A game that had no meaning for either team. Thye title race and promotion out of our hands and Gardden Villages young side near the bottom of the league. They turned up with 10 players and in my opinion did themselves proud. At times through injury they only had 8 on the pitch but never gave up. I would have been really proud of them if I was their manager. Well done lads.

Alyn got his name on the sheet for the first time in a while with a long range shot, Nathan got a second after a goalmouth scramble and the third was an own goal after a cross from Alyn.

Nothing much else to say about the game. It petered out in the hot sun as players tired. The only thing worthy f comment being Alyn's shot on (off) goal that went over the bar, over the hedges, almost clean over the houses as it bounced once on a roof and disappeared somewhere towards Park Avenue! Good job it was not on target I say as anyone in the way would have been in hospital for the weekend!!

So thats how our season ended. Not bad for a first one with the team put together last summer, players coming and going, a change of manager towards the end, 4th place should be looked upon as a decent effort.

Somehow though it feels that we could have and should have done better.

Hopefully the players will think the same and come back next season to put it right.

A lovely evening. Pity we did not play the football to do it justice!

We were the better team. But we just insisted on making things hard for ourselves!

10 minutes into the game and Ben hit a sweeeet volley with great technique. Just inside the 18 yard box it flew into the net. A great goal and a contender for goal of the season.

We self destructed a little with a back pass that did not reach the goalie and their striker nipped and equalised. 1-1 at half time.

We played catch up in the second half as first they scored and then we would equalise. Ben got a second and Sam Fairclough also got in on the act.

Again we were the better team, played the better football, but sometimes we could do with being a bit more direct and forceful with the play instead of trying to waltz the ball home.

A 3-3 draw and more points dropped.

Games are coming thick and fast as the end of the season approaches. A mid week match in far off Chirk does not help team selection!

However we got to half time 1-0 up thanks to a Sam Fairclough goal.

In the main we controlled the game with not much to write home about until we gave away a silly free kick just outside the box. Chirk took their chance and curled the kick into the far corner.

Thats how the game ended 1-1.

Struggling to put a side together today, and had to field a bare 11. This meant a change in formation to make the most of our strengths.
Playing with a formation of 3-5-2, we began playing into the wind and were up for this game from the off.
Alyn’s barren spell in front of goal seems to have now come to an end, as he scored 2 (how did you get away with the offside for the first one?).
Dave Bignall bagged one for himself after terrorising Borras down the right hand side of the park, excellent work rate and a well deserved goal.
A contender for goal of the season came from Nathan Jones, top corner from 20 yards leaving the keeper with no chance. Score now 4-0 and half time.

We stepped off the pace in the second half, thinking that the game was won, but then injuries began to take their toll. Danny Williams, the first to come off after 15 mins for treatment. He came back on another 15 mins later, only for Sam Fairclough to pick up an injury. It was during this time that the referee deemed a rebound from a tackle in the box, to be classed as a back pass, from which Borras scored their consolation.

A lacklustre midweek display. With less than 3 minutes on the clock Lex broke away and scored.

We equalised after 17 with a well worked corner that Brooksie put away well from the edge of the box and with ten minutes to go in the first half Alyn scored with a left foot shot and we seemed to be getting the upper hand.

In the second half we struggled and it was with some disbelief that Lex equalised with the ball trickling slowly over the line with no-one close enough to stop it!

Lex were getting the better of the game and they went ahead with a well taken long range shot that went straight to the top corner of the goal.

Lex sealed there win with a 4th late on as we were trying for the equaliser.

Poor evenings work.

Important game against the team next to us in the league. We have been saying we needed to raise our game and we did.

A tough first half. Hard tackling FC Cefn had the most of the first half. However we turned around 1-0 up after the ball was bundled over the line for an own goal by them.

The second half continued in a similar vein with Cefn having a lot of the play. Eventually they got their equaliser and we were at times very much under the cosh whilst creating the odd chance ourselves.

Two events then equalled themselves out and you wonder if the ref was evening things up. The first was when our defender punched the ball away from under the crossbar. There was a real ruck of players around the goal and he got away with it despite some vehement appeals from Cefn. Did it get to him? Shortly after Tom got between their forward and the ball in the penalty area and the ref gave a penalty for obstruction!

The score was now 2-1 and try as we could we did not get an equaliser.

In truth Cefn were the better team on the day but the reality is we needed to get something out of this game.

The season is no longer in our hands and we have to hope for results elsewhere go in our favour and that we get as many points out of the remaining games as we can.

For some reason we never seemed to get going in this game. Penyffordd grew in confidence as the game went on and the score remained 0-0.

We played some good football but their goalie made several good saves which kept them in the game.

It really was a stalemate with nothing much to write about until late in the game when we hit the bar.

Another setback for us. A boring draw.

When I started doing my coaching courses it was always said that any team talk should start with the negatives and end with the positives so that players left on a high note. Unfortunately I cant think of too many positives in this game!

We were out fought and out battled and indeed out played for most of the game.

We went 1-0 down within the first couple of minutes and the stall was set for a hard physical challenge when several tackles went unpunished.

Danny Noble equalised with a lofted free kick from the halfway line that went through the goalkeepers hands. 1-1 at half time.

The second half followed a similar pattern as Gwersyllt were first to the ball and battled for everything, but for a while it looked as though we might get on top.

Then they broke away and we were caught without a covering defender and were turned resulting a a hectic race back to defend our goal. Dave Jones turned the ball away from our goal line convinced he had saved a goal only for the referee to award a goal from where he stood near the halfway line. How he could tell the ball had crossed the line I really dont know.

Further bad news when we failed to clear a corner, the ball came out to the edge of the area, we were slow to close down and their striker stroked the ball home through a crowd of players to make it 3-1. That goal summed up our display. Just not at the races!

Lots of stoppages for supposed injuries and time wasting. At last we started to play with some urgency. It paid off when a good corner placed under the crossbar was put into his own net by a defender. 3-2 and we now had all of the pressure. I really thought we might get an undeserved equaliser. However late on Gwersyllt were gifted a goal after a mistake by the goalie. But the question has got to be asked, where were his team mates? Why was he not told he had time?

A 4-2 loss. Worse a poor performance. We really need to raise our game.

The day started cold and windy but with blue skies. By the time it came to kick off we had had snow showers. During the game it was high winds, rain, hail and snow! Not easy conditions for the players.

Overton played with 10 men behind the ball with a lone striker. We never really looked in trouble but at the same time lacked penetration against their packed midfield and defence.

It seems that every game we play now against lower placed opposition its as if its their cup final! Overton really had a go. It was pleasing to see that we as a team played more cohesively than of late and without setting the game on fire we controlled it.

After 23 minutes Sam Fairclough scrambled the ball home for us to take the lead. Despite creating chances we were unable to add to it and the game turned around 1-0.

The second half followed the same pattern, their lone striker not seeing much of the ball and some desperate defending keeping us at bay.

Rob playing on the left side of midfield had a great game. Defensively he helped out young Darren by tirelessly running back and covering, and in attack he was able to go past defenders and pressure the defence. Tom Williams had his usual busy game and Dan Noble, together with Pete Morris never really looked in trouble at the back. Sam's pace up front had the Overton defenders at six's and sevens but the final strike on goal never seemed to come.

Overton had a couple of breakaway chances which we dealt with, Darren in particular did very well when he was caught alone against two breaking strikers. But at 1-0 the game is never safe.

Our fears came true when with 10 minutes to go their striker was put through and was able to equalise 1-1. We could not afford to loose this game and as Overton sat back to defend their point we attacked.

In the 89th minute Sam grabbed another poachers goal to give us the lead again 2-1. Shouts from the side of “You've still time for your hat trick” were met with smiles of relief all round. Then Sam was put through and his pace took him clear of the last defender and 1on 1 with the keeper. Cool as you like he took his third goal to put the game beyond any doubt. A minute later the final whistle blew.

Good on you lads for keeping going to the end. It would have been easy to let the heads drop after that equaliser but you showed the character to stick at it.

Next week a big match. Bring it on!!

High winds meant this was a bit of a lottery. Any ball in the air was just carried away by the wind. When we kept the ball down and played football we looked OK. Too often though both sides were guilty of just punting the ball up and watching it arc way off where it was meant to go.

Playing against the wind in the first half meant we had a lot of work to do but we still created chances which went begging for want of a better finish. Halfway through the half there was a a bit of a “discussion” between players when a hard tackle by Darren was met with retaliation from the Coedpoeth player. Ben leapt to the defence of his team mate and once the ref restored order Coedpoeth were a player down and Ben took a booking.

The half ended 0-0.

The second half had its own problems for us as now the ball was overrunning with the wind behind it but slowly we got on top of the game and Sam Fairclough put us in the lead with a well taken goal. We looked the better side but our football was still not at its best.

With a few minutes to go Andy Morris eased any worries by cool as you like slotting the ball home to make it 2-0. We played out the game to take the points and another deserved win.

I think its fair to say that our football has not been at its best of late. But we are still picking up the points and grinding out results. Some big games coming up and we will need to be at our best to keep our place at the top of the table.

The first half of this game was a mixture of our good football and careless play. Time after time passes just went astray.

Poor refereeing decisions led to frustration, some of them had those of us on the side shaking our heads and wondering which match the ref was at!

Ben Powell was on the wrong end of such a decision when he went in for a perfectly good but hard challenge and found himself booked. Harsh is not the right word, it was just WRONG! To rub salt into the wound the ref took no action against their goalkeeper who after a good attacking move from us broke down shouted at his defence “You had three chances to snap him”. We heard it from the halfway line but the ref claimed not to from the 18 yard box. No, consistency seemed to be out the window today

Ben was having his usual busy game and he broke the deadlock when he was put through after running from deep and took the goalkeeper 1 on 1 before cool as you like slotting the ball home. 0-1 and at last we had our deserved lead. That's how the half ended.

In the second half nothing much changed. The ref continued to give baffling decisions which led to the players on both sides getting frustrated and argumentative. Our play remained erratic with good footballing moves one minute and daisy cutting swings at the ball the next (Hi Jamie!)

However after 9 minutes of the half we put a good move down the left with a great cross in from Rob Jones which was met by Jamie Banks with a solid header into the net giving their goalkeeper no chance. 0-2.

Ben was having a superb game, showing his usual commitment to the cause and it was a shame that decision after decision went against him, the ref gave him NOTHING. Late in the game as his frustration started to boil over he was substituted. He was the best all round player on the pitch today.

Into injury time and an inexplicable error by Dave in goal allowed Johnstown to score. We all make mistakes, just when the goalie does it normally ends in a goal.

The last couple of minutes of the game were tense as we protected our lead but the game ended with our 2-1 win without further incident.

A deserved win. Shame about the refereeing which spoiled it.

At the third time of trying we finally got our game against Gresford in the Horace Wynn Cup under way. Shame we were so far off the pace then!

Not much to say about this game. We were just not at the races for large parts of it. A real difference between the two sides was a rather large (rotund) Gresford midfield player who organised everyone, even telling the ref at one stage what he wanted at a drop ball and telling his team mates where they should stand! He was also an old master at upsetting his opposition without attracting too much attention from the ref, hands in face off the ball and other little niggles
he was very adept at, seemed to put one or two of our players off their game.

The game was lost in the first ten minutes. After 5 their striker nipped in at the near post to steer home a low cross and after 6 minutes our defence were caught standing with their arms in the air claiming an offside that was never given. Then to add insult to injury after 32 minutes a Gresford corner was not cleared and the ball was forced home from close range.

No second half recovery this time but at least we made a better game of it and with luck could have scored a couple as chances went begging.

Final score was 0-3. A poor game from our point of view.

We put out a strong team today with a number of first team players in the side for various reasons such as returning from injury. The game started very well for us and we looked the better side. For once we looked sharp from the off and with Paul Connolly and Steve Hopkins marshalling our defence we never looked troubled. (Well not much anyway!)

After 7 minutes Chris Brooks put in a great cross from the left after beating their defender and it was met by Alyn for his first of the game. Alyn looked bright and eager today and it was no surprise after 13 minutes to see him latch onto a bad mistake by the opposition goalkeeper and slot home our second.

We continued to create and after 15 minutes Alyn was put through and went one on one with the keeper, cooly slotting his and our third. We really were on top and value for money.

44 minutes and another cross from Chris on the left found Alyn who again slotted home from close range. Hawarden or at least their goalkeeper hotly disputed this goal for offside, it did not look a forward pass to me so was rightly given by the ref. Unfortunately the goalie went too far with his protests and after using offensive language directed at the ref, was sent off. Even our own players asked the ref to let it go, after all we were 4-0 up and cruising. The ref however chose to uphold the letter of the law and off the keeper went. Shame as it spoiled the game. The whistle went shortly after and the half ended 4-0.

The second half was an anti climax in many ways. Hawarden put a young outfield player in goal and kept plugging away. We continued to make chances and never looked vulnerable.

Alyn scored again when a fierce shot deflected off a defender and in and he rounded off his day by showing his strength, tussling with a defender, holding him off and scoring in the bottom corner.

Andy Morris completed the route with his third goal in three games.

Thats how it ended, 7-0, a resounding win. For Alyn to score 6 times in one game shows us what a striker he is capable of being. The question he should be asking himself is “whats the difference between today and the other week when I missed and missed again?” Well Al, what was it?

We as a team looked bright today. For the first time in ages we did not seem off the pace in the first half. Was that the first team players showing their presence? Or are we finally getting it into our heads that if we want to win things we have to prepare well and turn up with the right attitude? I hope its the latter.

Looking at the team sheet before the game I thought that our opposition would struggle to cope with the strong team we were putting out. Stuart Wood at left back, excellent defender with great fitness and good left foot at dead ball situations, Ben Powell, I always like to see him play for us, good skills and when the muck and boots are flying he can always be counted on to tackle above his weight and disrupt the opposition, Darren Horne, a veteran of many seasons who the youngsters should be looking to for an example of what it takes, Tom Williams skills, pace and not afraid to tackle, Alyn Roberts 19 goals so far in his début season.

And so it proved. We battered them. They did not get out of their half for 20 minutes! But our chances went begging. We missed chance after chance. It was woeful. The home team packed the defence, more often than not having all 11 players between the ball and their goal. We had to try and shoot and pass through a forest of bodies, legs, arms, heads, whatever it took they threw it at the ball and frustrated us.

As we committed players forward the inevitable happened. A break which Danny attempted to clear only to see the ball hit their striker and rebound towards our goal. A chase for the ball which they won and slotted home to make it 1-0. How the blinkin flip did that happen!

Continued pressure brought us a free kick some 30 yards out on our right. Stuart went over and hit a left foot shot that screamed into the bottom right of their goal. (sounds better than the, although well hit shot, that dribbled past several defenders and attackers and went in untouched by anybody!). 1-1.

Just before half time we put the best move of the game together with some great passing resulting in Andy Morris finishing well for his second goal in two games. Half time and its 1-2 to us.

The second half saw us continue to dominate the game without scoring and the home side relying on the odd breakaway which we coped with without breaking sweat.

Until that is after 30 minutes they broke, we could not get the ball away and in went the equaliser. 2-2. They were up for it and you could almost see them rolling their sleeves up determined to get something out of this game against us, the league leaders.

The more I see of Darren the more I am impressed with his work rate, skills and vision. He kept cropping up all over the pitch to either stop a move or create one. He should be having easy games controlling things from the middle and the youngsters doing his running. Such is his drive to win even late in the game he was beating defenders out wide and putting in crosses which our strikers never quite got onto. He's putting lads half his age to shame.

How we did not win this game by a cricket score I don't know. Simply put we just did not put our chances away. There were some glum faces after the game. More points dropped. There's still a long way to go though and some crunch match's to play.

We went into this game confident. Too confident as it turned out. We had our chances but for some strange reason we played like a team of strangers. Where did our passing go? Why were we lofting high balls about and playing head tennis. Their 6 foot plus centre back must have thought Christmas had come three days early!

Then we went into self destruct mode. Danny feels hard done by but if you follow the guy your marking towards the ball in the penalty area with your hands on his shoulders, don't be surprised if he falls over. Which is what he did! Penalty and 1-0 down. And that's how the half ended.

We hoped for the usual second half recovery. We have often discussed how one day we will get caught out with our lacklustre first half's. We were today.

Shortly after the start of the second half a Penley player waltzed though our midfield, then our defence, perhaps beating 5 or 6 players, too many to blinking count! He then slotted the ball home for a 2-0 lead.

Finally we woke up bit and Dave Baker nipped in to follow up a shot and hit home the rebound. 2-1. But only for a few minutes as we went back into sleep mode. Gave away a free kick on the edge of the box which was flighted in for their big defender to nod it home. 3-1 down.

We went from bad to worse. The players were arguing with the ref, each other and we were in pieces. Peter Morris what were you thinking when you floored their player in our penalty area. two hands firmly in the back and a lunge that gave him the perfect platform for a swallow dive. Another penalty and 4-1 down. And to then get yourself booked for dissent!!!

Good job your brother Andy still had his mind on the game to cool as you like slot home to make it 4-2.

Young Nathan Jones popped up late into injury time to make the score look a little respectable with a good headed goal. The game ended with a 4-3 loss.

In some ways its good that we did not get a point out of this game. They say pride comes before a fall. In reality complacency comes before a fall. That is what we have become. Complacent, with an attitude that we only need to turn up. OK the ref did not help today but its a poor excuse to blame him. We gave away two rookie penalties and played without any pride or passion. The worst performance I have had the displeasure of watching so far this season. We have now put the ball firmly into FC Cefn's back yard. Lets hope its the wake up call we need.

Blinking freezing! Blinking lack of players! What's this? The manager in goal!! We were expecting a hard game today so it was disappointing that we could not put out a full squad, only two subs and Dale having to play in goal was not what we wanted to hear before we had kicked off.

Dale watches the ball go past.....good job its the warm up......

For the first 20 minutes however it was a tale of our missed chances as goals just would not come. During that time we dominated the game with good passing and team work if a little quiet.

Its an old adage in the ga,e that you must score when you've got the best of the game. So it proved today. We did not and as the home team came more into the game they scored afterv23 minutes.

What went on then is a mystery as we went to pieces for a while and after 35 minutes they scored again. 2-0 down could it get worse?

It did. A couple of minutes later we had a penalty awarded against us. (Cant remember what for and my fingures were too cold to write). Dale showed us that he has been a fine goalkeeper in his time (ok it may be a long time ago) by making a a great diving save low to his right. (It was a scuffed shot that enabled him the time to get down......)

Half time and we are 2-0 down. The team stayed out in the cold for a talking to. Craig Knight summed up the mood. It would take character to come back from this.

The start of the second half and a tactical switch meant we started to get the better of the home side again. After 9 minutes Alyn at last claimed his goal, it should have bee his 4th of the day (We wont mention the penalty miss)

They were still dangerous on the break but we slowly played our way back in. Andy Morris and his brother Peter muscled the midfield and Chris Brookes made great runs along the left wing which caused mayhem in the home defence. Nathan Jones up front looked dangerous and if his efforts had all gone in with those of Alyn's we should have been comfortable.

Another Isa attack

Finally in the 20th minute of the second half Nathan was through on goal and cool as you like slipped the ball past their keeper for the equaliser.

We looked the stronger side as the half played out but could not get the winner.

After last weeks loss it was good to come here and at least get a point. It was not a pretty game but we dug out a draw and showed the character we will need aplenty in the weeks to come.

A convincing win against Chirk last week and we went into this cup tie confident. Perhaps over confident as it turned out!

Poor weather conditions meant that it was down to a referee's inspection before kick off. Despite the wet weather and heavy pitch the game was on.

During the first half we had a series of chances which we failed to put away. Dave Baker had a couple as did Gareth Thomas but they went wide, they went over the top or just went begging. They would not however go in!

Chirk gave us a real competitive game and created their own chances and after 36 minutes got just reward for a fine move ending in Aaron Tyler being beaten by a fine shot from distance.

1-0 to the home side at half time and I was looking forward to our normal second half improvement.

However the second half started much the same way with Chirk competing and playing well and we only showing glimpses of what we are capable of.

13 minutes into the half and we were awarded a penalty for hand ball as Gareth crossed and their defender was judged to have handled the ball as it hit his raised arm.

Gareth stepped up and took a confident kick which beat the keeper, slotting home low to his right. 1-1.

Shortly after a Chirk player suffered a horrible leg injury which required a lengthy delay waiting for an ambulance then treatment before being taken to hospital. We wish him well and a speedy recovery.

After the re-start Chirk appeared to be really up for it and had a real go. Aaron was called on to make a great save and the defence was put under constant pressure.

After 35 minutes Chirk was awarded a dubious goal when their striker was clearly (from where I stood at least) several yards offside. They then hung on for their win.

Looking back over the match, if we had put away our chances we could have won the game in the first half. But its no use crying over spilt milk. Its a wakeup call and we need to bounce back and make sure we get back on track in the league.

Blustery day with a heavy pitch. Not the best to play good football and so it proved. Despite the odd good move the majority of the half was pretty much forgettable.

After 24 mins Nathan Jones put the ball home for a deserved lead after good work and a cross from Jamie Banks who is looking better each week.

Half time and its 1-0

Our usual second half improvement (what do you say at half time Dale?) led to a goal after 54 mins for Nathan Jones. He claimed his second goal of the game by waltzing through the Chirk defence before slotting the ball home.

Darren Horne organised our midfield and in truth we were the better side which led to a 70th minute goal for Alyn Roberts. Chris Brookes sent in a rasper of a shot which rebounded for Alyn to knock home.

Continued pressure and some good passing at times until in the 87th minute Alyn forced home his second of the game.

The game ended as a 4-0 win for us. Our series of fine results continues and is down in no small measure to the senior players who, it is pleasing to see, week in week out give encouragement and direction to the others.

Darren in the middle and Craig Knight at the back are worth their weight in gold. The youngsters have a real opportunity to learn from them and hopefully they realise it.

A first half best forgotten. At half time the best I could find to comment was that it was 0-0!

The wind played a big part in that as it spoiled a couple of fine moves when the ball ran away from us. However no excuse, a poor half.

Within 2 minutes of the re-start however we took our lead with a close range goal from Andy Morris which settled the side. We went on to play some good football.

Jamies Banks added to the score with the second for Isa on the day and his second in two games. We continued to then dominate the game which showed with the away team starting to argue with each other as we kept pressing.

After 29 minutes of the second half a fine passing move involving Andy and Mike Lewis resulted in Alyn Roberts netting for our third. Shortly afterwards Nathan Jones forced a save from their keeper which spilled and Alyn popped in his second of the game, following in as all good strikers do.

Continued pressure by Isa did not get its just desserts until in the 44th minute Nathan Jones scored our 5th and final goal.

5-0 a well deserved win.

As a spectator (ok the oldest ball boy in town!) it's been good to see and hear the more established players talking and directing the younger less experienced. Joey Ouslem in particular today marshalled those around him and gave none stop encouragement to everyone. No matter how much you bang on about something in training its only the experience of seeing this for real that can bring it home to the youngsters.

We had to improve in the second half and we did. After 8 minutes of the restart and relentless pressure on the away team goal, their defender handled the ball to give away a penalty. Andy Morris, who has actively been seeking to score more goals, stepped up to confidently take spot kick. Only to see the goalkeeper save it!

Shortly after Jamie Banks scored what must be a contender for goal of the season. From 20 plus yards on the right side of the box, he sent in a screamer, looping the goalkeeper and into the net. Brilliant! The rest of the half was as Dale put it, “Not pretty”, but sometimes you just got to play ugly and win. Sam Fairclough scored his first goal in senior football to seal that win, putting the ball home from a corner.

The mixture of youth and experience that is the reserve side (6 of the 14 man squad were playing youth football last season) continues to progress.