EP.8 - 2024/2025 - Mid-Season Update - Llanelli Town AFC
I'm not going to lie, I didn't expect to take this long in Wales. I didn't realise that it was dominated by one team every single year. I'm here to win the league and that's exactly what I'm hoping to do this season. We're here in 2024 now, and life is still good in Wales. I'm pretty quickly becoming a legend at this club after winning 4 trophies during my time in charge. The only one alluding me, the sodding
JD Cymru Prem and the team that stands in the way again...
TNS.
In news regarding myself, the manager. I've achieved my next coaching qualification and now possess the
Continental A License and once again the board obviously think I'm worth investing in as they've granted me permission and have paid for me to go on my last badge:
Continental Pro License.
Now, I've made a few more signings and a few players have departed due to their playing time decreasing. I'm not here to make friends, and if they don't want to challenge for their places, then they can do one.
Tom Davies is one such player who's gone off on loan after not accepting the challenge.
Illan Ap Gareth & Cory Ruberto the others names you may recognise. No heart, and no fight. Off they pop.
Sam Hill - GK - Free Transfer (Barry Town)
Will Evans - AMC - Free Transfer (Cardiff Met Uni)
Jordan Ponticelli - ST - Free Transfer (Wrexham)
Steve Tomassen - CB - Free Transfer (Barry Town)
David Lyons - AML - Free Transfer (Gap Connahs Quay)
Owain Jones - ST - Free Transfer (Aberystwyth Town)
A fine crop of new additions that should add quality and depth to the first team squad. I've also promoted a number of players from the youth team. The best and most promising are
Arend Geerts (ST) & Rhydian Lewis (AML). They should play a fair amount this season. I'm hoping they develop quickly and can contribute immediately.
European Conference League
Once again, we found ourself in the European Conference League, and with a fairly winnable tie in the first qualifying round. We faced
Progres Niederkorn from Luxembourg. The away leg was first up, and with a massive 21 brave fans travelling their from South Wales. What a match they watched as ran out 2-1 winners and took the advantage home with us. A 4-0 thrashing followed and we progressed into the second qualifying round for the first time in the clubs history.
Unfortunately we had a tricky tie up next, but we expected that!
OFI Crete from you guessed it...Crete. Once again we travelled in the first leg, but only 2 hardy fans made the trip. They could've come with the team to be honest...A tough match followed and one we deserved more from. A 3-1 loss was hard to take but an away goal is always handy. A fantastic performance at home followed but we just could't grab that next goal to put us level in the tie. A proud day for me though as we beat a good team in Europe.
The journey in Europe was over, but we made over £500k which was put straight back into the club as I asked for the training ground to be improved which is costing a whopping £400k. Good news for the clubs future.
JD Cymru Prem
Well this is much more like it! A fantastic set of results and a set that surely puts us in with a chance of that elusive league title. I thought we were in for a rough ride when we lost the opener against
Cardiff Met Uni (The promoted team), but we've been brilliant ever since. A run of 14 games unbeaten on the bounce followed with a huge 3-0 victory away against
TNS. We've actually beaten them twice this season as we beat them 2-0 at home as well.
You can see we've scored a lot of goals which is really pleasing. Teams don't like playing us as they can't cope with my overly attacking tactic. The worst result of the season so far had to be the 4-3 loss against
Bangor City. A game that could've derailed our season but we bounced back nicely after that and haven't lost since.
Our record this season so far stands at:
15 WINS. 5 DRAWS, 2 LOSSES
LEAGUE TABLE
As you can see, we've reached the split stage of the season and we occupy that top spot. We have a gap as well which is massive at this stage! I'm hoping that we can kick on from here which we haven't been able to do in this stage before.
TNS are in 2nd place, with
Barry Town in 3rd. It's still a 4 horse race so it's all to play for going into the
Championship Phase.
Nathaniel MG Cup
Another day, another MG Cup Final appearance. Domestic cup competitions is where I've had my success at
Llanelli Town. 3 pretty favourable matchups saw us through to the semi-final with the only close game being against
Cwmbran Celtic. A last second toe poke from
Louis Robles saw us win that game.
A 2-0 win against
Llandudno set us up with a semi-final against
Barry Town who surely would pose a tougher test than we've been through before. An easy 3-1 victory followed with
Copp, Robles & Brookwell all getting on the scoresheet. Into the final we go once again. You guessed it, we're off to play
Bangor City. We've actually lost to them in 2 finals before so it won't be easy.
A frustrating afternoon at the
Cwmbran Stadium as we fell to a 2-0 defeat and had to watch
Bangor City lift the trophy high into the Welsh night sky. We weren't at the races and got what we deserved. Not to be on the day but fair play to Bangor City who seem to know how to beat us in finals.
JD Welsh Cup
Only the one game in the cup so far and a win was delivered. A Jordan Ponticelli goal saw us progress into the Fourth Round. Not much else to say, except we deserved the win.
Player Stats:
Goals:
1. Wealth Da Silva (AMR) - 17
2. Kyle Copp (AMC) - 13
3. Jordan Ponticelli (ST) - 11
Assists:
1. Dylan Rees (RB) & Kyle Copp (AMC) - 9
2. Joe Rabbetts (LB) - 8
3. Rhydian Lewis (AML) & Harry Jewitt-White (CM) - 5
Average Rating:
1. Dylan Rees (RB) - 7.66
2. Joe Rabbets (LB) - 7.38
3. Wealth Da Silva (AMR) - 7.32
Next Update: EP.9 - 2024/2025 - End of Season Update - Llanelli Town AFC
