant me moving onto another midfield target, who I was less confident of getting, as he was already attracting attention for other clubs, such is his form so far this campaign.

The Board are pleased with how things are going this season despite the defeat at Govilon. They're happy with how things are going in the League, very happy with the signing of Marc Lloyd, and content with the finances, which are stable, though I have very little to do with that as everyone is on amateur contracts. The only negative comment from the Boardroom was regarding Tinashe Mutanha, who they say is currently in poor form, and they share a view aired by the fans that he should be dropped. With the arrival of Nana Baah, I was already aware of that and on the case. The only other news of note before the weekends matches was the appointment of Cwmbran Town's new manager. The Crows have appointed 38 year old former Glan Conwy man, Jon Cross as their new gaffer, and he will start his tenure in charge against Govilon the following day, while we take a trip to Abertillery.

Saturday 2nd November 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One

Woodland Park, Abertillery

Abertillery Excelsior v Coed Eva Athletic

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Paul Mazzarella (capt), Ryan Dorrian, William Davies; Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Geraint Goodridge, Gareth Williams, Shane Williamson, Tinashe Mutanha.

There were two changes made to the lineup for this game. The first was forced, Frank Oppong is out, and Paul Mazzarella takes his place in our midfield. The second was a wholly unenforced change, with new striker Nana Baah starting up front, and Tinashe Mutanha on the bench. Mutanha's face was one of shock when he saw the team sheet and realised he'd been dropped. I was hoping to get a reaction out of him.

The weather in Abertillery was consistent with an early November afternoon in South East Wales, a persistent drizzle making the pitch slippery, and it wasn't exactly warm out there either. Ryan Timms was lucky that there were only 30 seconds on the clock when he challenged from behind and gave away a free kick, the fact it was so early probably the only reason he didn't pick up a booking. As the match got going, we started to assert our slick passing game, and Nana Baah was proving a handful for the home defence, who were struggling with his physical style. He laid the ball off to Marc Lloyd on the edge of the box in the 17th minute, Lloyd stinging the keepers hands with a fiercely driven shot that he managed to get behind the goal frame. From the corner, William Davies waved everyone to the near post, and then sent his cross to the far post, Gavin Kinsey's header hitting the post. It was Kinsey who would get the next chance too, running in on goal after good work from Baah and Paul Mazzarella, the latter sending a through ball into his feet. Kinsey went for power, Ricky Coleman making a great stop, Kinsey collecting the rebound, and pushing it past the far post. In the 28th minute, we finally found a way through, Kinsey curling a pass into the right channel, and Baah showing a turn of pace I wasn't expecting. He reached the ball at the byline, and cut it back across goal, where Lloyd met it and sidefooted the ball home from eight yards out. We could have had another before the break, Lloyd threading a ball between the centre backs which Baah again managed to get onto, lifting the ball over the onrushing keeper, but putting it just the wrong side of the post.

Half Time :- Abertillery Excelsior 0 Coed Eva Athletic 1

I asked the players to stick to the slick passing that we'd shown in the first half, insisting the gaps would come. I was proved right within a minute of the second half. Mazzarella lost out on a 50/50 tackle, and stayed down, but Ryan Dorrian was right next to him and won the ball back, laying it off to Marc Lloyd. He picked another great pass through the defence, sending Kinsey in at pace, and he got into the box, cut back inside, and was then felled by a challenge from Dale Hopkins. The ref awarded the penalty, the home players were furious, and were even more annoyed when the ref then showed Hopkins a yellow card. William Davies has shown good composure from the spot already in this campaign, and he didn't look like missing this time, coolly waiting for the keeper to make his move, and then sidefooting the ball right down the middle to make it a two goal advantage.

When Abertillery did attempt to pierce our defence, they found Craig Sampson in uncompromising mood, though I would admit to having my heart in my mouth somewhat when he lunged into a challenge in our own box, but the ref saw nothing wrong with that one. We had a chance to put the game to bed when Kinsey dropped a ball over the defence and Baah ran onto it, but he sidefooted his shot wide of the mark. On the hour both Mazzarella and Baah came off, the debut striker had put himself about a bit, and made a thorough nuisance of himself, but maybe should have had a goal. Gareth Williams came on for Mazzarella, and Tinashe Mutanha would replace Baah. As the assistant was checking his boots, I grabbed him by the shoulder, and told him that if he was angry to have been dropped today, show me I was wrong. He held up the ball and played in Davies just two minutes after getting into the game, but the winger's shot was a bit wild. In the 65th minute, Marc Lloyd sent a ball into space on the right, and Mutanha went after it, sprinting into the box and then lashing a shot high inside the near post and past the keeper. That was the reaction I was looking for from him.

The players were starting to enjoy themselves, and everyone was looking to get forward, though that was leaving gaps. On this day, those gaps were filled by Sampson, who was superb today, and made two more great tackles to deny goalscoring opportunities within a minute of each other in the 75th minute. When they did get past our defence for once, William Ponissi produced a great low save to keep his clean sheet in tact. We weren't quite done at the other end yet though, and in the 78th minute, Kinsey twisted past his marker and sent a low pass into the path of Lloyd, who took one touch to settle the ball, and a second to shoot low across goal and into the far corner to make it 4-0. Geraint Goodridge got some rare game time in the 84th minute, coming on to replace Davies, with Williams moving to the left flank. It was a great way to bounce back after last weeks defeat, and we had overcome our goalscoring blues in emphatic fashion too.

Abertillery Excelsior (0) 0 Coed Eva Athletic (1) 4

Scorers : Marc Lloyd (28,78), William Davies (48 pen), Tinashe Mutanha (66)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Paul Mazzarella (capt - Gareth Williams 60), Ryan Dorrian, William Davies (Geraint Goodridge 84); Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah (Tinashe Mutanha 60).

Attendance :- 89. Man of the Match :- Marc Lloyd (Coed Eva).

That win had our supporters delighted with the performance, particularly of the back four, with Marc Lloyd and William Davies also picked out for their efforts. Not for the first time this season, our win cost a manager his job. Unlike Cwmbran Town earlier in the campaign, Abertillery did not wait until the next morning, Viv Wilson sacked by the Excelsior board less than an hour after the final whistle. The media were unwilling to speculate who might take over the job, though it crossed my mind that they might be struggling to pinpoint anyone desperate enough to want the task of turning that club around.

I dealt with my press duties while unaware of Wilson's fate, and was keen to wax lyrical about the form of Marc Lloyd. I told the press that he had been outstanding, and the press jumped on the bandwagon, filling the Saturday evening late press reviews of the afternoon's League action with gushing accounts of his plaudits. I could have done without them going that far, I didn't want him attracting the attention of higher placed clubs of course. There was more good news too, with Graham Austin declaring himself fit to resume training this week as well. Maybe he felt that he couldn't afford to let William Davies have another free game in his shirt?

[tenthreeleader]

Your detail in this work is exemplary. It's a lot of "grunt" labor but it adds quite a bit for the reader. Keep going -- this is good work, Neil!

[neilhoskins77]

Thanks 10-3. Appreciate your observations and encouragement as always.

The midfielder who I was trying to get to the club rejected our offer on Monday, along with offers from four other clubs, one of them being Cwmbran Celtic. Encouraged by the calibre of the clubs trying to sign him, I went right back in with another offer for him, spurred on by the knowledge that he must be a decent player if the clubs further up the Leagues were trying to get him as well. The souting reports have of course already told me that he's a player who could do great things at Cwmbran Park. Getting him was now quite important, as the next player down the list has now signed elsewhere while we're waiting on a decision from this guy.

Wednesday evening saw our Under-19's side make the trip our towards the Wales/England border to face Calicot Town's age group side at Jubilee Way. Those at the match saw the good form of Huw Bennett continue after his injury lay off, as he opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, and then netted again a minute from time to snatch a point for our youngsters after they'd conceded in the 44th and 69th minutes. Bennett's double earned him the man of the match award too. Friday saw us named as heavy favourites for the following day's home clash with another club near the foot of the table, Albion Rovers. Things showed no sign of getting anything other than tighter near the top of the League, with Cwmbran Town now having their week off, after their new manager made a losing start, beaten at home by Govilon. That would give Clydach Wasps, Abercarn, ourselves, Newport Corries and Govilon all the chance to try and put some daylight between us and the favourites for the Title.

Friday also saw the next round of International squads named for the break to come in a weeks time. The Seniors will play Friendlies against France and Latvia, with Chris Coleman again having to dig deep down into the Football League to find players to fill the gaps in his squad. The Under-21's have competitive matches against Luxembourg and England to prepare for, while for the Under-19's it will be Friendlies in Belarus and Austria. There is just one player currently playing in the Welsh pyramid included in any of the three squads, Monmouth Town keeper Ryan Green named in the Under-19's squad.

With our home match on the Saturday, the Under-19's are forced to play their home Welsh Under-19's Cup Third Round tie on the Friday evening. Having just played on the Wednesday, this did our lads no favours at all, and they crashed out of the competition, going three goals down inside half hour to Talgarth Rovers, though they did claw two goals back in the second half. Both Antony Bishop and Geraint Owen played the full match, Huw Bennett only played the second half as a precaution.

Saturday 9th November 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One

Cwmbran Park, Cwmbran

Coed Eva Athletic v Albion Rovers

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Paul Mazzarella (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Geraint Goodridge, William Davies, Shane Williamson, Tinashe Mutanha.

Despite getting his name on the scoresheet last time out, William Davies finds himself back on the bench for this game, with Graham Austin fit once more, and reclaiming the number eleven jersey for our home match with Albion Rovers, who have made the short trip up the road from the outskirts of Newport. We're made virtually nailed on favourites for this one in front of another full house at Cwmbran Park.

We started the match with the look of a team who wanted to put this one to bed very early on, and it was quite obvious that the Rovers defence were concerned about Nana Baah, particularly when he dropped into a deeper area, and from there, the first goal game inside three minutes. He won a 50/50 ball about 30 yards from goal, spun away from a second defender, and then laid the ball back to Paul Mazzarella. The midfielder lofted a ball in to the edge of the box, where Mark Lloyd beat his man in the air, and knocked the ball down for Baah, who took a touch to control it, then moved it out of a defenders path, and slammed it high into the top corner of the net. A few minutes later, he could have had a second. After William Ponissi easily caught a cross towards his near post, he threw the ball quickly to Ryan Timms, who linked with Gavin Kinsey to send us the other way at pace. Kinsey put Mazzarella into the channel, and he produced a cross between keeper and defender that caused almost panic in the visiting defence, Baah getting there first, but his header was a foot or so too high. It could have been a hat trick within ten minutes with better finishing, as in the 8th minute, Lloyd found Baah with a square pass from the right edge of the box, Baah spinning and shooting, but again, his effort was a little too high. Finally in the 19th minute, we did manage to put some daylight between the sides, Lloyd sending his corner into the near post where no one was able to deal with it, and the ball pinged around, before Craig Sampson stretched out a boot and guided it over the line from all of a yard out.

Naturally, it was expcted we would kick on from there and start to dominate proceedings even further. Rovers weren't having that though, and straight from the kick off Mike Gradwell took possession on their right, and curled a rather hopeful looking ball towards the edge of the box. Sampson couldn't quite climb high enough to deal with it though, and Paul Biggs gleefully pounced on the ball and steered his shot past Ponissi and inside the post to immediately bring the score back to 2-1. In the 25th minute, we should have reclaimed that two goal advantage, good work from the left side by Graham Austin, who got the ball inside to Ryan Dorrian. His pass into the left side of the box looked a wasted one, but Lloyd did superbly to not only stay onside, but then to reach the ball, control it, and jink back inside a defender, squaring the ball to Baah. It arrived perfectly for the striker to hit, but he was rather nonchalant with his finish, and Jordan O'Brien gratefully clutched it. Still, Baah wouldn't have to wait long for yet another chance to fall his way, in the 27th minute, Kinsey switched on the burners on the right and blew past his marker, then floated a cross that evaded two defenders, and found Baah, who had took advantage of their ball watching and pulled away from the defence, allowing him to sidefoot into the net from close range with his left foot.

So it was almost beyond belief when for the second time in a spell of less than ten minutes, Rovers once again scored right from kick off to instantly reply. Brett Mainwaring combined with Paul Biggs, and the latter sent a short pass to Paul Harling. He lifted his head, and guided a 25 yard strike past Ponissi and into the top corner, a goal that would have graced any game and any occassion. In the 34th minute, Kinsey took the ball from a throw in, and slung in an early cross. Graham Austin had come in off the left wing and brought the ball down, touching it past Gradwell into a bit of space, but bodychecked by the visiting player, and the ref awarded a penalty kick. Ryan Dorrian collected the ball, but then unselfishly handed it to Nana Baah, who was on a hat trick. Right footed, he really couldn't have picked his spot any better, going low to the keepers right and the ball scraped the top coat of paint from the upright on it's way by. A treble on his home debut, and Baah looked suitably delighted. A superb first half of action was brought to an end, and we had a two goal lead, but it could easily have been four or five that we led by.

Half Time :- Coed Eva Athletic 4 Albion Rovers 2

The second half would be a considerably less dramatic half of football, though it would have been asking for too much for a repeat of the first half. If that had occurred I think we'd have had to charge the punters another £4 on the way out. Firstly Marc Lloyd, and then closely following behind, Paul Harling, sent free kicks from range over the cross bars of their respective opponents goal frames. Graham Austin added his name to that list, and shortly after sent across a corner kick, which Jason Price headed over the top. Nana Baah was looking to add more goal times next to his name on the scoresheet, but just failed to get on the end of Gavin Kinsey's curling through ball that split the defence open, Jordan O'Brien very quick off his line and collecting the ball at Baah's feet. We weren't overwhelming Rovers by any means though, and when they did get the ball in our half, they were a threat, Mike Gradwell thumping the ball into the side netting after outpacing Fraser Williams and cutting into the box. A pass across the face of the goal would have had us in all kinds of trouble. In the 64th minute, Gradwell did send the ball across the goal, a deep cross that perfectly picked out Biggs, and he finished well, but had moved a split second too early, and was offside. When Biggs did hold his run to stay onside in the 70th minute, his finish wasn't as good.

As Albion Rovers started to assert themselves in the match, I made my three changes in one go, withdrawing Mazarella, Austin and Baah, bringing on Geraint Goodridge, William Davies and Tinashe Mutanha. That move didn't turn the tide right away though, and Biggs sauntered through the middle of the park and then sent the ball wide to Arwel Thomas, while Biggs continued his own run towards goal. Thomas tried to find him, but the ball never reached Biggs, as Sampson got himself in a right mess trying to clear the ball, and only managed to squeeze it between Ponissi and the near post, becoming a scorer at both ends this afternoon. This game was now much closer than it should have been, as we'd easily created enough chances to win two or three matches. I was now getting nervous, and my defence were do nothing to help that feeling, as they insisted on clearing the ball to anywhere at all, rather than focusing on putting their passes out to the wide players, an instruction they usually adhered to. Centre back Josh Bower sent a lofted ball over the heads of our defence in the 78th minute, and Biggs had this time got his run spot on, moving off the shoulder of Price and having a perfect opportunity as Ponissi had come off his line. Biggs tried to loop his header over out keeper, but thankfully for us, got nowhere near enough on it, and Ponissi caught it fairly easily. Bower was caught in two minds on the ball in the 80th minute, and Lloyd took it off his foot. He should have finished the match there and then, but his shot was a tame one. Finally, in the 85th minute, we did manage to make the game safe. Tinashe Mutanha was literally head and shoulders above the defence when he knocked down Fraser Williams long ball forward to Lloyd, and he spun, and sent a measured pass into the path of the oncoming Kinsey, who curled it around the keeper and into the net to seal three more points for us, but boy did we make hard work of that.

Coed Eva Athletic (4) 5 Albion Rovers (2) 3

Scorers : Nana Baah (3,27,34 pen), Craig Sampson (19), Gavin Kinsey (85)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Paul Mazzarella (capt - Geraint Goodridge 70), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin (William Davies 70); Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah (Tinashe Mutanha 70).

Attendance :- 225. Man of the Match :- Nana Baah (Coed Eva).

[neilhoskins77]

Nine goals in two matches certainly got us over our recent scoring issues, and the fans have of course immediately taken to new striker Nana Baah after his efforts on Saturday at Cwmbran Park. I spent the evening wondering if there was a possibility of us managing to get both Baah and Tinashe Mutanha together in the team as a striker duo. There's no doubt that the two of them together up front would give opposition defences nightmares, but at this level, the midfield battle is every bit as important, and losing that would result in two strikers who wouldn't get enough ball to be effective. It was certainly something to ponder over. After answering some emails from the local press for Monday night's newspapers, my pondering was brought to an end by a message from Dale Price. He joined the list of players not happy with his lack of First Team opportunities, and he wanted out. I'd been pretty non-plussed by Price and his efforts in the Reserves, and didn't consider the prospect of him leaving the club as a big deal, so I wasn't too convincing in my limited efforts to talk him down.

Sunday was a busier club business day that it should ever be at this level. It started with an email from the League to say that our match against Albion Rovers had established a new League record for the number of goals in a match. That was followed by a telephone call, from a number I didn't recognise. The caller introduced himself as Oscar Oso from the European Football Post, and he wanted to know what I thought about the news that I was apparently about to get a new boss. Obviously, this caught be by surprise, but I quickly assessed the situation, and didn't really want to give this guy the impression that things were happenening in the club that I wasn't being made aware of, even though that was apparently what was happening. So I replied that it was too early in proceedings to form an opinion on it. He had his quote, and I'd gotten out of the situation in record time so I could make a call to the Chairman. On the phone, Ryan Davies confirmed that a consortium were in the process of preparing an offer for the club, and he was waiting to hear what they had to say. He also mentioned that the consortium was in the process of being put together, but would likely be fronted by a former professional player. 'As soon as I know more, then I'll pass the details to you' he ended the call with. I didn't know if I believed that, after all, I'd found out this much from the press. It could be a good thing for the club. They may be ambitious, have a bit of money behind them and be looking to go semi professional or full time and move the club up the pyramid. On the flip side, they could bring their own manager with them and I could be looking for another job. I guess there's no point speculating or concerning myself with it right now.

I didn't have too much time to dwell on it anyway, as I was called to the ground to welcome our new signing. The midfielder I'd been chasing for several weeks had finally put pen to paper, and was now our guy. Gethin Maxwell is 21 years old, and is a centre midfielder who is probably halfway between Ryan Dorrian and Frank Oppong. He relishes the physical side of the game, and is a very determined young lad, but equally, he can play a bit too. He was a youngster at Chester City when they were a Sky Bet League Two club, and has been playing this season one level above us for Cardiff Met Uni. They were furious that he has left the club at this stage, while on the other hand, our supporters were said to be delighted that we'd secured a player of Gethin's calibre. Usually, that would be a pretty good sign.

Gethin Maxwell. 21 years old. Right Footed. 5'11. Welsh. 12st 1lbs. Centre Midfielder.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 5. Career Goals : 0.

Previous Clubs : Chester City (Sky Bet League 2), Llanberis (Welsh Alliance Premier), Cardiff Met Uni (Welsh League Div 3). Signed From : Free Transfer from Cardiff Met Uni (10/11/13).

On Tuesday, we had Frank Oppong back in training following his damaged elbow. With a full compliment of players available again, the competition for places in the First Team was more fierce than at any other point of the season. No one could rest on their laurels or take a game off now. The Reserves played on Tuesday evening, travelling to the Halfway Park to face Winch Wen in Swansea. Our second string side took the spoils with a 2-0 victory, which was only really notable for Dale Price twisting his ankle, an injury that could keep him out for up to two months. Just as well I didn't promise him any First Team football I guess.

Thursday saw the Internationals take centre stage once more, with both Under-19's and Under-21's in action for Wales. The younger of the sides took a trip out to Belarus, where they faced their counterparts from the ex-Russian state in a Friendly in Vitebsk. The game was settled in the 76th minute by second year Cardiff City youngster, Macauley Southam. The 17 year old forward scored the only goal of the game played in a downpour for large sections of the match. The Under-21's had a competitive match, travelling to Luxembourg where they would look to try and close the gap on Slovakia and England in Group 8 of the European Under-21 Championship Qualifiers. Played at the Stade rue Henri Dunant in Luxembourg City, the match was fairly comfortable for our lads, as they were two goals ahead inside a quarter of an hour courtesy of strikes from Elliott Hewitt, who has been getting First Team football at Gillingham on a loan from Ipswich Town, and Alex Samuel of Swansea City. An early second half goal from Wesley Burns of Bristol City completed the scoring a routine 3-0 win for Wales. And their cause was helped a bit when Sweden handed Slovakia their first defeat of the campaign too. Friday saw the Senior side in action in France in a Friendly that would take place in Saint-Etienne. A horror first half saw the French lead 3-0 at the break, Dimitri Payet of Marseille opening the scoring inside 40 seconds, and Karim Benzema of Real Madrid making it 2-0 just six minutes in. Adil Rami of Valencia added the third before the break. Wales, without their talisman, Gareth Bale again, did a much better job in the second half with Leeds United's in form striker Steve Morison and Sam Vokes of Burnley making the score look far more reasonable at 3-2.

Saturday got underway with Coed Eva's Under-19's taking the trip to the Halfway Park, where it was their turn to take on their opposite numbers of Winch Wen. A 3-1 win was overshadowed by Antony Bishop coming off in the 57th minute injured, and Huw Bennett, who netted twice in ten minutes, one a superb free kick, also taking a knock. Both have bruised ribs, and both will be out for around two weeks. The Seniors made the trip out to Caerphilly, where they would face a Trethomas Bluebirds club that are notoriously difficult to turn over on their own patch, losing just once there so far this season.

Saturday 16th November 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One.

Llanfabon Drive, Caerphilly

Trethomas Bluebirds v Coed Eva Athletic

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Paul Mazzarella (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Gethin Maxwell, William Davies, Shane Williamson, Tinashe Mutanha.

One change to the matchday squad for this game, the starting eleven staying as they have been, but Geraint Goodridge loses his spot on the bench, with Gethin Maxwell taking his spot and could potentially debut for the club today. Frank Oppong is not considered fit enough to take part today. Trethomas are not too far away from the group of clubs looking to establish themselves as promotion contenders, and are in good form coming into this match.

A match that started in the sunshine, but the drizzle quickly arrived. Trethomas were operating a 4-5-1 formation, and that was giving us problems in winning enough ball. Richard Saunders had the first chance in the 10th minute, finding space in between our centre backs, the ball wouldn't quite sit for him, giving a covering Ryan Timms enough time to get his foot in to block the effort, the ball going back to Saunders, and his second effort was a shot on the turn that cleared the bar. We went right down the other end and created our first chance, Graham Austin angling the ball to Marc Lloyd, and he threaded a pass into the path of Nana Baah. The striker cut his run across the defender to make it impossible for him to make a challenge, but was guilty of shooting somewhat early, and his sidefooted attempt never concerned Paul Ramsey unduly. Chances were tough to come by for both teams, the best we managed came midway through the half, good play between Gavin Kinsey and Paul Mazzarella contributing heavily, Marc Lloyd trying his luck with a low shot that Ramsey used his legs to stop. Baah sprinted into the box on the right shortly after when Mazzarella played him in, but our striker only hit the side netting on this occassion. Austin ended the half with a free kick that failed to hit the target and make Ramsey work.

Half Time :- Trethomas Bluebirds 0 Coed Eva Athletic 0

I still thought we had the better of the Trethomas side, but there was no doubt that we being caused issues by our hosts loaded midfield. Ninety seconds into the second half we created a chance, as Graham Austin allowed his marker to believe he would hug the touchline again, then cut back inside and curled a ball towards the edge of the box, Baah taking it down and shooting, Ramsey again proving an equal to his shot. Five minutes into the half, and we finally got the breakthrough, but fortune was certainly due a large slice of the credit. Gavin Kinsey was sent into space on the right wing, and sent a cross towards the near post. It arrived at a very uncomfortable height for Ramsey, and he tipped the ball onto the underside of his own cross bar, but the ball bounced down and just stayed there. Austin added to the confusion by arriving to try and poke the ball over the line, but it was actually full back Dillian Roose who inadvertadly applied the finishing touch, and his own goal put us ahead.

We couldn't afford to take our foot off the gas at all, the heads of the Trethomas players didn't drop in the slightest at going behind. They made a change, and now they had two Jones' on the pitch to cause us problems, with Chris joining Ceri on the park. It was the latter who had a chance to level the game, latching onto a free kick into the box with a volley, Ponissi having to be on his toes to push it away with both hands. With half hour left, and Trethomas midfield becoming increasingly difficult to work the ball through, we were now shooting from range, though Marc Lloyd took that too literally, reaching Ramsey's poor free kick from just outside his own box, and from halfway volleying the ball right back towards goal, but missing the target by a fair margin. In the 64th minute, the hosts cut us open, Roose involved, and releasing Saunders into some room on the right. Our defence were missing in action when the cross came in, and both the Jones lads were looking to meet it, substitute Chris it was who got there, sweeping the ball past Ponissi to level the match.

In the next ten minutes, we simply could not get the ball, and I had to make changes to try and keep us in the game, though while I was preparing those changes, it was almost too late, Ceri Jones sending a volley inches wide of the post. Ryan Timms, who was struggling against Ceri Jones on our right, was replaced by James Kincaid. Up front, Tinashe Mutanha would be tasked with holding up the ball and waiting for the cavalry, who would have a bit further to come, as Marc Lloyd was replaced by Gethin Maxwell, and we switched to five in midfield to try and match up with the opposition. The debut boy had the chance to win it as well, Graham Austin twisting and turning his defender, and then finding Maxwell, but the new boy scuffed his shot a bit, and his moment of glory was gone. James Kincaid took a much more forceful approach to dealing with Ceri Jones, clattering him and earning a yellow card for his trouble, while as injury time approached, Chris Jones let fly, Craig Sampson deflecting his shot over the bar. It was one of those days where I was fairly happy to settle for a point.

Trethomas Bluebirds (0) 1 Coed Eva Athletic (0) 1

Scorers : Dillian Roose (50 o.g)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms (James Kincaid 76), Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Paul Mazzarella (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd (Gethin Maxwell 76); Nana Baah (Tinashe Mutanha 76).

Attendance :- 225. Man of the Match :- Chris Jones (Trethomas).

[neilhoskins77]

As we approach the halfway point of the season, only a handful of clubs can be realistically ruled out of promotion contention. There are just four points splitting the top five, with Abercarn still leading the way, followed by Clydach Wasps, and then ourselves. In fact, there is just eight points between first and eleventh placed Panteg AFC. Keeping themselves firmly in contention are Cwmbran Town, with the League's top goalscorer Huw Bowtell netting twice in a 3-0 win at Abertillery, taking his personal goal tally to nine for the campaign. Our next match is Saturday's home fixture with Clydach Wasps, who are one point ahead of us in second place right now. They were top of the table going into the last round of games, but were held at home by Pentwynmawr, while Abercarn defeated Newport Corries to leapfrog into top spot.

Wales Under-19's travelling party moved from Belarus to Austria, where they were beaten 2-0 in the town of Maria-Enzerdorf, a pair of goals from FC Red Bull Salzburg's 16 year old striker, Marco Hodl, a player who is already knocking on the door of the club side's Senior team too. It was the same result for Wales Under-21's too, who lost ground in Group 8 of the Euro Under-21 Qualifiers with a defeat against England at Rodney Parade in Newport. First half goals from Tom Ince, currently on loan at Crystal Palace from Blackpool, and Jordan Obita of Reading, leaves England three points ahead of Wales with a game in hand too. Slovakia beat Luxembourg easily to return to winning ways and keep their top spot, though England do have a game in hand on them too. Wales' Senior players were not able to build on their second half showing against France, as they were beaten 2-0 against Latvia in the snow at Skonto Stadium in Riga. It was a disappointing performance from Chris Coleman's side, who were not far off full strength too, and were undone by a first half goal from Artjoms Rudnevs and a late second for Eduards Visnakovs. On the same night our Reserves were also beaten 2-0, by Pennar Robins of the Pembroke First Division.

Saturday 23rd November 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One

Cwmbran Park, Cwmbran

Coed Eva Athletic v Clydach Wasps

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Paul Mazzarella (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Frank Oppong, Gethin Maxwell, William Davies, Tinashe Mutanha.

The bookies made us favourites, but the odds showed they were far from convinced that we could triumph in this big promotion clash. Our starting team once more stayed the same, as did our formation and tactics, despite us being aware that Clydach were likely to deploy a five man midfield, which caused us problems at Trethomas just a week ago. The only change saw Frank Oppong on the bench, with Shane Williamson dropped from the matchday squad as a result. Winter was certainly starting to make it's cold presence felt, as quite a few of the players were sporting gloves this afternoon.

We created the first opportunity six minutes in, Gavin Kinsey not able to control Paul Mazzarella's pass that was fired out to him at an awkward height, but Ryan Timms won the ball right back, and then sent it down the line to put Kinsey into space. His cross arrived at the feet of Nana Baah, who looked like he couldn't miss, but David James produced a wonderful stop to keep him out. From the corner he was left hopelessly exposed by his defence however. Marc Lloyd's delivery to the near post picked out Craig Sampson, who diverted it onto the target, but James clawed it out. Sampson got the ball back, but was forced to turn away from goal, and then drill it across the goalmouth. Richard Cassidy got a boot to it to prevent it falling to Baah, but the ball deflected against the body of Craig Morris and rolled into the corner of the net.

We had got the start we were looking for, and now we were looking to press home our advantage. Marc Lloyd missed the target with a free kick, and James procduced a second superb stop from Baah, who had been played in by a great pass from Graham Austin. It was Lloyd who was really pulling the strings though, and he lifted a delicious ball over the full back to switch the play and put Kinsey into a position where he could run at a defender. He crossed for Baah, who had his back to goal and was tackled, but Kinsey had continued his run and got the ball back, drilling a low shot at the near post that James just managed to shovel behind. Paul Mazzarella had arguably our best chance to increase the lead before the break, arriving in the box to collect a knock down from Baah, but just missing the target with his shot. The visitors had barely caused us a problem at the other end, lone striker Sam Sheppard had managed two kicks, and one of those was around his ankles from our centre back Jason Price. They nearly caught us out before the break though, Dan Wilkins sending a cross that he overhit, and William Ponissi was back pedalling quickly, managing to push the ball onto the roof of the net. From the corner, Owain Warlow connected with a volley that only just cleared the frame of the goal.

Half Time :- Coed Eva Athletic 1 Clydach Wasps 0

At the break I told my players that this game should already be done and dusted, and I wanted to see them turn the screws on Clydach and secure the points. I wasn't prepared for what occurred early in the second half though. We were playing some lovely football, and in the 51st minute launched a quick attack that caught Clydach cold, though they weren't helped by the move starting with a tackle on Warlow that left the midfielder crumpled up on the grass. The ball was spread wide left where Graham Austin had come off the touchline, and drove a shot that beat James, but thumped the inside of the post. The writing was appearing on the wall, and moments later, we had our second. Again Austin was involved, gliding past a defender and sending the ball to the feet of Baah. The big striker held the ball up patiently, and then released Lloyd into space as he overlapped by him, and he kept his shot low around the feet of the keeper to give us a two goal cushion. Within a minute, Lloyd found the net again, as Clydach were careless with the ball from the restart, allowing Ryan Timms to link with Gavin Kinsey. The latter played the ball between defenders, and Lloyd sprinted into the box, before calmly slotting his second goal within a minute.

We were dominant, and we weren't finished yet either. In the 58th minute Baah knocked the ball down to Mazzarella, who sent it straight back in front of him. The ball bounced up a little awkwardly, but Baah got it under control, rounded the keeper, and stroked the ball into the unguarded net. Three goals in less than four minutes, and the Wasps had been stung. It was a perfect opportunity to give the lads half hour game time with the new tactic we'd been working on. Fraser Williams came off, and was replaced by Tinashe Mutanha, allowing us to go to two strikers. Ryan Timms moved into the middle with Jason Price and Craig Sampson as we went to three at the back. We kept four across the middle, but the wide men were asked to perform a defensive winger role as opposed to playing with wing backs, and Paul Mazzarella was replaced by Frank Oppong. Further in front of them, it would be down to Marc Lloyd to control the attacks, as he would perform the Pirlo role, but about 30 yards further upfield. This 3-4-1-2 would revolve around Lloyd, giving him two strikers in front of him, two midfielders behind him, and wingers either side.

The chances kept coming, as a deflated Clydach side looked like they couldn't wait for the final whistle to blow. They did manage to create a chance, with Gareth Morgan's low shot blocked by the feet of Ponissi. Other than that, it was still very much one way traffic. Lloyd curled a free kick that missed the target and crashed into the advertising hoardings, James turned a low left footed effort from Baah around the post. Tinashe Mutanha looked like he was enjoying himself playing alongside Baah, dragging defenders all over the place, and using his underestimated pace to beat one and get to the byline, sending in a cross that picked out his strike partner, but Baah couldn't generate enough power on his header at goal. Mutanha really should have added his name to the scoresheet with twenty minutes left, but he sidefooted his shot just past the far post. The only respite for James seemed to be when he took goal kicks, though the ball was very quickly coming straight back towards him. A rare Wasps attack saw Matthew Darby shoot across goal, Ponissi getting enough on it to turn it against the underside of the cross bar. It was left to the club captain to put the exclamation mark on the victory, as in the 78th minute Austin sent in a cross, and Frank Oppong arrived and connected with a hooked left footed volley that found the top corner, his first goal of the season. The best of the bunch was saved till last, and we're really starting to hit a rich vein of form at a crucial point of the season. We had 21 shots at goal in this game.

Coed Eva Athletic (1) 5 Clydach Wasps (0) 0

Scorers : Craig Morris (6 o.g), Marc Lloyd (54,55), Nana Baah (58), Frank Oppong (78)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams (Tinashe Mutanha 59); Gavin Kinsey, Paul Mazzarella (capt - Frank Oppong 59), Ryan Dorrian (Gethin Maxwell 84), Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Attendance :- 225. Man of the Match :- Marc Lloyd (Coed Eva).

[neilhoskins77]

The final week of the month would be a fairly quiet one, which suited me just fine. On Tuesday my coaching staff let me know that Fraser Williams efforts in training now meant he was a feasible option as a left winger. With the alternative formation relying on defensive wingers, Fraser's stock at the club just rose a little. To be fair, he has been solid, though not spectacular so far this campaign. My birthday celebrations on the Thursday involved a meal out with the entire squad and staff after our training session. There were four people missing from the night out though. That's because the day before, now comfortable that none of the four were likely to feature in our First Team going forward, I released Jodie Jenkins, Paul Davies, Dale Price and Lee Matthews from their amateur contracts, and all four left the club with immediate effect. While all of the quartet were unhappy with their First Team opportunities, and had voiced their opinion on that to me, I was in turn unhappy with their application when turning out for the Reserves. We have two players for each position, so they were now deemed expendable.

Saturday morning saw our Under-19's host Pennar Robins age group side at Cwmbran Park. Both Huw Bennett and Antony Bishop had recovered from their knocks and started the match, the latter claiming the man of the match award in a goalless draw that saw our youngsters sit in third place in the thirteen club Group they are participating in. Later in the afternoon the First Team would travel to the outskirts of Pontypool to face Fairfield United and attempt to keep the pressure on Abercarn United ahead of the clash with them next week.

Saturday 30th November 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One

The Ravine, Talywain, Pontypool

Fairfield United v Coed Eva Athletic

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Gethin Maxwell, William Davies, Paul Mazzarella, Tinashe Mutanha.

Fairfield United are a team that, to a certain degree, epitomise this Division. Bottom half of the table, but with five wins from their thirteen matches to date. Coming here and getting a win is not something that the other clubs have found easy to achieve, though they lost at Pentwynmawr last weekend, their first defeat in six matches. For us, there is just one change for this match, with Frank Oppong back into the starting lineup, replacing Paul Mazzarella who is on the bench.

Both teams had chances from corners in the first quarter of an hour. The hosts had the first one, Craig Walsh's corner met with a firm header by Mike Ellis which just cleared the bar. Jason Price went closer still for us, as he got on the end of a curling corner from Graham Austin, which thumped the bar and bounced clear. In the 21st minute Austin teased their right back, then cut inside him and sent in an inswinging cross. Home keeper Derek Evans tried to punch the ball over the bar, but made a real mess of it, only punching it into the air, and Nana Baah arrived to sidefoot a half volley into the empty net. It might have been an advantage that was doubled on the half hour mark, Gavin Kinsey and Frank Oppong doing the work, Marc Lloyd sending his shot across the face of goal.

Half Time :- Fairfield United 0 Coed Eva Athletic 1

It was Fairfield who created the chances in the opening minutes of the second half. Mike Ellis drove a shot wide after some good passing had got United through our defence. Then from the corner of the box, Craig Hutchinson curled a shot towards the far corner that William Ponissi held on to at the second attempt. We made them pay too just moments later, Graham Austin, having what was probably his best game in a Coed Eva jersey so far, beat his marker for pace on the left wing, and floated a deep cross, Gavin Kinsey arriving to finish with a precise volley into the far corner and make it 2-0. Fairfield didn't lie down right away, and Craig Walsh produced a great finish from a tight angle in the 71st minute, but he was offside when he struck it, and the effort was chalked off. Austin and Oppong both left with park with about fifteen minutes left, William Davies and Gethin Maxwell coming on in their place. When substitute Geraint Jones' free kick nearly downed an EasyJet departure from Cardiff Airport, the home fans knew the game was up, and started to leave. Nana Baah sent a header just wide in the dying moments, but we already had what we came for. Four wins from our last five stretched the unbeaten run as the season reached the halfway point.

Fairfield United (0) 0 Coed Eva Athletic (1) 2

Scorers : Nana Baah (21), Gavin Kinsey (54)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt - Gethin Maxwell 76), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin (William Davies 76); Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Attendance :- 202. Man of the Match :- Graham Austin (Coed Eva).

[i][u]Gwent County League Division One Standings. Up to & Including Sunday 1st December 2013.[/u][/i]

[b]| Pos   | Inf   | Team                   |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | [/b]

| 1st   |       | Abercarn               |       | 14    | 9     | 3     | 2     | 26    | 13    | +13   | 30    | 
[b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [/b]
[b][i]| 2nd   |       | Coed Eva               |       | 14    | 8     | 4     | 2     | 28    | 13    | +15   | 28    | [/i][/b]
| 3rd   |       | Cwmbran                |       | 14    | 9     | 0     | 5     | 22    | 10    | +12   | 27    | 
| 4th   |       | Govilon                |       | 14    | 8     | 2     | 4     | 21    | 18    | +3    | 26    | 
| 5th   |       | Clydach Wasps          |       | 14    | 7     | 2     | 5     | 20    | 25    | -5    | 23    | 
| 6th   |       | Pill                   |       | 14    | 5     | 5     | 4     | 25    | 17    | +8    | 20    | 
| 7th   |       | AC Pontymister         |       | 14    | 6     | 2     | 6     | 19    | 19    | 0     | 20    | 
| 8th   |       | Panteg                 |       | 14    | 5     | 4     | 5     | 12    | 12    | 0     | 19    | 
| 9th   |       | Newport Corries        |       | 14    | 6     | 1     | 7     | 22    | 24    | -2    | 19    | 
| 10th  |       | Trethomas              |       | 14    | 5     | 3     | 6     | 22    | 25    | -3    | 18    | 
| 11th  |       | Fairfield              |       | 14    | 5     | 2     | 7     | 18    | 21    | -3    | 17    | 
| 12th  |       | P.I.L.C.S.             |       | 14    | 4     | 2     | 8     | 20    | 24    | -4    | 14    | 
| 13th  |       | Albion Rovers          |       | 14    | 3     | 3     | 8     | 17    | 27    | -10   | 12    | 
| 14th  |       | Pentwynmawr            |       | 14    | 3     | 3     | 8     | 12    | 23    | -11   | 12    | 
[b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] 
| 15th  |       | Abertillery Excelsior |       | 14    | 4     | 0     | 10    | 21    | 34    | -13   | 12    | 

[displaced_seagull]

Certainly going well of late

[edtheguy]

I can't believe I haven't commented here yet, I love the concise detailed narrative and am really enjoying this.

Nice run you've got going, Coed Eva are looking the favorites to me right now!

[neilhoskins77]

Certainly going well of late

We're starting to hit our stride a bit DS. Hopefully we can keep it up.

I can't believe I haven't commented here yet, I love the concise detailed narrative and am really enjoying this.

Nice run you've got going, Coed Eva are looking the favorites to me right now!

Ed, don't worry my friend, you've been very busy yourself with your own story. Glad to have you along. Season ticket anyone?

It was Graham Austin who stole the limited media coverage that we manage to get with his two assists and man of the match performance. The 33 year old is starting to hit some good form, and the fans are starting to form the opinion that his arrival was one of the best bits of business we've managed so far. The unbeaten run of five League games is starting to have people outside our club believe that maybe, the season could end with success. There's a long way to go yet though. Cwmbran Town are clinging onto our coat tails, with Huw Bowtell making it to double figures with one of the goals in their 3-0 win at Trethomas. There was another win for leaders Abercarn at home to Panteg, while Govilon moved into the top four with a win away to Clydach Wasps, who are now starting to drop off the pace a little bit.

December 2013 :

Sunday saw both Darren Bakker and Gareth Williams make the decision to speak to me about their lack of First Team football. Neither was happy about being told they are backup players. Gareth Williams is a handy guy to have around with his versatility, but the reality is that he isn't good enough to take a regular starting spot from the current incumbents. Darren Bakker hasn't featured for the First Team since shipping four goals in the defeat at Newport Corries. With the good form of William Ponissi in goal, there is little prospect of Bakker getting an outing soon either, so with immediate effect, he is made available to play for the Reserves, so at least he is going to get some football, and can still be available to sit on the bench on Saturday's for the First Team. I doubt this will make him any happier though.

December is here, and the Board say that they are absolutely delighted with the way the season is going so far. They say that the club's current League position and form is far exceeding their expectations for the campaign. They are however, slightly disappointed with Tinashe Mutanha's form for the club. They announce we've made a loss for the second month in a row, however they do not expect the finances to be an issue. They have also asked for continued patience while the potential takeover of the club continues behind the scenes. Tuesday sees Bakker made available for the Reserves for the first time, and he plays the full 90 minutes in the 1-0 loss to Clydach Wasps Reserves at Cwmbran Park. He was beaten in the first minute, but made several saves after that. In the same match, Gareth Williams twisted his ankle, and will now be out for around six weeks. I'm sure Dale Price did exactly the same thing right after having a rant about not playing enough earlier this season.

On Saturday morning the Under-19's take the trip out to Swansea, where at the 'other' Clydach's Cricket Club, they face Sunnybank WMC, and win 2-1, with Geraint Owen getting the levelling goal in the 35th minute. He was also named man of the match, while Antony Bishop and Huw Bennett also played, the latter coming off halfway through the second half. That was merely the appetiser for the big game of the day though, the top of the table clash in the Gwent County League, as Abercarn United made the trip down to Cwmbran to face us.

Saturday 7th December 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One

Cwmbran Park, Cwmbran

Coed Eva Athletic v Abercarn United

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Gethin Maxwell, William Davies, Paul Mazarella, Tinashe Mutanha.

The players knew how big this game was for us of course, and they looked keen in the dressing room before the match. A win today would send us top of the table and maybe make believers of the sceptics who still think that we can't overhaul a club like Cwmbran Town over the course of a season. Our fans certainly appear to be buying into our promotion chase, as it's another sell out crowd at Cwmbran Park.

The weather was bright on this early December day, and so was our start. In the 9th minute William Ponissi dispensed with his usual short pass to one of his defenders, hoisting a long ball downfield, which Nana Baah flicked on into the path of Marc Lloyd. He hit an early shot that Jason Robinson needed to turn around the post. In the 14th minute both Lloyd and Baah were involved again, this time Lloyd dropping deeper to help Frank Oppong keep possession, and then sending the ball left to Graham Austin, the winger floating a cross into the middle that Baah got his head to, but the striker couldn't generate enough power to trouble Robinson. In the 29th minute we found a way through, Baah receiving the ball to feet, playing a one-two with Lloyd, and then lifting the ball over Robinson and giving us the lead. It could have been two quickly after, Oppong sliding a pass out to the right wing that Gavin Kinsey took to the byline, and then crossed into the edge of the six yard box. Baah should have buried it from that close in, but headed it against the top of the cross bar.That turned out to be the last goalscoring action of the first half, and we head back into the dressing rooms with a single goal advantage.

Half Time :- Coed Eva Athletic 1 Abercarn United 0

I told the players that not only did we have the chance to go top of the League, but we also had the chance to show the rest of the clubs that we meant business, and wouldn't easily be knocked off the top of the perch. We started the second half looking ready to put this match out of Abercarn's reach. Marc Lloyd had a shot blocked, while Nana Baah sidefooted a shot straight at Robinson, which he held easily. Baah would get another chance moments later, Graham Austin too quick for their right back, and he sent a cross into the near post, Baah heading it into the side netting. Gavin Kinsey was next to have a try, but his rising shot never threatened the goal or even worked Robinson. Finally, ten minutes into the half, we managed to get the precious second goal. Jason Price stopped an attacking threat with a perfectly timed sliding tackle, The ball went through the middle and Lloyd played it inside the right back to again allow Austin's pace to exploit him. Graham hit his shot first time from a pretty tight angle, which Robinson saved with his feet. But with the keeper still down, the ball rebounded right back to our winger, and he side footed his low shot inside the near post and were 2-0 to the good.

Mike Ellis fired way wide of the target on a rare forage forward from Abercarn, and then we won a corner in the 63rd minute. Austin sent it into the near post, and Craig Sampson arrived to volley the ball home powerfully. 3-0, and we were cruising now. I was delighted with how we'd played so far, but I wanted to turn the screws even further on United, and destroy their morale, and their goal difference. We moved into our more attacking 3-4-1-2 tactic, with Fraser Williams sacrificed for Tinashe Mutanha again. Austin had run himself to a standstill and was replaced by William Davies, while Ryan Dorrian came off for Gethin Maxwell. The change almost had an instant impact too, Kinsey crossing into the middle, Baah finding the corner of the net with a header, but this time there was an offside flag, and that one would be chalked off. My plan to really put the visitors under the cosh didn't really pan out, as the players seemed to take their foot off the gas a little. Mutanha was played in on goal after good work by Baah and Lloyd, but his shot was just over the top of the bar in the 86th minute. Paul Roberts hit a late effort that worked William Ponissi, but that was as close as they would get to even a consolation. A third successive clean sheet, and for the first time this season, we're top of the League!

Coed Eva Athletic (1) 3 Abercarn United (0) 0

Scorers : Nana Baah (29), Graham Austin (55), Craig Sampson (63)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams (Tinashe Mutanha 70); Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian (Gethin Maxwell 70), Graham Austin (William Davies 70); Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Attendance :- 225. Man of the Match :- Graham Austin (Coed Eva).

The League leaders had come to us and managed just two shots on target during the whole game. Graham Austin got a goal and an assist for a second consecutive man of the match performance, while William Ponissi has now gone 296 minutes since last conceding a goal. We appear to be hitting form at just the right time. The fans and the Board are both delighted with that win, with Jason Price and Craig Sampson at centre back both gaining praise for their efforts. The only other top five side to win were Govilon, as both Cwmbran Town and Clydach Wasps were held to draws, the latter losing their top five spot to Pill AFC as a result. The six League games unbeaten is also a new club record as a cherry on the cake.

Tuesday evening saw the Reserves travel to face AFC Pontardawe at The Recreation Ground in Swansea. I didn't make the trip down to watch the game, which they lost 2-1, with a rare goal from centre back Lloyd Davies proving to be only a consolation. The reason I didn't go was because I'd received a message from the Chairman, for the moment at least, Rhys Davies. He informed me that there had been movement from the consortium, and that a transfer embargo had now been put in place. Were Coed Eva Athletic about to become the fourth club this season in the Gwent County Division One to be subject to a takeover? If so, what impact would that have on me personally......

[neilhoskins77]

By Wednesday morning, the name of the man heading the consortium had been released. By Wednesday afternoon, the deal was off, and the transfer embargo that had been put into place less than 24 hours earlier, had now been lifted again. The man who's name was reported by the media as the man involved in the consortium looking to take control, is a Greek former footballer by the name of Sakis Christopoulos. Apparently, he spent the majority of his football playing career with second tier Greek club, AO Panileiakos, before investing money into the club. How true this is, now seems debatable, with Rhys Davies, the current man in the Chairman's hotseat at Cwmbran Park, reportedly stating that the deal was cancelled as Mr Christopoulos was not able to show any documentation to prove his financial ability to complete the purchase. Given that the club is currently valued at around £14,000, that would be a pretty big issue. However, the Chairman urged me not to rule out the possibility of the man from Greece returning to the deal at some point in the future.

With the future now sorted out, for the short term at least, we could get back to concentrating on our League campaign, and it was good to know the distraction of a possible takeover could now be put out of our minds for the time being. We'd continue our schedule with a trip to face AC Pontymister in Risca on the outskirts of Newport. They have lost four of their last five matches, with the only win coming at home to lowly Pentwynmawr Athletic.

Saturday 14th December 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One

Pontymister Recreation Ground & Longbridge Fields, Risca

AC Pontymister v Coed Eva Athletic

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Gethin Maxwell, William Davies, Paul Mazzarella, Tinashe Mutanha.

It's cold, and there is sleet coming down when the match kicks off. I'm not aware of any time difference between Cwmbran and Risca, but we looked a good hour behind our hosts in the early stages of this match. Pontymister could have taken a 10th minute lead when Frank Oppong was uncharacteristically careless with his pass, David Williams took possession and dropped the ball over our defence for his striker, John Thomas to run onto. We were let of the hook by a poor and weak sidefooted effort by the striker that didn't trouble William Ponissi in the slightest. Moments later, and Ponissi was most certainly troubled, when the other Williams in the home side, Peter, hit a cross shot that looked to be heading for the top corner till our keeper thrust out a hand to turn it over the cross bar.

The icy rain had subsided by the midway mark of the first half, but we were still struggling to warm up. The Willams' combined well, David sending the ball wide right to pick out Peter, who came inside and then tee'ed the ball up for James Hughes, who struck a shot from the edge of the 'D', Ponissi saw it late, but managed to push it aside with a decent low stop. Our usual slick passing game was non existent, and even Marc Lloyd was giving the ball away, happy to launch it up the park to try and give our defence a break. But it came right back at us, and Russell Hughes slammed a shot into the side netting when he should have done better. It was the 42nd minute by the time we managed to create anything ourselves, Fraser Williams anticipating a pass and stealing the ball, sending Graham Austin into a good space via playmaker Ryan Dorrian, but Austin didn't show the composure he'd managed last weekend, missing the target from almost the exact same spot this time around. It was Russell Hughes who would have the final chance of the half for Pontymister, and it was arguably the best one so far too in the first minute of injury time, as he cut across the box from the left, and fired a low shot across goal that went a foot or so the wrong side of the far upright. We were pretty fortunate to still be level at the interval.

Half Time :- AC Pontymister 0 Coed Eva Athletic 0

As tempting as it was to make some changes at the break, I held off, and hoped a stern half time talk would shake the players into life a bit. It looked to have done the trick too, as just 15 seconds into the second half a high ball was sent out to the right, and Gavin Kinsey headed it into the path of Marc Lloyd, only a last ditch tackle preventing him from getting a shot in. Less than a minute later, and Lloyd was in almost exactly the same position, this time shooting on the turn, and curling his shot beyond the reach of Corey Davies and into the top corner.

Now Pontymister were on the back foot, exactly where we'd spent almost the entire first half. They made some changes, and midway through the half they threatened from a corner, but substitute Sion Williams saw his brief glimpse of goal blocked out by the double tackle of Jason Price and Ryan Timms. We went right back down the other end, and Kinsey won a corner. Austin sent it over, and the ball was headed out to the corner of the penalty box. Ryan Dorrian spun a shot across the goalmouth that was going way off target, until Carl Jones tried to get a foot to it when he didn't need to, and could do nothing as the ball sliced off his boot, and nestled into the bottom corner of the net, Davies completely handcuffed and having no chance of keeping it out. The home side resorted to taking pop shots from long range in their efforts to get back in the game. I made three changes to get some fresh legs out there and keep our momentum. This won't win a competition as our finest performance of the season, but to come away with the win when we haven't performed particularly well is something I'm delighted to see from my side.

AC Pontymister (0) 0 Coed Eva Athletic (0) 2

Scorers : Marc Lloyd (47), Carl Jones (72 o.g)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt - Gethin Maxwell 76), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin (William Davies 76); Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah (Tinashe Mutanha 76).

Attendance :- 112. Man of the Match :- Fraser Williams (Coed Eva).

[neilhoskins77]

That win in Risca extended the clubs unbeaten League run to seven games, but still our credentials as Title challengers were being doubted. This left me both annoyed and pleased in equal measures. Annoyed that the players and the club were not being given the credit it deserved. Yet pleased that we were still being seen as an underdog, allowed to fly under the radar, and potentially by the time we are taken seriously, it may be too late for the opposition to do anything about us. Cwmbran reignited their ambitions with a 3-2 win at Clydach Wasps, but there was a price to pay, as in form marksman Huw Bowtell suffered broken ribs, which are likely to keep him out until late January. Cwmbran were two goals down at the break, and were down to ten men before getting a goal of their own, and down to nine men before getting the winner with five minutes remaining. Abercarn also finished their game with nine men, however they were 3-0 up at home to Pentwynmawr by that time, eventually winning 3-1. On a final footnote from our own match, centre back Jason Price collected his fifth booking of the season, and will now miss next weekend's match.

That match would be an away game against a Pill AFC side that had just got a home win over Panteg, and were trying to bridge the gap between mid table and the group of clubs at the top of the Division. They'd shown they were a much better side than the bookmakers had considered them in pre-season, where they had been marked out as dead certs for the drop. The man getting the plaudits for their good season is 31 year old manager Ryan Nicholas. Naturally I used a question from a local paper to belittle Nicholas' achievements this season, suggesting that Pill's success should more likely be credited to clubs taking them lightly and failing to play at their peak against the Newport club. Light the touch paper, and stand well back!

A busy final Saturday before Christmas got off to a pretty dreadful start, with the Under-19's getting thumped 6-1 at Cwmbran Park by the visiting AFC Pontardawe side from Swansea. In a very short brief from Craig Owen, our Head of Youth Development, he could only find Geraint Owen producing a few nice touches as a positive to produce from that match. Hopefully, our First Team would do a much better job.

Saturday 21st December 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One

Pill Recreation Ground, Newport

Pill AFC v Coed Eva Athletic

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Gareth Taylor, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Jamie Hillier, Gethin Maxwell, William Davies, Paul Mazzarella, Tinashe Mutanha.

It was another cold, wet and windy day for this match, though obviously that should come as no surprise at this time of the year. One change to the starting lineup, enforced with Jason Price's suspension. Gareth Taylor replaces him in the back four, meaning a rare call into the matchday squad for almost forgotten left back, Jamie Hillier, who sits on the bench as opposed to his usual Saturday afternoon of watching Soccer Saturday. It was a full house at the Rec Ground, where 75 souls braved the elements as opposed to the Christmas shopping crowds.

It was a good start to the game by the home side, who had a first opportunity inside 30 seconds, when Andre Roberts raced onto a long ball over the top of our defence, and shot across goal, but William Ponissi made a great save to prevent us going behind early on. Their early momentum looked to have taken a knock in the 6th minute when Wayne Clifford was forced out of the game with an injury, replaced by Nathan Peate. We had managed to get ourselves a foothold in the match, and were starting to dominate possession, but that didn't stop us from going behind. Dylan Harrison sent in a free kick, Mark Roberts headed it down to the feet of the sub, Peate, and he swept it into the net to give the hosts a 13th minute lead. The 18th minute saw a moment of controversy, Mark Roberts attacking the space down their left flank, and then cutting the ball back to the corner of the box. Andre Roberts got just inside our box before being tackled by two players at the same time, Frank Oppong taking the ball, Gavin Kinsey taking the man. The ref waved play on, and the Pill players were furious, but not as furious as my opposite number, who raced from the dugout and spent a decent part of two minutes screaming at the ref.

Whether that decision, or lack of as far as the hosts were concerned, caused them to lose focus, is up for debate. But on a pitch that was becoming worse by the minute, we started to assert ourselves on the match, and were rewarded on the half hour mark, Fraser Williams and Graham Austin were causing problems down the left, and when Marc Lloyd joined them out wide, the Pill defence was over run. Lloyd sent a cross into the middle, Nana Baah arriving with perfect timing and striking a left footed half volley low into the net to level the match. That goal did nothing to improve the Pill managers mood, and even worse was to follow for him, as we went into injury time at the end of the first half, Lloyd picked up his second assist, delivering a corner into the middle, and Craig Sampson escaped the attentions of the home defence and powered home a header from eight yards out. I stood and watched when the whistle went to end the half, as Nicholas strode onto the pitch and remonstrated with the officials, before eventually being pulled away by some of his players. He was lucky to escape a sanction from the ref in my view.

Half Time :- Pill AFC 1 Coed Eva Athletic 2

It was on days like this that our players could have felt the benefit of a second set of match jerseys, as they entered the changing rooms with their already black shirts caked in mud and soaking wet. Instead, all they got was a mug of a tea and a warning that if they allowed themselves to become complacent, they would risk dropping points against a fired up bunch. I needn't have worried too much about that, as the lads looked pretty focused as they started the second half. Graham Austin raced into room down the left, and then dinked the ball into the centre, Nana Baah reaching it and rounding the keeper, but was off balance and at a very narrow angle when Craig Parsonage prevented him from sliding the ball into the empty net. Baah wouldn't be denied moments later though, Ryan Dorrian and Frank Oppong passing their way through the Pill midfield, and Marc Lloyd beat a defender before finding Baah, who hit a powerful shot on the turn to make it 3-1, Lloyd now with a hat trick of assists to his name for the afternoon.

Both sides emptied their benches as the worsening conditions caused fatigue to set in a little earlier than it may have done on most Saturday afternoon's. Gavin Kinsey and Frank Oppong both came off in the 66th minute, replaced by Paul Mazzarella and Gethin Maxwell respectively, the latter taking less than five minutes to earn a booking with an ill advised sliding tackle. In the 74th minute, Graham Austin's race was run too, and William Davies came on in his place. Pill looked as if the fight had been knocked right out of them, but with time about to run out for the home side, they made an argument of the final few moments. Sub Adam Taylor took possession on the edge of the box after a short throw routine, and slipped a pass in for Jordan Jones. The striker was 10 yards out with two defenders in front of him, but showed good vision to send a diagonal pass towards the far post area, where Dylan Harrison arrived to slam home a low shot from a tight angle. There wasn't enough time remaining for Pill to trouble us any further though, and we left Newport with the full haul of points.

Pill AFC (1) 2 Coed Eva Athletic (2) 3

Scorers : Nana Baah (30,54), Craig Sampson (45+1)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Gareth Taylor, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey (Paul Mazzarella 66), Frank Oppong (capt - Gethin Maxwell 66), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin (William Davies 74); Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Attendance :- 75. Man of the Match :- Nana Baah (Coed Eva).

The refusal of the ref to award Pill a penalty in the first half was the hot topic of conversation after the match. Ryan Nicholas, perhaps feeling he may be in hot water from his end of first half strop, made a huge deal of refusing to criticise the ref after the match, managing to do it in such a way that he still made his feelings pretty clear on the incident. Meanwhile I made my opinion very clear, replying that I couldn't care less whether Nicholas felt hard done by or not, all I was interested in was the three points, and not my opposite numbers amateur dramatics. What I also said was that while I could see why Baah had been named as man of the match after netting twice, I felt that Marc Lloyd had been the best player on the park, an opinion that Baah agreed with too.

It had been a good day for us in the Gwent County League, as we found out that Abercarn and Govilon had played out a scoreless draw, while Cwmbran had not been able to do what we had managed in Risca last weekend, going down 1-0 away to AC Pontymister. With Clydach Wasps also held to a draw, at home to lowly Albion Rovers, we were the only top six club to collect the full haul of points this afternoon, strengthening our position at the top of the table.

[mark wilson27]

Loving this work neil, very detailed match reporting. Looking forward to seeing more mate

[neilhoskins77]

Loving this work neil, very detailed match reporting. Looking forward to seeing more mate

Mark, thanks very much for your kind comment. Glad to have you following, and I hope you enjoy the progress of this save.

[neilhoskins77]

It would be a fairly quiet Christmas, as there are no Gwent County League games scheduled for Boxing Day, with our next match to be played on the 28th, a home tie with Newport Corries. With a training session put in place instead, designed solely to make sure my players didn't spend the entire day in the boozer, I was hoping we wouldn't suffer an actual Christmas hangover in what would be our final match of 2013. It was a fairly light, and uneventful session on the park. Afterwards, winger James Saddler came to see me, and said he was disappointed that he hadn't yet had a chance in the First Team. The 21 year old former Barry Town wide player had no attitude about him, and it was clear he just wanted to play. With Gavin Kinsey maybe due a rest, I told Saddler that I'd make more of an effort to include him in the First Team in the next few weeks, and we'd see how we get on from there. That wouldn't be this weekend though, he'd have to wait till the new year for his chance now.

Saturday 28th December 2013 - Gwent County League, Division One

Cwmbran Park, Cwmbran

Coed Eva Athletic v Newport Corinthians

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Gethin Maxwell, William Davies, Paul Mazzarella, Tinashe Mutanha.

In the UK, football is a huge part of the festivities for sports fans, and it was great to see another full house at Cwmbran Park for our only game over the holiday period, against a Corries side that are one of only two that have beaten us in the League so far this season. Maybe we can get revenge? Last weeks change has been reversed, with Jason Price back from suspension, Gareth Taylor dropping back to the bench, and Jamie Hillier returning to putting his feet up in the house. Just as last weekend had, our Saturday had started with the Under-19's being beaten, though at least they weren't thrashed this time, losing 1-0 away from home against Rhondda Valley based club, Ton & Gelli BGC.

It was starting to look like a real deja vu of last week when Ian Allen lifted a long ball over the high defensive line within 20 seconds, and Elliott Holtham managed to get on the end of it, though his header was woefully off target, and he would likely have been delighted to see the offside flag. In the 11th minute we launched our first meaningful attack, launched after Ryan Dorrian won the ball with a robust tackle in the centre circle on an opponent who wanted far too much time. He shipped the ball onto Marc Lloyd, and his creative skills were in evidence again, releasing a through ball between the defenders and into the path of an alert Nana Baah. The striker did well to angle his run across the line of the chasing defender to prevent him from getting any chance of making a tackle, and the big striker drew the keeper, before slotting beyond him, low into the far bottom corner to hand us the lead.

As he drizzle started to become more persistent, we started to put more pressure on our opponents, and Dorrian sent a beautiful curling pass out to the right for Gavin Kinsey. The winger tormented his marker a little, before beating him on the outside for pace and sending in a cross that picked out Baah, who was prevented from shooting by Philip Rees, who made an exquisite tackle to stop his side going two behind. Baah wasn't done dragging Newport Corries defenders all over the park by a long way, and when Lloyd fed another pass into his path, it was the other centre back, Gary Carroll, who had to make a block to divert the goal bound shot behind for a corner. We were now playing some great football, with the players in the centre of the park finding plenty of avenues to get our wide players involved. Dorrian went left as the half hour approached, and Graham Austin got to the byline. Instead of a cross, he sent it back to Fraser Williams, who delivered a cross to the near post that found Baah with his back to goal. No fewer than three defenders converged on him, and one of them got a deflection to Baah's shot on the turn, the partial block taking all the sting out of the shot and it rolled harmlessly to keeper Derek Probert. A second goal looked almost inevitable, and we wouldn't have to wait much longer. Kinsey burned his marker for pace once more, and then sent a cross into the middle, that looked to have gone past the danger point as both Baah and Lloyd had gone to the near post. No one told Carroll though, and he was virtually right in front of his keeper when the ball came to him, and his attempt to clear only spun off his boot and into the net, leaving Probert stranded. The visitors didn't let their heads go down, and Holtham tricked his way into the box before seeing his low effort blocked by Craig Sampson. There was a needless booking picked up by Dorrian before the break.

Half Time :- Coed Eva Athletic 2 Newport Corinthians 0

I was happy with the control we had over the game, and told my players that. Clearly, they though the job was done, and the Corries came out flying for the second half, Ryan Williams cutting the ball back to Gavin Pierce who hit a shot towards the top corner, William Ponissi, who had nothing to do in the first half, flew across goal to push the ball away. Pierce would try an acrobatic volley seconds later when the ball was delivered back in, but that one was well off target. A few minutes later, and our opponents dragged themselves back into the contest. Philip Rees hit a free kick that cleared the wall, and arrived at Ponissi quite low. Our keeper didn't deal well with the wet ball, and spilled right back into his goalmouth, Lee Field the most alert player, and he thumped the loose ball past out prone keeper. Now I was worried.

It was a shock therefore when the Corries changed as quickly as the weather. As the rain stopped, so did the frequent raids forward from the Newport side, and in turn, we started to warm back into the match too. That wasn't to say that the points were in the bag of course, and Holtham created room for Allen in the 70th minute, but the latter wanted far too much time to decide where to place his shot, and then only buried it into the side netting. I made all my changes in the 72nd minute, replacing Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong, and a slightly out of sorts Marc Lloyd. In their place, on came Paul Mazzarella, Gethin Maxwell, and Tinashe Mutanha, who would play in Lloyd's role behind Baah. Those changes would cause problems within moments, as Mazzarella would crash to the turf after a sprint, and needed to be helped off the park. Now we would be finishing with ten men, and that would give the Corries another lift. However, we created a chance almost right after Mazzarella went off. Mutanha stepped right into Lloyd's position well, and when Baah held the ball up thirty yards out, Mutanha ran beyond him to present another option, and the ball was given to him. He struck a powerful left footed shot, and Probert did really well to get enough on it to push it away from goal. The final few minutes of the match were end to end, which was a test of nerves for those on the park, as well as those of us that could only watch helplessly from the sidelines. The best chance in that period fell to teenage Corries sub, Michael Bialozinski, who blazed over the top from the edge of the box. We had another win, but we'd made hard work of it, and we'll need to be better than that second half showing when we hit 2014.

Coed Eva Athletic (2) 2 Newport Corinthians (0) 1

Scorers : Nana Baah (11), Gary Carroll (31 o.g)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey (Paul Mazzarella 72 - inj 78), Frank Oppong (capt - Gethin Maxwell 72), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd (Tinashe Mutanha 72); Nana Baah.

Attendance :- 225. Man of the Match :- Frank Oppong (Coed Eva).

That was our 18th League match of the season, and our 20th match overall of the campaign. It was our 13th win from that 20 game spell, and we had netted 40 times. It was a stat that had the press waxing lyrical about our form, and finally seemed to result in the acceptance that we could be the ones with our hands raised at the end of the season. If that were to be case, it looks highly unlikely that Paul Mazzarella will play any part. He has torn his hamstring, and will miss most of, if not all of, the remainder of the 2013/14 campaign. I suppose that may help me keep my promise to James Saddler that I'll involve him more in the First Team though.

Cwmbran Town and Abercarn United met just down the road at Cwmbran Stadium, and played out a 1-1 draw. Govilon beat Pill 3-1, while Clydach Wasps won by the odd goal in three away to Trethomas. As a result of those scorelines, we head into the New Year looking in very good shape, and will begin 2014 with a five point lead at the top of the Gwent County League Division One.

[neilhoskins77]

The six consecutive victories between November 23rd and December 28th are both club and League records. Our unbeaten run now actually stretches nine games, to our defeat away to Govilon on October 26th. The year ends for the club with the Reserves playing for the first time in a few weeks on New Years Eve. They'll wish they hadn't bothered turning up at Cwmbran Park, and there is some doubt as to whether many of them did, losing 4-0 to Neath based club, Bryn Rovers, second string.

January 2014.

World Cup year arrives, and the second half of the season will determine who goes to the showpiece event of the summer, and who misses out when their National Squad is selected. In the traditional European Leagues that adopt an August to May season, the prizes are not given out until late Spring. However, the individual prizes are given out at the turn of the year, and those winners have now been announced. This save will include a brief end of season wrap up, and the prize winners will be revealed then. The usual end of month review lets me know that the Board are currently delighted with how the season is going, particularly our position in the Gwent County League. Striker, Tinashe Mutanha, is still failing to win over the Board members or fans apparently. While he was guilty of missing some chances he should have scored from earlier in the season, he isn't a bad player by any means.....just not as good as Nana Baah.

We start the new year with a home game against mid-table club, Panteg. We're touted as comfortable favourites for our first match of 2014, and with the run in well underway, it would be great to keep our recent good form going and put some more distance between ourselves and the chasing pack. Panteg won last weekend away to PILCS to snap a three game winless run. It was only their second win in the League since mid October.

Saturday 4th January 2014 - Gwent County League, Division One

Cwmbran Park, Cwmbran

Coed Eva Athletic v Panteg AFC

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Gethin Maxwell, William Davies, James Saddler, Tinashe Mutanha.

With Paul Mazzarella injured, it's a chance for James Saddler to show he is worthy of a spot in the matchday squad, as he takes a spot on the substitutes bench. Panteg start with a five man midfield, and just one man up front. In recent matches, we've been guilty of starting slowly, but this time we were the ones who created the first real chance of the match. In the 10th minute, Ryan Dorrian played the ball right to Ryan Timms. Our right back quickly sent the ball down the line to Gavin Kinsey, who had all the time he could have wished for to send in a cross. Marc Lloyd connected with a header, denied only by a fingertip save from Dominic Vaughan, who got enough on it to push it onto the cross bar. That was as good as it got for our fast start, as by the 17th minute, we were behind. Steve Rees sent a corner towards the far post, which Gavin Hurley knocked down, and centre half partner Sacha Rushton bundled into the net. That was pretty unispiring defending, considering we've spent three consecutive weeks working on defending set pieces.

Vaughan might have used up all his great saves for the afternoon, as he didn't do very well when Graham Austin swung in a free kick from the touchline. The effort was too deep for his team mates, but Vaughan all but threw the ball into his own net, the ball just clearing the bar. Two minutes later, Austin was in on goal after Timms threaded a pass through half the visitors side, and Austin strode past the last defender, before going for power rather than precision, and missing the target. It was the 31st minute when we next created a chance, Austin receiving the ball back after his first attempt at a cross from a corner was cleared easily. His second effort was much better, picking out Nana Baah at the near post, who found the net with a downward header, his tenth League goal of the season Now our fans were expectant, waiting for us to turn the match on it's head and take the lead. Baah nearly gave them their wish five minutes before the break, taking the ball on the edge of the box, and sending a low shot that skidded off the turf, but was an inch the wrong side of the upright. Still, there was every reason to be optimistic for the second half.

Half Time :- Coed Eva Athletic 1 Panteg AFC 1

That optimism was quickly given a short and sharp kick in the guts in the 54th minute. Graham Austin failed to track back, and Fraser Williams couldn't deal with the quick feet of recently introduced substitute, Callum Craven. His cross wasn't to be sniffed at too, and in the middle, Mike Fowler had enough strength to hold off the challenge of Jason Price, and guide the ball past the dive of William Ponissi and put Panteg in front for a second time. The first signs of the cracks were now starting to appear, and they seemed to be getting bigger by the minute. Our passing game, usually so slick and reliable, was suddenly struggling, and the playmaking rudder that was our midfield players looked lost at sea. We could have been two behind before we hit the hour mark, Fowler this time the creator, and he sent a long ball to the wing, where Craven again easily beat Fraser Williams, this time smashing a shot into the side netting.

With our game plan unravelling, it was time to try and change things up, and catch out Panteg. We moved to our Plan B, Fraser Williams coming off, replaced by Tinashe Mutanha, who would join Baah up front, and we went to three at the back. At the same time, the 68th minute, Gavin Kinsey came off, and James Saddler came on for his debut. I was very hopeful that the changes would have the desired impact, but they were dealt a blow just a few moments later. Steve Rees hit a free kick from all of 30 yards out, and William Ponissi dealt with it horribly, failing to get his body behind the ball properly, and it leaked past him and into the net. He kicked the post out of pure frustration with himself. 3-1 down with less than twenty minutes to go, and now we were really up against it. I have to credit my players with keeping their heads up, and responding in the 82nd minute. Ponissi launched the ball upfield, and Marc Lloyd brought it down. Baah dragged several defenders with him, and the space opened up, Lloyd playing the ball to Mutanha, who skipped beyond a defender, rounded the keeper, and reduced the arrears to a single goal. Maybe we weren't finished just yet? But we were. We couldn't get that passing game back on point, and our winning run was over. Two thirds of the possession, and twice as many efforts at goal. It wasn't our day, and we couldn't complain.

Coed Eva Athletic (1) 2 Panteg AFC (1) 3

Scorers : Nana Baah (31), Tinashe Mutanha (82)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams (Tinashe Mutanha 68); Gavin Kinsey (James Saddler 68), Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Attendance :- 225. Man of the Match :- Steve Rees (Panteg).

It would have been rough of me to blame the loss on Ponissi. The lad has been great for us so far this season, and his individual mistakes have been kept to a very low number. Besides, we didn't play very well at all in front of him. Nana Baah getting to double figures on the goalscoring front was the only positive I could find from that match. The loss that the whole League had been waiting for, and the media were certain would happen, has now happened. They would now expect us to lose more matches, and freefall out of the promotion race and down the table. Cwmbran Town win at home to Newport Corries, while Abercarn are comfortable winners at Albion Rovers. Govilon are beaten though. Our lead at the top is cut to two points, and there are nine games remaining.

[tenthreeleader]

Here comes the final rush! This continues to be a solid work, Neil. You're doing very well!

[neilhoskins77]

Thanks very much Ten Three. Hopefully we can keep our noses in the promotion race, but it's looking like a very hotly contested Title race.

The first full week of 2014 was a quiet one for us, though training was fairly lively. I had the players practicing even more on defending set pieces, and then had a chat with them. I told them that everyone expected us to be swallowed up by the chasing pack now that we'd taken a defeat, and that we needed to bounce back, and show them all that we were legitamate contenders this season. Gareth Williams is back in training following his twisted ankle. He is still considering his options, unhappy with the match time he's been given, and now he has some more company in the form of Geraint Goodridge. The midfielder is sick of being a back up, and wants to leave the club if he isn't going to get regular First Team football. He could be considered a victim of me no longer utilising a defensive midfielder, and he isn't good enough to oust Frank Oppong or Ryan Dorrian from the starting line up.

The weekend arrives, and gets off to a good start at Maesteg Park in Swansea, as our Under-19's get back to winning ways with a 2-1 win over Port Tennant. The hero of the performance was Geraint Owen, who scored the winner with less than five minutes left on the clock. I was delighted to hear they had got the win, and I hoped this would kick start the weekend for the club, and that the First Team could match their efforts in the weekend's League match, a short trip to the outskirts of Pontypool to face PILCS at their New Road ground.

Saturday 11th January 2014 - Gwent County League, Division One

New Road, Pontypool

P.I.L.C.S v Coed Eva Athletic

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Gethin Maxwell, William Davies, James Saddler, Tinashe Mutanha.

Despite the defeat last time out, the starting lineup and matchday squad both remain unchanged, Ponissi keeping his spot in goal, benefitting from there not being a real challenge to his status as number one in our squad. It's a clear, but breezy January afternoon in South East Wales, and we line up in our black change strip on the exposed pitch at New Road. The lads have been told to forget about last weekend now. Today is another day, and we need to get our promotion charge moving forward once more.

The attempt to get that charge back on track got off to a blistering start. A short throw on the left, and Ryan Dorrian found the skipper, Frank Oppong, in plenty of room in the centre of the park around thirty yards out. Resisting the urge to hit a shot, Oppong instead attempted a threaded pass for Nana Baah. Our striker got there first, but defender Andy O'Sullivan was right in on him. Neither could control the ball, but O'Sullivan saw the ball ping off his heel, and Baah didn't wait for a second invite, wrapping his left foot around the ball and lashing it by Gavin Pierce, high into the net, giving us an eighth minute lead. I punched the air in delight on the touchline. That joy would be short lived however.

Two minutes later, PILCS went up the other end and won themselves a corner. O'Sullivan would take it, a bit strange for a centre back I suppose, but his delivery into the near post was perfect, and no one had tracked the run of midfielder and opposition captain, Lloyd Stone, who met it with a header that he easily guided inside the post, and the hosts were back on a even keel within moments of going behind. We won a corner of own right away at the other end, it was half cleared, and this time Oppong did shoot, Pierce catching it easily. Stone was becoming a menace on the right flank, gliding past Fraser Williams and finding Dave Collingbourne, who's shot wasn't a particularly threatening one. They looked altogether more threatening in the 22nd minute, after good work from Collingbourne and and Paul Thomas played in Adrian Ewing, who's shot forced William Ponissi into a good low save. Ewing trotted over to take the corner himself, and Marc Lloyd couldn't get his body in front of O'Sullivan, who completed his atonement for his earlier error by bundling the ball over the line from close range to add a goal to his assist, and we were now 2-1 down. PILCS were not done tormenting us either, Stone jinking his way into the box, but his shot was not nearly as impressive as his dribbling. Ewing played in a cross that Thomas volleyed goalwards, Ponissi kept us in the game with another good stop. We tried to get ourselves back on level terms in the latter stages of the half, Gavin Kinsey sending in a curling cross that caused issues, Pierce opting to punch it away from the lurking Baah, the ball coming out to Lloyd, who skewed his shot off target. But it was the hosts who had the last effort of the half, Collingbourne lofting a cross from the corner of the box that was actually going on target, Jason Price making life hard for his own keeper by glancing a header towards his own goal, Oppong needing to hook it off the line.

Half Time :- PILCS 2 Coed Eva Athletic 1

I was not happy at the break, and I damn well made sure my players knew about it too. I questioned their commitment, and asked if they felt good about throwing away the hard work that had been done to get ourselves into a position where they went into games like this as favourites. I didn't feel good about having to speak to them in that manner, but if it got the desired impact, then it would serve enough purpose to be worthwhile. It was a determined looking group of Coed Eva players that went out for the second half.

Within a minute, we'd won a free kick in a dangerous position. Marc Lloyd whipped it around the wall, and on to the target, but Pierce got across goal with enough time to claim the ball with a fairly easy catch. We were not managing to control the game efficiently enough at this stage though, and PILCS created a 54th minute chance to increase their advantage to two. Collingbourne and Stone cut through the left side of our team far too easily, and the latter played a short ball square into Collingbourne's path. He unleashed a shot that looked like being a routine save for Ponissi, but the ball started to curl away from him, and he needed all his height and agility to get enough on it to push it out of harms way. If the fact that we weren't able to apply as much pressure as we wanted to wasn't bad enough, worse was to follow on the hour. As we counter attacked following an easily cleared PILCS free kick, Kinsey hit the deck very awkwardly. It was immediately clear he couldn't continue, and James Saddler started a rigorous warm up. The counter attack saw Graham Austin played into acres of space, and the left footer played in a beautiful cross, Baah not quite able to generate enough power that would make life too difficult for Pierce.

It was likely a coincidence, but the change preceded our best period of the match so far. Lloyd sent across a corner, which swung in on goal dangerously, Pierce not dealing with it convincingly, and his attempt to get it over his own bar saw the ball hit the top of the goal frame, before Richard Hutchinson hoofed it clear. I made my second change, taking off Graham Austin, and replacing him with William Davies. That almost paid immediate divendends in the 73rd minute, Saddler skinning his marker, and then finding Lloyd near the corner flag. His cross was headed right under the cross bar, where new arrival Davies won the header, trying to get it down for Baah, who would have had a tap in but for Rob Cameron swinging a well timed boot to get it away from our top scorer. In an increasingly rare foray upfield, PILCS again nearly added another goal, Stone managing to get into the box again, and his low curling shot had Ponissi beat, but Ryan Timms blocked it. Our attacks, while still frequent, were starting to have the hint of desperation about them. None more so than Jason Price's huge punt upfield, and Baah raced after it. His short pass found William Davies, who swung in a first time cross that Osian Edwards headed back to the edge of the box. Frank Oppong brought the ball down with his left, and then struck a sweet half volley with his right, Pierce again denying us, flinging himself across goal to turn the ball around the post. 90 seconds later, and the skipper had another try, Saddler finding him with a short pass into the box, and Oppong blasted it, and Pierce couldn't get near this one. We were level at last, with 82 minutes on the clock.

All of a sudden, we were the favourites to go on and win this one, and the hosts were in survival mode. With 90 minutes on the clock, James Saddler was sent into space down the right flank. He had three Coed Eva jerseys in the box to try and pick out, but sub Stuart Egan made a superb block to prevent the winger getting in his cross. A punt upfield would have been wise from there by Egan, but he tried to pick a pass instead, and Ryan Dorrian read it, stepping up, intercepting the pass, and then striking a low screamer into the bottom corner of the net from 25 yards out, his first goal of the campaign, and a hugely timely one. With just injury time to get through, we now just had to see out time. Could we manage that? Could we heck. With the three minutes of injury time already up, the hosts earned a throw near the corner flag. It was worked short, eventually finding Hutchinson at the corner of the box. Frank Oppong missed the tackle, Marc Lloyd was wrong footed by a drop of the shoulder, so James Saddler clattered him, and the ref pointed to the spot. I had my head in my hands, then thumped the roof of the dugout in frustration at the actions of my young winger. The clock was on 94 minutes when Ian O'Gorman stepped up and fired a low right footer into the bottom corner with the last kick of the match, and we had dropped two points that we'd worked so hard to earn.

P.I.L.C.S (2) 3 Coed Eva Athletic (1) 3

Scorers : Nana Baah (8), Frank Oppong (83), Ryan Dorrian (90)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey (inj - James Saddler 60), Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin (William Davies 72); Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Attendance :- 225. Man of the Match :- Frank Oppong (Coed Eva).

Abercarn won easily, a 3-0 home victory against Abertillery Excelsior. So our lead at the top has gone within a fortnight, and we're now only top by virtue of our better goal difference. Cwmbran have won too, a 2-1 victory away to Pill, with Huw Bowtell back amongst the goals on his return. That wasn't even the worse news. I hadn't been too harsh on Ponissi last time out, and now I couldn't afford to be too harsh on young Saddler today. That's because Gavin Kinsey has twisted his knee, and he will be out for around three or four weeks. Saddler will become important over the next few weeks. 69% possession we had in that game, and we couldn't get the job done. Maybe they were right. Maybe we didn't have enough about us at this club to get a shock promotion. But with just eight games remaining in the campaign, we were still clinging on at the top of the table, despite two poor results.

[neilhoskins77]

[i][u]2013/14 Gwent County League Division One Table. Up to & Including Sunday 12th January 2014[/u][/i]

[b]| Pos   | Inf   | Team                   |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   |[/b] 

[color="#0000CD"][b][i]| 1st   |       | Coed Eva               |       | 20    | 12    | 5     | 3     | 43    | 22    | +21   | 41    | [/i][/b][/color]
[b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [/b]
| 2nd   |       | Abercarn               |       | 20    | 12    | 5     | 3     | 36    | 18    | +18   | 41    | 
| 3rd   |       | Cwmbran                |       | 20    | 12    | 2     | 6     | 31    | 16    | +15   | 38    | 
| 4th   |       | Govilon                |       | 20    | 11    | 3     | 6     | 30    | 25    | +5    | 36    | 
| 5th   |       | Fairfield              |       | 20    | 10    | 3     | 7     | 33    | 28    | +5    | 33    | 
| 6th   |       | Panteg                 |       | 19    | 8     | 5     | 6     | 23    | 20    | +3    | 29    | 
| 7th   |       | AC Pontymister         |       | 20    | 8     | 4     | 8     | 28    | 27    | +1    | 28    | 
| 8th   |       | Clydach Wasps          |       | 19    | 8     | 4     | 7     | 28    | 34    | -6    | 28    | 
| 9th   |       | Pill                   |       | 20    | 7     | 6     | 7     | 34    | 28    | +6    | 27    | 
| 10th  |       | Newport Corries        |       | 20    | 7     | 2     | 11    | 28    | 36    | -8    | 23    | 
| 11th  |       | Trethomas              |       | 19    | 5     | 4     | 10    | 25    | 36    | -11   | 19    | 
| 12th  |       | P.I.L.C.S.             |       | 19    | 5     | 3     | 11    | 28    | 35    | -7    | 18    | 
| 13th  |       | Pentwynmawr            |       | 19    | 5     | 3     | 11    | 20    | 31    | -11   | 18    | 
| 14th  |       | Albion Rovers          |       | 19    | 4     | 5     | 10    | 21    | 35    | -14   | 17    | 
[b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [/b]
| 15th  |       | Abertillery Excelisior |       | 20    | 4     | 4     | 12    | 30    | 47    | -17   | 16    | 
[b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] 

[neilhoskins77]

*I'd just liked to wish a Happy New Year to you all and your families and friends. I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas too. Have a great 2016.

There is no rest for the wicked they say, and we went straight into another game away from home against a club battling at the opposite end of the table to ourselves. The Chairman of Pentwynmawr Athletic said on the Thursday that the club were expecting a full house for our visit on Saturday afternoon, and that he hoped his club could cause an upset. It's quite ironic that it's now, after two poor results in a row, that the media and bookies seem to have come around to the fact that we could still be in the mix when the season comes to a close in a few months. They have installed us as odds on favourites at 1/3 despite being away from home and having picked up just one of the last six points available.

As is normal now, the weekend gets underway with a morning kick off for our Under-19's, who were playing at Cwmbran Park, and entertaining Briton Ferry based club, Giants Grave of the Neath Premier League. Actually, entertaining is probably not the right word to use for this one, a goalless draw in front of barely more than a dozen people, and just three shots on target in the entire match between both sides. Antony Bishop once again performed well at left back for our age group side, who are comfortably in 7th place in their thirteen team League, which has a very distinct top and bottom split to it.

Saturday 18th January 2014 - Gwent County League, Division One

Pentwynmawr Welfare Ground, Caerphilly

Pentwynmawr Athletic v Coed Eva Athletic

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; James Saddler, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Gethin Maxwell, William Davies, Gareth Williams, Tinashe Mutanha.

Gavin Kinsey's injury see's James Saddler start on the right wing, and Gareth Williams promoted to the bench. While the weather wasn't particularly good for this Saturday afternoon kick off, our start was much more impressive. In the 4th minute, Simon Jenkins sent in a corner that William Ponissi easily caught under no pressure at his near post. He immediately sent us the other way, with a huge clearance upfield that cleared the entire Pentwynmawr rear guard. Nana Baah raced after it, controlled the ball, and then drew the keeper, before slotting past him to open the scoring.

From the restart, we almost doubled our advantage. James Saddler sent Baah into a good position with a curling through ball, and our prolific striker thundered his shot goalwards. The keeper was stranded as the ball flew past him, but it bounced back off the underside of the cross bar and into the danger area, where firstly Baah, and then Marc Lloyd, were denied by blocks. Keeper Stuart Rogers then nearly handed us another goal, his attempted clearance was awful. and went straight to Saddler, who tried to lift it back over the keeper who was near the penalty spot, but didn't get enough on the shot, and Rogers gratefully took possession once more. In the 13th minute, Baah half volleyed home from the corner of the six yard box after a precise cross from Saddler, but the assistant had raised his flag, and that one was chalked off.

When the hosts did look set to create a meaningful chance, Jason Price snuffed it out, producing a superbly timed challenge on the edge of his own penalty box to prevent Owen Sandiford from having a clear run at goal. Midway through the half, Saddler wasted a chance to build our lead, taking too long to shoot at goal and allowing the defence enough time to get back and block his effort. On the half hour we finally took a chance to go two ahead. Ryan Dorrian won the ball in midfield, and played it to Graham Austin on the left. The winger made good ground with a pacey, direct run, and then sent it back infield to Frank Oppong. The Captain slid a through ball between defenders to pick out Baah's run, and the big striker netted for the second time this afternoon with a perfectly placed low shot that was beyond Roger's reach, and found the bottom corner of the net.

Now I was happy, we had a cushion, and were playing well, controlling the game nicely. That was until five minutes from the break, when Sandiford managed to turn away from the attentions of Craig Sampson, and send the ball wide to Wayne Rees. He easily got to the byline, and then sent a cross to the far post, where Jenkins arrived unmarked and unseen, and coolly found the net from half a dozen yards out. All of a sudden, my calm and stress free half time team talk was out of the window, and we still had work to do.

Half Time :- Pentwynmawr Athletic 1 Coed Eva Athletic 2

I pretty much begged my players not to throw these points away in the second half. I asked them for concentration and commitment. I looked to be getting none of that just four minutes after the restart, when Simon Jenkins sent in a free kick that Wayne Rees headed against the upright. He looked odds on favourite to get to the loose ball first as well, but Saddler beat him to it and thumped the ball clear. Moments later, and our lead was wiped out. Sandiford tried to get onto the end of a long throw into our penalty box, and Oppong grabbed a handful of his jersey when he realised that the opposition striker was too quick for him. It was a fairly easy decision for the ref to award the spot kick, full back Tom Lloyd drilled his spot kick low and hard, Ponissi getting a piece of it, but not enough to stop the ball ricocheting off him and going high into the net.

We were starting to come apart at the seams, Sandiford played a pass from his own half into the wing, Ryan Timms and Jason Price both went for it at the same time, and managed only to get into each others way. Jenkins gratefully raced away with the ball, and squared it to Rees, but he couldn't beat Ponissi with his shot from 15 yards out. Midway through the half, Rogers needed two attempts to keep hold of a stinging free kick effort from Marc Lloyd, but we not managing to create the chances we had in the first half. In the 71st minute I replaced Oppong and Austin with Gethin Maxwell and William Davies, but that didn't turn the tide either, and substitute David Lloyd nearly handed Pentwynmawr a 77th minute lead, climbing highest to get on the end of Callum Evans free kick delivery, but his header was an inch over the angle of upright and cross bar.

As the last ten minutes approached, Colin Rickard had the next effort, trying to curl the ball beyond Ponissi from the edge of the box, but our keeper saw it all the way and caught it well. With us being outplayed, I went for a change in tactic, and moved to our alternative strategy of a three man defence, and two strikers up top, Fraser Williams sacrificed to allow Tinashe Mutanha onto the park. Within two minutes, that had to be re thought, as Gethin Maxwell took a knock and we would have to finish the match with ten men. All thoughts of stealing the three points on offer went out of the window right there, and we instead concentrated on holding onto a share of the spoils. We managed that without any late drama's, but blowing a two goal lead against one of the lower end clubs did not make for a happy manager on the bus home.

Pentwynmawr Athletic (1) 2 Coed Eva Athletic (2) 2

Scorers : Nana Baah (4,30)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams (Tinashe Mutanaha 83); James Saddler, Frank Oppong (capt - Gethin Maxwell 71 - (inj - 85)), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin (Willian Davies 71); Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Attendance :- 225. Man of the Match :- Nana Baah (Coed Eva).

The brace of goals for Nana Baah took him to 13 League goals for the season, joint top with Cwmbran Town's marksman, Huw Bowtell, who also got a brace of goals this afternoon, his handing Cwmbran a 2-1 win away to PILCS. That left our neighbours level on points with us, though behind us on goal difference. But they couldn't claim to be joint top on Saturday evening, as Abercarn United had beaten Trethomas 3-1 at home, and they were now in top spot as the season entered it's last quarter.

We would now have our scheduled week off, able only to sit and see what our Title rivals could do while we had our rest week. Still, I'd have plenty of things to occupy me on that week off, not least a very interesting Sunday morning phone call from a journalist at the European Football Post.....

[neilhoskins77]

[b]OO:-[/b] [i]'Oscar Oso of the European Football Post. Do you have a few moments for a couple of questions this morning Neil?'[/i]

[b]NH:-[/b] [i]'Wow, I bet they never told you that you'd have to work this early on Sunday mornings when you told them you wanted to be a journalist, right?'[/i]

[b]OO:-[/b] [i]'There's a lot of things that they never told me I'd have to do.'[/i]

[b]NH:-[/b] [i]'Haha. So what can I do for you today Oscar?'[/i]

[b]OO:-[/b] [i]'Steve Wilk has been sacked from his job with Coedpoeth United. I was wondering what you thought of the situation?'[/i]

[b]NH:-[/b] [i]'I can't say that I have any particular thoughts about it. If you're going to call me every time a football manager gets the sack you should 
consider making sure your mobile phone contract has a lot of inclusive talk minutes.'[/i]

[b]OO:-[/b] [i]'Very good Neil, but the reason I'm asking you about this one is because the bookmakers have installed you as a clear 5/2 favourite to be their next manager.'[/i]

[b]NH:-[/b] [i]'Oh. I wasn't aware of that. But if you're after a scoop for your website and paper, you can have one Oscar. It won't be me 
taking charge up there. I still have great belief that we can achieve promotion this season with Coed Eva. I've no intention of leaving right 
now, even for a step up the ladder.'[/i]

[b]OO:-[/b] [i]'Ok Neil, thanks for your time this morning. I'm sure we'll catch up again in the near future.'[/i]

Coedpoeth United are two tiers higher than where I'm managing right now. They're around the mid table of a very competitive Welsh National Premier (Wrexham Area). Their ground, Penygelli Playing Fields, has a capacity of over four times the number we can accomodate at Cwmbran Park. In almost every aspect, they are a higher profile club than Coed Eva Athletic. But crucially, they're also an amateur club, and in that regard, for me, even looking at a move there would be a sideways step. When a second journalist called and asked for a quote to go 'on the record', I said 'no comment', which he actually reported later that day as my answer. I believed what I told Oscar. We might be unfancied and unfashionable. We might be the poor relations to our near neighbours. But they had already sacked one manager this season, and if it wasn't for the signing of Huw Bowtell, I believe we'd already be out of their reach. We would face them at their own ground in a few weeks time, searching for an unlikely League double over them, and even more importantly, looking to knock a huge dent into their Title aspirations.

The week continued, with my coaching team advising me that it was time to call it a day as far as trying to get Ryan Timms to play searching long cross field passes. 'He doesn't have it in his locker, and frankly Neil, I don't think he ever will' was the way Dylan McPhee told me the news. Tuesday saw the club release a statement on the rumours that Coedpoeth United were interested in my services. They said that they were happy to take my silence on the subject as a signal of intent to stay faithful to the club, and that they didn't appreaciate the North Wales club's 'blatant efforts' to unsettle their manager, politely suggesting they look elsewhere. And they did too, eventually hiring 43 year old Tommy Canning, a Northern Irishman who had been doing a solid job of keeping Newport club, Undy Athletic, in contention for the Title in the Welsh Football League Division Two.

Giants Grave visit our corner of South East Wales once again, this time to face our Reserves side at Cwmbran Park on Tuesday evening. In freezing and wet conditions, the Coed Eva second string took the lead twice in this match, with Shane Williamson amongst the goals. The match finished in a 2-2 draw, and a number of players on the fringe of the First Team squad took part, with Darren Bakker having a really good outing in goal, Jamie Hillier captaining the side from left back, Lloyd Davies partnering Geraint Goodridge in midfield, Davies playing a little further forward than usual, which was the same for my assistant manager, Dylan McPhee, who put in a man of the match performance from the attacking midfield role behind the striker, setting up both of our goals, but going to great lengths to point out that he thought Shane Williamson was the best player on the park.

When Saturday arrived, I think it was expected that I'd head out to watch one of our Title rivals play, but I had other ideas, heading a bit further out instead, taking the opportunity to do a bit of first hand scouting, and run the rule over two players I had my eye on adding to our squad. I did have staff out watching the games that really mattered on my behalf though, keeping me in touch with goings on through the afternoon by text message. It wasn't a bad thing then that my phone stayed pretty quiet between 3pm and 4:50pm on the final Saturday of January. Down the road at Cwmbran Stadium, our near neighbours were looking for a home win against a Panteg side who hadn't quite given up hope of forcing their way into the Title race during the run in. A goalless draw was of no huge use to either side, though it did move Cwmbran Town above us into second place, though they have now played a game more than us. It was pretty good news from further east too, as Abercarn United failed to take the chance to really open up an advantage at the top of the table, held to a 1-1 draw out in Abergavenny by Clydach Wasps, the only shot on target United managed all afternoon was their 5th minute opener from Danny Lewis. My eyes at the game told me that they were a bit lucky to escape with a point, and that gave me great heart for when we returned to action the following weekend at home to Govilon.

As we moved towards February, the Physio at the club, Osian Davies, says that Gavin Kinsey is still a week or two away from a return, with mid month likely to be when he's available for selection. The only other man in the treatment room at the moment is Paul Mazzarella, but it still looks unlikely we'll get him back this season. Geraint Owen has completed his spell being mentored by Ryan Dorrian. It struck me as a strange choice when it was arranged back at the start of the season, but Owen surprisingly found it useful, though he admitted it was more the mental side of the game that he made gains in. The end of the month brings the usual appraisal from the Board. We lost £1.1k during the month, but they are not concerned about that. They are concerned about the apparent downturn in form of Ryan Timms, but they're delighted with my overall performance and the clubs League position. If we get promoted, they might comission a statue......

[neilhoskins77]

February 2014 :

Saturday 1st February 2014 - Gwent County League, Division One

Cwmbran Park, Cwmbran

Coed Eva Athletic v Govilon

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; James Saddler, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Gethin Maxwell, William Davies, Gareth Williams, Tinashe Mutanha.

Govilon beat us at the end of October after we went into the game on cloud nine following our victory over Cwmbran Town. This time we faced them before taking the short trip down the road to face our neighbours. We had an unchanged matchday squad for this fixture, and I made a great effort not to make this match about revenge, telling the players to concentrate on their game, and we'd bring home the points. I ruined that effort by shouting 'We owe this lot after what they did to us at their place' as they left the changing rooms.

It was a quiet opening spell of the match, though there was no doubt about who the better side was, as we pinned our visitors into their own third of the park for long periods in front of another capacity crowd at Cwmbran Park. Despite that, it was 16 minutes before either keeper had work to do, and Steve Jefferies was nearly caught out. On our right wing, James Saddler did well holding the ball up and releasing the quickly overlapping Ryan Timms. Our right back was clearly looking to hit a first time cross, but it didn't quite catch it right, and the ball looked to be looping over Jefferies, who managed to shovel it over the bar thanks to some frantic foot work. Five minutes later, Govilon threatened for the first time, with Luke Cassidy finding some room on their left wing. His cross into the near post area found Kieran Shreeves, who looked short of options with two defenders right in front of him, but still managed to get a shot between them, which bounced back off the base of the upright. That was certainly a let off for us.

We responded by turning the screws a bit ourselves, and Graham Austin found some good space on his left wing. His marker was Joel Rowbotham, the visitors Captain, and he didn't take too kindly to Austin's nimble footwork making him look a little heavy legged. He cut down Austin with a cynical challenge, and earned himself a booking. From the free kick, Marc Lloyd sent the ball into the centre of the box, Craig Sampson meeting it with a firm header that looped just beyond the far post. Moments later, William Ponissi came off his line to claim a cross from Nick O'Loughlin, but his distribution of the ball was clumsy, and he gave the ball right back to the winger. This time he picked out Shreeves, who let us off the hook again by firing wide of the target. They would pay for missing that chance in the 34th minute. Nana Baah hit the cross bar with a 15 yard shot that was eventually put behind for a corner. Lloyd sent the set piece into the near post, Jason Price brought it down with his back to goal, and with no option for a shot of his own, rolled it into the path of Austin, who hit a precise shot off the underside of the bar and into the net, celebrating like he'd just scored the winner in a World Cup Final. It wasn't quite that important of course, but it was enough to send us into the break with a slender lead.

Half Time :- Coed Eva Athletic 1 Govilon 0

I was pretty surprised to see Govilon make all three of their changes at the break, as visiting manager David Ryan tried to shake a response from his players. I had cause to make a change of my own in the 56th minute, though this one was very much enforced. James Saddler took a knock that meant he couldn't continue, and with no Gavin Kinsey to call upon, I was left with a choice between two. Gareth Williams still isn't a happy face around the club, and with that in mind, I decieded to call upon William Davies instead, with him being asked to play on the opposite side than he is used to. Ten minutes later, the game should have been put to bed from our point of view, Frank Oppong combining well with Marc Lloyd, and the latter playing a through ball for Nana Baah, but the usually reliable and composed striker blazed this one over the cross bar.

Govilon had been reduced to shooting optimistically from long range, sub Stuart Skyrme doing just that in the 68th minute, his low effort not threatening Ponissi in our goal at all. In the 72nd minute, at the other end, Lloyd struck a free kick on target, but it was right down Jefferies throat, and he held the ball well. Lloyd was involved again a few minutes later, sending another corner into the near post, Craig Sampson glancing a header into the side netting. Joel Rowbotham swung in a cross from the right for Govilon, Steven Evans and Jason Price both went for the ball, Evans winning it, but failing to hit the target. More worrying, was Price injuring himself in that exchange, though our centre back indicated he was fine to continue.

With less than four minutes left on the clock, Govilon started to pour forward, and despite the fact that they were temporarily down to ten men as a player received treatment, they were giving us all we could handle at the back. Their three subs were all involved, as from centre midfield, Lee Pulis picked out Evans on the left. He managed to get beyond Ryan Timms, and slung a cross into the middle, and Skyrme ghosted between our centre backs. He planted a header towards the corner of the net, but Ponissi produced a wonderful save, getting a hand to it when he had no business doing so, and pushing it onto the post, before Price and Timms combined to clear the ball. I made my final two changes to waste a bit of time, Ryan Dorrian and Graham Austin coming off, Gareth Taylor coming on to make us five at the back, and Gethin Maxwell replacing Graham Austin, as we went to three in centre midfield in front of them. Evans nearly made us pay though, as Govilon targetted Price who was now struggling more than he had a few minutes before. Our centre back failed to cut out a pass that he should have got to firstly, and then Evans easily out paced him to run in on goal, fortunately for us, dragging his shot across the face of goal and wide. The final whistle was music to our ears, and we were back to winning ways, and not a Saturday too soon either.

Coed Eva Athletic (1) 1 Govilon (0) 0

Scorers : Graham Austin (34)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; James Saddler (inj - William Davies 56), Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian (Gareth Taylor 88), Graham Austin (Gethin Maxwell 88); Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Attendance :- 225. Man of the Match :- Graham Austin (Coed Eva).

Two thirds of the possession, but not enough shots on target in that game for us. Despite that, we'll gladly take the ugly win to try and get our promotion push back underway. That challenge sees us remain three points behind Abercarn United, who win 3-1 at home to Fairfield, and are now eight games unbeaten, including five victories. The last team to beat them was ourselves back in early December.

There was also a win for Cwmbran Town, who pick up the points with the better end of a 2-1 scoreline away to Pentwynmawr, though they will be worried that Huw Bowtell, scorer of their first goal, was injured in the 66th minute, and is now doubtful for our clash next weekend. We have our own injury issue to worry about. Jason Price has bruised his ribs, and will certainly miss the game against the Crows next weekend, and possibly another one after that. James Saddler won't miss any time however. It would be unfair to say that I had made up my mind that Saddler was not going to be a First Team player for us going forward, but when the opportunity came to make an upgrade to our squad that would affect him, I didn't require too much thinking time....

[neilhoskins77]

It would be fair to say that I won't be receiving a 'best wishes for promotion' card from David Watkins this year. It would be no exaggeration to state that the Llanelli Town manager was furious with me, the club, and the two players who made the decision to abandon Llanelli's challenge for promotion from the Welsh League Division Three, and make the very surprising move to join us at Coed Eva, aiming to assist us in gaining promotion to that very League. The Corbett Sports Welsh Premier League Champions from season 2007/08 are now an amateur side in the fourth tier after the original entity was wound up in the High Court. They are involved in a three way promotion challenge with Abertillery Bluebirds and Risca United, as they look to fight their way back up towards the top table of football in the Principality. There was several column inches devoted to Watkins venting his spleen about us tapping up players, and making a mockery of the transfer system. I replied simply that it wouldn't sadden me to see his side miss out on promotion, and if we managed to get ourselves up to level four next season, we could settle the matter on the playing field.

As mentioned, it was pretty surprising that these two players elected to make the move, and I was more surprised than most, though I must mention that the credit really should go to Tom Richards, our Chief Scout, actually, our only scout. He was the one who brought both players to my attention, did the initial scouting on them, and then informed me that they may well be prepared to make the jump. These were, of course, the two players I decided to go and watch for myself when we had a free week at the end of January. The first of the pair is 26 year old midfielder, Jamie Evans. The six footer is an accomplished centre midfielder, but is actually more adept in a wide role on the right. Only a step or two behind Gavin Kinsey, but certainly an upgrade on James Saddler, he has already played 12 times for Llanelli this season, finding the net once and laying on two other goals. A hard working, team player, with good pace and flair, his versatility gives us options, and I'm delighted he's joined us. He brought a mate with him as well, who signed for the club a few days later. Keiron Hayes is a 23 year old who can play at centre back, defensive midfielder, or central midfielder. With Jason Price turning 38 in the summer, a new centre back had been in my mind. Hayes is 6'3, matches Craig Sampson for pace, but has considerably better physical stats than him, and can match Price in work rate and leadership. He is a bit raw, and does need to work on the bread and butter of his game, the defensive aspect, but he has a nose for goal too, notching three times in sixteen League outings at Stebonheath Park this season before making the move down the M4. There was more good news for us as well, as Gavin Kinsey resumed training after his twisted knee.

Keiron Hayes. 23 years old. Right Footed. 6'3. Welsh. 13st 9lbs. Centre Back, Defensive Midfielder, Centre Midfielder.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 16. Career Goals : 3.

Previous Clubs : Pontardawe Town (Welsh League Div 1), Aberdare Town (Welsh League Div 1), Llanelli Town (Welsh League Div 3). Signed : Free Transfer from Llanelli Town (6/2/14).

Jamie Evans. 26 years old. Right Footed. 6'0. Welsh. 13st 0lbs. Right Midfielder, Centre Midfielder.

Amateur. Uncapped. Career Appearances : 12. Career Goals : 1.

Previous Clubs : Cwmamman AFC (Welsh League Div 3), Llanelli Town (Welsh League Div 3). Signed : Free Transfer from Llanelli Town (4/2/14).

With a Reserve fixture that very evening, I made both Kinsey and Jamie Evans available to play out at Risca in the match against AC Pontymister's second string. Evans played the full match, and Kinsey came on as a half time substitute in a 1-0 defeat, our Reserves going down to a goal seven minutes from time. Keiron Hayes made his arrival at the club a day or two later on the Thursday. The local paper ran a piece in Friday evening's local paper as 'Derby Day' as we classed it, was upon us once again. They made Town odds on favourites in their own stadium, citing our poor form in recent weeks as the main reason for our predicted downfall. I'd have decisions to make as to who would start on the right wing for this important match, and who would take Jason Price's place in the heart of our defence.

The Under-19's kick off Saturday's proceedings, and hopefully their impressive performance would be a good omen for the day, as they win 3-1 on their travels to Swansea, where they faced FC Clydach's age group side. No doubt about the man of the match in this one, as 17 year old striker Huw Bennett netted twice in the first half. The first was an accurate header, and the second was a peach of lob from nearly 25 yards out. That was a great start to the day, but it would count for nothing if we didn't do the business in the main event.

Saturday 8th February 2014 - Gwent County League, Division One

Cwmbran Stadium, Cwmbran

Cwmbran Town v Coed Eva Athletic

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Gareth Taylor, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; James Saddler, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Keiron Hayes, Gethin Maxwell, William Davies, Jamie Evans, Tinashe Mutanha.

No bus needed for this away trip. The players met at Cwmbran Park, and then took the short walk to Cwmbran Stadium as a team. Gavin Kinsey came through his 45 minutes for the Reserves in midweek, but it was decided that this game was a week too early for the winger, and he is left out of the squad. That left me a straight choice between James Saddler and Jamie Evans for the number seven jersey. I went for Saddler, deeming it a bit unfair to throw Evans in for such a big game with very little time with the club, and he sits on the bench. The same logic was used when making the decision as to who would replace Jason Price at centre back, with Gareth Taylor given the nod to partner Craig Sampson, and Keiron Hayes selected as a substitute. In the opposition changing room, striker Huw Bowtell was selected to start by Town's manager, Jon Cross. Watching the warm up, it was quite clear to me that Bowtell wasn't fit enough to play in this one, and that sent my confidence up to another level before the match. I was careful not to let that confidence seep into my team's mindset.

It might be a sign of Cwmbran's waning power in local football that the attendance for todays match in the 10,500 capacity Stadium, was only slightly larger than the full houses we have regularly been attracting this season. I was hoping my side would strike a further hammer blow to their reputation by all but ending their promotion hopes. Our intentions were made clear right from the off, when Gareth Taylor tried to spring James Saddler clear on the right wing, but the wet pitch meant the ball zipped through to home keeper, Chris Golton, instead. The first clue in the match that Huw Bowtell wasn't himself came less than five minutes in when he took a free kick from twenty yards out, not catching it right at all and missing the target by miles, to the delight of the Coed Eva fans who had congregated on the terracing behind that goal. Bowtell had another chance midway through the half after Fraser Williams got a touch over ambitious with his passing range. The ball was picked out by the Cwmbran midfield, and lifted over our defence for Bowtell to run onto. It bounced up nicely for him too, and he tried to lift it over William Ponissi, but didn't get anything like enough on it, and Ponissi gratefully clutched the ball.

The rain started to intensify, and the pitch started to lose it's zip, and become more like hard work. The home defence looked like they were running in treacle when they tried to chase down Graham Austin as we attacked down the left wing, and he squared a low, short cross to Marc Lloyd, but he only found the side netting with his fierce low shot. The final two chances of the half both fell to us too. James Saddler sent a cross from the right wing to the far post, where Austin ghosted in unmarked, the angle was tight, and his header hit the outside of the post before bouncing wide. Moments later, Austin was involved again, this time slotting a pass through to Lloyd, who curled it into the bottom corner of the net, but the flag had long since been raised, Lloyd having started his run just a shade too early to stay onside. Goalless at the half time mark.

Half Time :- Cwmbran Town 0 Coed Eva Athletic 0

Jon Cross made one change at the break, as he changed the personnel in the centre of his midfield. I told my players that this had the hallmarks of a one goal game, and I wanted them to make sure they were the ones who struck first. It was Town who created the first chance of the second half though, Bowtell drawing a defender to him as he took the ball near the edge of the box, and then sliding it square to Andrew Stokes, but his shot wasn't powerful or precise enough to trouble Ponissi unduly. As the second half wore on, the hosts were noticeably struggling to keep hold of the ball, often managing to clear their lines, but only get the ball to a Coed Eva player. One such occassion saw first Austin, then Ryan Dorrian, and then at the third attempt, Frank Oppong, all try a through ball, only to receive the ball back. After the failed third attempt, Oppong instead sent the ball wide to Saddler, who cut inside his marker, but his rising shot was always going over the cross bar.

Cross made his final two changes, sacrificing Dominic Williams, the left back on a booking, and having to take off Jason Cowan, who took a knock. Those changes meant Bowtell would now be required to play the full match. It was Bowtell who backheeled the ball into the path of Andrew Salvidge in our penalty box, the hosts appealing for a spot kick, complaining that Fraser Williams tackle failed to get the ball, the ref didn't see it that way. I had a change of my own about to take place too in the 68th minute, with Saddler about to come off, and Jamie Evans about to make his club debut the next time play was stopped. That stoppage in play was the opening goal, Graham Austin taking possession on the halfway line, and lifting a diagonal pass over the defence and into the path of the so far quiet, Nana Baah. Our top marksman controlled the ball well, angling his run across the chasing defender to prevent him from making a challenge, and then slotting the ball low into the corner to hand us a crucial advantage. I couldn't hide my delight on the touchline, punching the air in delight.

Less than five minutes later, the game looked in the bag. A long clearance upfield from Ponissi was flicked on by Baah, and Lloyd embarked on a chase into the box with centre back Jonathan Foligno. The defender slid from a long way out in a desperate attempt to get there before Lloyd, succeeding only in knocking the ball past the oncoming Golton, and then having the agony of having to watch the ball roll slowly across the goal line and creep it's way barely to the back of the net. Our small band of away fans were jubilant. It wouldn't quite be all smiles, as with ten minutes remaining, I was forced to take off Baah. I decided to take Austin off at the same time, the left winger had got through an immense amount of running down the flank. Tinashe Mutanha and William Davies both came on. Mutanha nearly added to the scoreline as well, Fraser Williams had overlapped nicely on the left, and then fed the ball back to William Davies. His cross from deep was perfect for Mutanha, but the match rusty striker could only strike the upright with his header. It didn't matter too much, Town were done, and Jon Cross could barely muster a handshake at the end of the match, while I made celebrated a great double with my players. Our promotion charge was back on track.

Cwmbran Town (0) 0 Coed Eva Athletic (0) 2

Scorers : Nana Baah (68), Jonathan Foligno (73 o.g)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Gareth Taylor, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; James Saddler (Jamie Evans 68), Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin (William Davies 80); Marc Lloyd; Nana Baah (inj - Tinashe Mutanha 80).

Attendance :- 271. Man of the Match :- Craig Sampson (Coed Eva).

We had nearly a 60/40 split of the possession, yet managed just one shot on target, which Nana Baah netted. Cwmbran only managed two shots on target in a game they had to win. Craig Sampson was superb at centre back, and richly deserved his man of the match award, though I have to say, Gareth Taylor also played really well alongside him. The performance wasn't enough to send us back to the top of the table though, we'd remain in second place, as a Mark Ellis hat-trick handed Abercarn United a 3-1 win away to AC Pontymister, keeping their three point cushion. However, they would have their weekend off next weekend, and we would play our game in hand, a chance to draw level in the Title race. That game in hand would need to be negotiated without Nana Baah though. The man who now jointly leads the Division in goals has suffered a dead leg, and could miss up to two weeks.

In hindsight, it wasn't very wise of the press to interview me first of all. When they asked me if I thought that Jon Cross would be happy with the decision to not give his club a penalty, I couldn't stop myself being 100% honest, and replying that I literally couldn't give a stuff what Cross thought about it. That was it for Cross, who launched into a tirade about the decision being a joke, our club being a joke, and me being a joke. Still, the League table told a different story, one that showed Cwmbran Town's promotion hopes looking more of a joke than me or my team, especially if we could win that game in hand.

[i][u]2013/14 Gwent County League, Division One Title Race. Up to & Including Sunday 9th February 2014[/u][/i]

| Pos   | Inf   | Team                   |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   |
| 1st   |       | Abercarn               |       | 24    | 15    | 6     | 3     | 46    | 22    | +24   | 51    | 
[b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [/b]
[color="#0000CD"][b]| 2nd   |       | Coed Eva               |       | 23    | 14    | 6     | 3     | 48    | 24    | +24   | 48    | [/b][/color]
| 3rd   |       | Cwmbran                |       | 24    | 14    | 3     | 7     | 35    | 20    | +15   | 45    | 

[neilhoskins77]

Lloyd Davies really knows how to spoil the mood at a party. The centre back decided that an appropriate moment to let me know that he wasn't happy with the amount of First Team football he'd been getting, was in the bar late on Saturday night as the entire squad, backroom staff, and directors were celebrating our big win. I couldn't even pretend it was the drink talking when I told Davies that I didn't forsee any First Team chances in his future at Cwmbran Park, and he was welcome to leave the club. It took less than the time I had a hangover for him to find a new club, as on Sunday morning, mid table Welsh League Division One club, TATA Steel, announced that Davies would join them in the summer. That piece of news had me wondering exactly how good the standard was in the League's above us. Davies' news was soon forgotten though, as with four months left until the World Cup gets underway, UEFA drew the Groups for the Qualification phase of their 2016 European Championship Finals, with France hosting this time around. Fate threw Wales and England together in Group C, a six team pool, where they are joined by Andorra, Faroe Islands, Israel and Montenegro. You would think that both nations would like their chances of finishing in the top two and securing their place in the Finals in two years time. There will be an 'Irish Derby' in the Qualifiers as well, as Group I featured both the Republic and Northern Ireland. Unfortunately for them, it also threw them together with Spain, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Moldova, in a tough looking Group. Meanwhile the draw was a little kinder to Scotland, though their Group will not be an easy one either. Group E see's them pitted against Belarus, Belgium, Greece and Kazakhstan.

It was a quiet week after that busy Sunday, apart from the press being keen for another soundbite on what they considered to be a simmering fued with Jon Cross. I didn't bother to indulge them this time. I'd had my say on Cross and his club, and all I was interested in now was getting a result on Saturday, as we returned to Cwmbran Park for our game with Abertillery Excelsior. Both teams were desperate for the points, but for very different reasons. We knew a win today would put us back to the top of the table on goal difference, as Abercarn were not in action. Our visitors were still looking to try and fight their way clear of the dotted line at the other end of the table.

Saturday 15th February 2014 - Gwent County League, Division One

Cwmbran Park, Cwmbran

Coed Eva Athletic v Abertillery Excelsior

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd; Tinashe Mutanha.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Keiron Hayes, Gethin Maxwell, William Davies, Jamie Evans, Shane Williamson.

My team hasn't changed a lot through this season. Changes were required for this game though, I wanted my regular players out there to cope with the weight of expectation that was on the teams shoulders today, it's not the norm for us to go into a match expected to win, and win well. Jason Price returns at centre back in place of Gareth Taylor after recovering from his bruised ribs, but Taylor couldn't even get a spot on the bench for this one after the recent arrival of Keiron Hayes. Gavin Kinsey is also back in the side on the right wing in place of James Saddler, and just like Taylor, the replaced wide player couldn't get a spot in the matchday squad either. Up front, with Nana Baah injured, the onus is on Tinashe Mutanha to up his game, with Shane Williamson taking a spot on the bench.

The game began in teeming rain, and a heavy air of expectation around the ground. Thankfully, that didn't seem to be affecting the players too much, and their main concern seemed to be getting Tinashe Mutanha into the game. Both Graham Austin and Gavin Kinsey aimed high balls forward for the big striker, and it was pleasing to see him not only win both of them in the air, but to find team mates with his flick on's as well. The second eventually saw the ball come back to the right, where Ryan Timms had pushed forward, and had another go at his party piece, trying to score from the touchline. Visiting keeper, Rhys T Griffiths, didn't do a great job, pushing the ball into the air, and having to watch as it dropped under the cross bar. It would have been a fourth minute lead for us, had Kevin Mardon not got back to hack the ball off the line, with Marc Lloyd in close attendance, looking to pick up any scraps. Griffiths looked to be struggling all around in fact, and a few moments later he took a free kick near the corner flag. He failed miserably to reach the halfway line, and almost paid a heavy price, as Gavin Kinsey composed himself, before sending the ball back towards goal with a first time volley that missed the target by a few inches at most.

We continued to be the more aggressive side going forward, Lloyd spraying a pass out left to Austin, who easily had the legs on his marker, and strode into the box, before firing just the wrong side of the near post. When the breakthrough came in the 19th minute, Griffiths wasn't entirely to blame, though his weak distribution didn't help his defenders. Kinsey pushed up to force Alec Driscoll back towards his own corner flag, but the defenders attempted cross field pass was awful, and Austin picked the ball up, ran into the box, and then lifted a perfect shot over Griffiths and into the far top corner to delight the home faithful. Straight from kick off, Abertillery gave up possession, and we came right back down the other end, Austin having a field day against the visitors beleagured right back, beating his man and slinging a cross into the middle, where Mutanha couldn't have missed if he had tried, finding the target with a firm header, to make it two goals in less than 90 seconds.

With all concerns about just winning the game bannished to the back of our minds, we poured forward at will, perfectly aware that goal difference may yet have a large say in the destiny of the Title. On the half hour, Austin dropped a free kick into the box, and Mutanha volleyed it home, showing superb technique, but unfortunately, less so in the way of spacial awareness, as he had strayed offside. Lloyd sent a free kick towards the target that Griffiths could only stand and watch, but that one just missed the far top corner that our attacking midfielder had been aiming for. Still, number three wasn't too long in arriving, and again the keepers poor kicking played a part. His clearance found Kinsey with no red shirted Excelsior player for yards around him. When they did arrive, Kinsey slipped the ball down the line to Frank Oppong, who showed it was both visiting full backs who were inept, by easily skinning him, and crossing to the far post. Neither centre back seemed particularly keen to try and deal with Mutanha, and the striker headed home for the second time this afternoon, giving us an exceptionally comfortable 3-0 advantage at the break.

Half Time :- Coed Eva Athletic 3 Abertillery Excelsior 0

It had been a very quiet first half for William Ponissi, who had looked in more danger of suffering from frost bite than he had of having to pick the ball out of his net. The visitors had managed one solitary shot on target in first half injury time, Paul Platt's effort had all the power of an ever so slightly over hit back pass. Their poor first half showing had led to a pair of interval substitutions by the visitors, but I still wasn't sensing any comeback from them. In fact, the one way traffic continued in the early stages of the second half, a Graham Austin corner created panic in the Abertillery rearguard, and both Jason Price and Kinsey had efforts blocked on the line as we searched for more goals.

In fact, Abertillery managed to start creating a bit going forward themselves, and should have had a goal back in the 57th minute. Sub, Robbie McCarthy had to twist and turn on their right to find a yard of room, but when he did, Ian Smith had found the freedom of our penalty box, all alone 10 yards out. McCarthy found him too, but Smith scuffed his half volley goalwards, and Ponissi would have been relieved to make a simple save and keep his clean sheet intact. Smith was withdrawn just two minutes later. Marc Lloyd hadn't been in the best of form over the last few weeks, and I took him out of the game in the 65th minute, keen to give Shane Williamson some reward for his good performances for the Reserves recently, and he came on to play in the role behind Mutanha. At the other end, Ponissi really did have some work to do in the 75th minute, as McCarthy sneaked between our centre backs to reach a through pass and get in on goal, but our keeper was equal to that, turning the shot around the post.

Right after that, I made my final two changes, removing Jason Price and Ryan Dorrian, and bringing in the two new guys, Keiron Hayes to make his debut, and Jamie Evans getting a chance to impress in the middle of the park this time instead of out wide. Those changes proved to be unwise. Within a few minutes, Graham Austin took a knock, but with all my subs on already, he had to stay out there and hobble on. That caused us to be a little lopsided on the our left, as Fraser Williams took it upon himself to push up a little higher to try and keep the attacking flow going. Instead, they lifted the ball over his head, finding McCarthy in acres of room, and his cross picked out Colin Reynolds, who did nearly everything right, but didn't generate enough power on the header to beat Ponissi. Then injury time lived up to it's name. Keiron Hayes took a tackle that looked a little higher than would be ideal when passing the ball, and stayed down. The build up continued on the right flank, Kinsey crossing, Mutanha bringing the ball down with his first touch, and with his second rattling a virtually unstoppable shot high into the net to claim his hat-trick. It had been a good afternoon's work, and we were top of the table on the basis that our goal difference was now four goals better than the inactive Abercarn's. But at what cost?

Coed Eva Athletic (3) 4 Abertillery Excelsior (0) 0

Scorers : Graham Austin (19), Tinashe Mutanha (20,35,90+4)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price (Keiron Hayes 76 (inj - 90+4)), Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian (Jamie Evans 76), Graham Austin; Marc Lloyd (Shane Williamson 65); Tinashe Mutanha.

Attendance :- 225. Man of the Match :- Tinashe Mutanha (Coed Eva).

Quite a cost as it happens. But it was Graham Austin who had come off the worst. Despite managing to finish the match, Austin has twisted his knee, and will now be out for around a month, which means it's quite likely that his season is finished, which is a shame, as he has really been a great outlet for us on that left side of the park. William Davies will now be asked to help us through the final stages of the campaign. It wasn't such bad news for Keiron Hayes, who had nothing more than a fairly sizeable bruise, and may miss a game or two at the most.

Cwmbran Town managed to keep their hopes alive, as they won 3-1 at Govilon. They have another injury concern of their own, as Huw Bowtell was forced to leave the match in the first half with a concussion following a clash of heads. Luckily for them, they had the two Andrew's to pick up the slack, as Salvidge scored twice, and Stokes got the other. Cwmbran will take their week off next weekend, which means by the time they play again in a fortnight's time, they could be just one poor result away from the three team promotion race mathematically becoming a two team race instead.

[b][u]2013/14 Gwent County League Title Race. Up to & Including Sunday 16th February 2014[/u][/b]

[i]| Pos   | Inf   | Team                   |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   |[/i]
[color="#0000CD"][b]| 1st   |       | Coed Eva               |       | 24    | 15    | 6     | 3     | 52    | 24    | +28   | 51    |[/b][/color]
[b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b]
| 2nd   |       | Abercarn               |       | 24    | 15    | 6     | 3     | 46    | 22    | +24   | 51    | 
| 3rd   |       | Cwmbran                |       | 25    | 15    | 3     | 7     | 38    | 21    | +17   | 48    | 

[neilhoskins77]

It's becoming a theme that after a good, winning performance, a player asks to leave. This weekend was no different, and the next player to state his intention to move away from the club was deputy right back, James Kincaid. Just like his defensive colleague last weekend, Kincaid was told he could move, but unlike Davies, no one came in for 31 year old, and he would be remaining at the club, for the time being at least. Other than that, it was a quiet week once again, though there was a bit of good news when Nana Baah resumed training in midweek. Our top goalscorer would be hoping to claim his place right back from last weekend's hat trick hero, Tinashe Mutanha. Our opponents would be another side battling away at the wrong end of the table, as we would take the short trip into Newport to face Albion Rovers at their Crindau Park ground. The usual Friday evening press build up saw the media attempt to get me to stoke the fire that is apparently about to be lit for Rovers manager Josh Davies. I told the press that I didn't really know Josh, and that I preferred to comment on my own club rather than indulge about speculation on others. I may add sitting on the fence next time my CV is required.

Caerleon Town bring their Under-19's side to Cwmbran Park on Saturday morning for a Group 20 fixture. While our mid table side bossed the possession aspect of the game, they showed some defensive naiviety, and eventually went down 2-1 after Phil Hart netted the winner for the League leaders with around five minutes left. Our goal had a touch of fortune about it, as Owen Carree put through his own net early in the second half to level the match.

Saturday 22nd February 2014 - Gwent County League, Division One

Crindau Park, Newport

Albion Rovers v Coed Eva Athletic

(4-4-1-1) :- William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, William Davies; Marc Lloyd; Tinashe Mutanha.

Substitutes :- James Kincaid, Darren Bakker, Gareth Taylor, Gethin Maxwell, James Saddler, Jamie Evans, Nana Baah.

Just the one change for this match, with Graham Austin's injury meaning a start on the left for William Davies. That means a place on the bench for James Saddler. Up front, Nana Baah is not quite fit enough to start, so Tinashe Mutanha continues in the striker role, but Baah does take his place on the bench, replacing Shane Williamson, who drops out of the matchday squad. William Davies nearly celebrated his return to the starting lineup inside a minute, firing a free kick from range that Jordon O'Brien had to tip over the bar. The next time we got into the Rovers penalty box was the 20th minute. Neat, short passing play opened up an avenue down the left wing for Davies, and he fired the ball across the penalty box. Gavin Kinsey had come off his wing, and connected with a header that appeared to be wide of the target, until Josh Bower tried to put a boot on it and managed only to inadvertedly divert the ball past his own keeper and put us a goal to the good.

Things didn't get any better for the hosts, as less than five minutes later they had an injury that required a change, right back Jake Algeri having to come off, Steve Jones replacing him. The goal and forced change together seemed to have the home defence pretty flustered, and a second goal looked inevitable. Davies had the chance to get it, but his low left footed drive towards the bottom corner didn't have the necessary power to beat O'Brien. The next chance fell to Davies too, as Marc Lloyd worked hard to keep the ball in at the byline, and then rolled it into the path of the winger, but his attempt to beat the keeper at his near post found the side netting only.

Half Time :- Albion Rovers 0 Coed Eva Athletic 1

Albion made both of their remaining changes at the half time interval, gambling that they wouldn't suffer any injuries or other issues in the second half. While I'd been satisfied with what I'd seen from my players in the first half, I suspected one goal might not be enough for us on this day, and told the lads I didn't want to see the foot come off the gas, the job wasn't done yet. I was right to be concerned, as within two minites of the restart, Rovers created their best chance, passing right through our defence and getting Steve Jones in on goal, but his shot was across the face of goal and beyond the far post. A short time later, Kristian Tucker swung in a free kick that Ryan Timms met with a firm header to clear, and the ball found Tinashe Mutanha, who made good ground down the right flank. He was well into the opposition half before he started holding the ball up, and the cavalry was fast arriving. The ball was switched across to the left, where Davies had acres of room. He let a cross shot go that required an acrobatic tip over from O'Brien to prevent us from doubling our lead.

Still the chances continued to drop for Davies, and just after the hour, he flashed a low curling shot beyond O'Brien, but it was just past the far post. At the other end, William Ponissi had to fling himself across his goalmouth to turn away a free kick effort from Thomas Russell. Moments later, and Rovers should have levelled the game. A short throw was sent to Ponissi, who tried to volley the bouncing ball up the park, but sent it high into the air and making only about 20 yards of ground. Jason Price tried to head it back to him, but got that all wrong, and Steve Jones picked up the ball, and rounded Ponissi, but sent the ball against the upright with an open goal to aim at. I don't think it would be right to say we were 'clinging' to our one goal lead, but I certainly felt the need to get some fresh legs on the park, and with 15 minutes remaining, William Davies and Tinashe Mutanha were replaced by Jamie Evans and Nana Baah. I was hoping that Evans had the vesatility to play out of position for a short spell, as Davies had run himself into the ground on the left. Fraser Williams was at full stretch with a sliding tackle to prevent Paul Harling from breaking clear down our left, thankfully it was a well timed tackle. Steve Jones hit a dipping shot that beat Ponissi, but also the cross bar with just over five minutes left. As Rovers continued to push for the equaliser, we got a counter attack, and Jamie Evans did a great job on the left, turning inside and out before cutting back in and crossing to Nana Baah, who volleyed straight at O'Brien. Right at the death, Marc Lloyd stung O'Brien's hands with a free kick. We had taken the points, but it was a much tougher game than we imagined it would be, and I can't say wholeheartedly that we deserved all three points from this one.

Albion Rovers (0) 0 Coed Eva Athletic (1) 1

Scorers : Josh Bower (20 o.g)

William Ponissi; Ryan Timms, Jason Price, Craig Sampson, Fraser Williams; Gavin Kinsey, Frank Oppong (capt), Ryan Dorrian, William Davies (Jamie Evans 75); Marc Lloyd; Tinashe Mutanha (Nana Baah 75).

Attendance :- 202. Man of the Match :- Gavin Kinsey (Coed Eva).

That defeat for Rovers left them locked at the bottom of the table with Trethomas. At the other end, Abercarn United matched our result, as they won by a single goal at home to Pill. The week off had really cost Cwmbran Town, who were now six points behind both Abercarn and ourselves with only three League games remaining. They were now perilously close to being out of the race, and were relying on favours from other clubs.

[b][u]2013/14 Gwent County League Title Race. Up to & Including Sunday 23rd February 2014[/u][/b]

[i]| Pos   | Inf   | Team                   |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   |[/i]
[color="#0000CD"][b]| 1st   |       | Coed Eva               |       | 25    | 16    | 6     | 3     | 53    | 24    | +29   | 54    |[/b][/color]
[b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b]
| 2nd   |       | Abercarn               |       | 25    | 16    | 6     | 3     | 47    | 22    | +25   | 54    | 
| 3rd   |       | Cwmbran                |       | 25    | 15    | 3     | 7     | 38    | 21    | +17   | 48    | 

[Dan BHTFC]

Getting tight heading into the run in! Good luck in trying to win the league!