The Cofis have an impressive record against Flint
Town United of late, with a record of nine victories, two draws and a solitary
defeat against the Silkmen in the past five seasons. This run includes three
League Cup final victories, which probably means we’re not of Flint’s favourite
opponents and I’m sure they would have been looking forward to trying to get
one over on us during our latest visit to
Cae y Castell.
As covered in the last blog, Caernarfon had drawn the
three matches leading up to Flint and this led to plenty of North Wales
football gurus predicting the Cofi bubble had burst. I won’t embarrass these
local Carraghers by pointing at the social media threads where they confidently
proclaimed the wheels had well and truly come off Town’s title aspirations but you’ll
probably be aware of what and who I mean. I doubt that Sean and the players
felt any added pressure as a result of those draws but would guess that the critics
will have galvanised them even more to get back to winning ways at Flint.
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| Darren Thomas |
The hosts had recently appointed former Rhyl
manager Niall McGuinness to take over from Andy Holden at the helm and the team
had responded with three victories in five outings under his charge, so they
were in decent form and it promised to be a tough test for the Cofis.
I had been encouraged before kick off when Darren
Thomas told me he was nearing a return to fitness and hoped to train with the
squad the following week. This was excellent news as the Cofi Messi is a key
member of the squad and I often believe that people from outside the club underestimate
how good he is. Most have also decided to ignore the fact that we have remained
unbeaten and top of the league despite his absence since the first week of
December which, considering his importance to the team, is a pretty impressive
feat.
So, what of the match itself? The first thing I
noted was the pitch, which looked heavy and wet, although the groundsman must
have worked overtime on the surface because most matches in the area had been called off due to heavy rain in
the preceding hours. This resulted in a swollen attendance at Cae y Castell and I’m sure that
the majority of us will have enjoyed what the players served up.
As expected, the hosts began well but, having
weathered their initial ten minute storm, Caernarfon settled down and took control
of the game. There were a few near misses and half chances in the Flint penalty
area as the Cofis pressed forward and it seemed just a matter of time before we
broke the deadlock. However a red card for Jay Gibbs after thirty minutes levelled
the action temporarily as the Silkmen found renewed hope although Caernarfon continued
to edge proceedings up to half time. Jamie Breese and Nathan Craig gave Town a
two goal lead within five minutes of the restart and really, Flint did well not
to go further behind as they struggled to deal with Caernarfon’s pacey breaks
upfield. The extra man advantage finally began to show in the final quarter of
the match as the Silkmen pulled a goal back through Jack Lewis and took a more direct
approach in search of an equaliser. Alex Ramsay pulled off two fines saves to
keep us ahead and some heroic defending by the whole team finally ensured we
got back to winning ways, and handing out a king-sized slice of disappointment
cake to those who were pronouncing the Cofis’ demise.
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| Breesey was on target against Flint |
It was a gutsy performance from the players, one
that showed plenty of character and determination after the early red card and
whilst it was squeaky bum time in the final stages, I don’t think there can be any
question that the Cofis deserved the points. There was an impressive following
from Caernarfon at the match and the Cofi Army certainly encouraged the players
on, especially in the final minutes. Their rousing rendition of ‘Ain’t Nobody
Like Sean Eardly’ at the final whistle was rewarded with a Klinsmann dive in
front of them by the manager and, to be honest, it was a fitting way to end the
afternoon.
Away from the action it had been nice to catch up
with former Cofi Rob Jones, who now plays for Flint. Rob was an important
member of our title winning squad of 2015/16 and was unlucky last year to
suffer from injuries and suspensions. I remember talking with him after his
final match for Caernarfon last season, where he had been sent off at Llanfair
United, and he was extremely disappointed at the dismissal which effectively
ruled him out for the remainder of the campaign. Despite his frustrations last
season, his quality is in no doubt and it was great to see him on the pitch
again, although not in our colours this time1 Unfortunately, Rob suffered an
injury in the opening minutes and so had to miss out on most of the action but I
hope the ovation he received from the Cofi Army helped him feel better and
reminded him of his successes at the Oval. Thankfully, his injury was not as
bad as feared and it was good to see he was back for Flint’s match at the
weekend.
Once I’d posted the match report, photos and post-match
interviews I settled down to Twitter and it definitely seemed a much quieter
place that it had been the previous three Saturday evenings. It may well have been
that all the footballing gurus of North Wales had gone off to a Sky Football Convention
for tactical geniuses or maybe our defender Joe Williams got it right when he
tweeted:“I’m sure all the doubters will undoubtedly
be doubting Sean Eardley’s ability as a manager! I’m off to watch Mrs
Doubtfire!”
Having successfully overcome one stiff test, the
Cofis were faced with another six days later when we faced The New Saints in
the fourth round of the Welsh Cup. There’s no point in me recounting what happened the last time the sides met in
the same competition and of more relevance is the encounter earlier this
season, when TNS beat Caernarfon 2-0 in the Word Cup. The difference between
the sides had been minimal then and goals at the beginning and end of the tie
had been enough to see the hosts through.
Caernarfon’s Welsh Cup curse struck again in the fortnight
before the tie as Chris Williams and Ryan Williams suffered injuries that deemed
them unavailable whilst Jay Gibbs was suspended and Kevin Lloyd and Shaun
Cavanagh were both cup-tied. This meant that Sean was without five of his first
team squad for the match but, on the flip side, the Cofi Messi was back, which must
have given his team mates as much of a boost as it did the supporters. We still
had a very strong starting eleven to face the Welsh Premier League Champions
and, despite going behind in the fourth minute, the Cofis proved a match for
the full-timers in every aspect.
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| Messi was back against TNS. |
Correct decisions at key moments can make a huge
difference in tight contests and Friday’s match was a good example. Caernarfon had
a strong penalty shout just before half-time when a Darren Thomas header hit
Connell Rawlinson’s arm at the far post but the referee waved play on, and the
ball was cleared. It’s impossible to say how a penalty at that time would have
changed the outcome of the match but against excellent sides like TNS these are
the moments that you need to go your way.
The Town players deserve huge credit for sticking
to their tasks so resolutely after the visitors doubled their lead almost
immediately after the restart and, as the match wore on, I felt the Cofis
improved and looked quite comfortable against their highly rated opponents.
When Darren halved the deficit in the seventy seventh minute I sensed we could
get back on level terms and it was great to see Sean pushing his team on in
search of an equaliser. The Oval was rocking for those final thirteen minutes
as Town put the pressure on, and I think it said a lot that TNS keeper Paul
Harrison was looking for every opportunity to waste a few second whenever he
could – and not just after Darren scored!
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| Gareth Evans |
Aeron Edwards showed his quality in injury time
when he scored a third for the visitors but, despite the result, I think
Caernarfon Town were still winners on the night. An impressive crowd of 1489
saw the Cofis go toe to toe against their full-time opponents and, just as
impressively is that we played football that was every bit as good as the Welsh
champions.
I note that in his post-match interview TNS manager
Scott Ruscoe was quite complimentary towards Caernarfon and also alluded to the
fact that the Oval pitch was not the type they’re used to, which is definitely
worth bearing in mind if we manage to get back into the top tier. o many of
the WPL clubs play on 3G pitches these days that keeping a real grass surface
may well be an advantage to us in the future. I know the club is looking at
putting down an artificial pitch at the Oval to enable it to compete
financially with other big clubs in the country and I agree with this, but it
would be such a shame to see us lose what’s already there, and something we can
use to our advantage in the future.
So, a disappointing result for us but everything
else on the night was a success. The players put in one of the best performances
from a Caernarfon Town side in recent years and showed again that they’re good
enough, individually and collectively, to play in the top tier. The football they
played was on a par with a team that play the game professionally and what’s
even more important is that nearly fifteen hundred people were there to see the
sides put on a great show. I was impressed by TNS, but more so by Caernarfon
Town. In the words of a former football commentator who got too big for his
boots before getting caught out: Take a bow Alex Ramsay, Joe Williams, Nathan
Craig, Gareth Edwards, Rhys Roberts, Clive Williams, Kevin Roberts, Gareth
Evans, Jamie Breese, Darren Thomas, Danny Broookwell, Telor Williams and Aaron
Davies-Thomas.
I’ll finish this blog off by once again putting my
head on the social media block. We had queues stretching out of the car park
and half way down Marcus Street on Friday evening as people looked forward to a
real football match on a grass surface between two sides who rarely face each
other. 1489 people eventually walked through the turnstiles and witnessed a
cracker of a match between two very good sides. Yes, I appreciate that the
Welsh champions were in town, that it was a cup tie and there were no other matches
on in the vicinity but it was still a pretty big crowd, one that other teams in
the Pyramid would dearly love to have.
If you were to check the attendances for the next round
of Welsh Premier League matches, the chances are that the combined total from
all them will not reach Friday’s crowd at the Oval and in my opinion the fault
lies with the FAW. They really do need to realise that many people have no
interest in watching the same teams face each other between four, five or six
times a season. Of course we can all guess at the reasons why the powers that
be refuse to change the format (I’ve heard that it may be because they don’t
want to dilute the product?) but, common sense and business wise, it must make
sense to change things.
I know there are some who are extremely sensitive when
it comes to the FAW and WPL but even those who are so precious about the top
tier must see it’s time for the governing body to increase the number of teams
in its flagship competition to sixteen? Sides facing each other just twice a
season may produce better crowds and better matches, as both we and Ruthin
proved against higher ranked teams in the cup this weekend.
And talking of Ruthin, the Cofis will be facing
them this weekend in what promises to be another very tough fixture. Sean
Eardley has already told me the players are really looking forward to it and I
can’t wait to see how we go against yet another strong side.
Ain’t Nobody Like Sean Eardley……..
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