The Rise of Wales - Carmarthen Town

November


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A much quieter month for us with just the 5 matches, including the 3rd round of the JD Welsh Cup (our first match in it). We need some better results in the Premier League, if we have any chance of making the top 6.


JD Welsh Cup, 3rd Round: Carmarthen Town 2 - 1 Goytre United​

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We made very hard work against some much lesser opposition and had to come from behind to progress to the 4th Round. I would like to say it was a weakened team, but it really wasn't. Mark Jones once again producing the goals.

We have been given a pretty decent draw for the 4th round and should say it will be a routine win. But not on the base of that performance!

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Welsh Premier League, Match Day 14: Connah's Quay 1 - 1 Carmarthen Town

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We seemed on course to win after Jeff White scored his first of the season, only to be foiled midway through the second half after some sloppy defending. An away point isn't a bad result by any means.




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Welsh Premier League, Match Day 15: Bala Town 1 - 2 Carmarthen Town

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We stole a victory today at Bala. Idzi made a terrific save from a penalty early in the second half and we managed to hold out. Is always nice to have a bit of luck come our way.


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Welsh Premier League, Match Day 16: Carmarthen Town 2 - 0 Bangor City


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Finally some clinical finishing in front of goal. We controlled the game and took our chances when they came our way.




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Welsh Premier League, Match Day 17: Aberystwyth 0 - 0 Carmarthen Town

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A bore draw. We really had to battle to come away with a point, managing just the 2 shots on goal despite instructing the lads to shoot on sight in the second half!


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Now that was a much better month! An unbeaten November moves us up to 4th place in the table. There are just 5 games remaining until the table splits, and 4 teams battling it out for 5th and 6th. Hopefully we can do enough in December to make the cut!

Our unbeaten month also resulted in me picking up 3rd place in the manager of the month award.

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December + January



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So there are just 5 games remaining until the division splits in half, so will be hoping we can do enough to make the top 6. Fatigue shouldn't be a problem as the matches are nicely spread out.


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Welsh Premier League, Match Day 18: Carmarthen Town 1 - 2 Llandudno



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I thought we looked the better side, but again we failed to convert our chances into goals.



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Welsh Premier League, Match Day 19: Newtown 1 - 0 Carmarthen Town


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This was an agonising loss against Newtown, who have now climbed above us in the table. We created a few good chances, but it was the same old story and we couldn't stick them in the back of the net.


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Welsh Premier League, Match Day 20: Port Talbot 1 - 0 Carmarthen Town

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Our 3rd loss in a row has moved us down to 8th in the table! We now have just 2 matches left to get back into the top 6 and we will need a miracle based on our recent performances.

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Welsh Premier League, Match Day 21: Carmarthen Town 4 - 1 Port Talbot

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Now thats more like it!

Things weren't looking good when we conceded a goal in the 4 minute, but we managed to pull in back with a resounding 4-1 win. This victory puts us 6th in the table, so it is now our place to lose going into the final game.

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Welsh Premier League, Match Day 22: Carmarthen Town 4 - 1 Rhyl


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Another 4-1 victory means that we have secured our place in the top half of the table. The only real change i have made to the tactic in the last couple of games was change our Advanced Forward to a Poacher and suddenly the goals are flying in!

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So our final 2 match push has moved us up into 5th place, as the table splits in half. We have therefore avoided relegation, which was the boards objective at the start of the season and now have a shot at possibly pushing for a Europa League 1st Round knockout spot. To achieve this we will either need to win the JD League Cup or finish in the top 4 and hope one of the top 4 won the League Cup.


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So Aaron Ramsey beat Gareth Bale to the Welsh Footballer of the Year Award. Although i was more pleased to see the Welsh Young Player of the Year award go to a striker playing in the Welsh Premier League. Hopefully it wont be long until we produce a winner for this award.

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Aberystwyth went on to win theWord Cup after knocking us out of the tournament.

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I managed to offload a couple of players on free transfers during the transfer window and freed up some wage budget to sign Will Abbotts. He is a young Welsh striker and on paper is probably our 2nd best striker, so look forward to seeing how he gets on.

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Well done on top 6 mate! Hopefully Europa 1st round will be coming your way! Bit extra boost to the finances!
 
JamesScott2908 said:
Well done on top 6 mate! Hopefully Europa 1st round will be coming your way! Bit extra boost to the finances!
Click to expand...

Thanks man! Yeah really hope we can make it into the Europa 1st Round, although we would almost certainly loose straight away, as you said the extra finance would be very helpful!
 
February

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February has been a bit of a mixed month for us in all honesty. As the division has now been split in 2, we are now only playing against the other 5 teams in the top 6, which makes it quite a bit more challenging. There is still quite a big gulf in class between the top 3 teams, especially TNS and can be seen in the table. We just need to keep plugging away and picking up points where we can and hopefully come the end of the season we will be in 4th place!

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Some good news, is that we are still in the League Cup and have been drawn away against Bangor in the Semi-Final. We recently lost to them in the league but it was a close match and hopefully we can sneak a win.

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We also had the new intake of youth players this month, which produced one player who looks to have quite a bit of potential (for this level anyway). Hopefully he will develop into a decent winger for us in a couple of seasons, although he doesn't actually look to be to far off a starting place already.

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We only have 2 matches scheduled in for March, which includes a massive match against Aberystwyth as victory would move us above them in the table on goal difference!

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March

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So March was a bit of a disaster! It was a short month with just the 2 games, but these results mean it is almost impossible for us to make the top 4. We trail Aberystwyth by 7 points with just the 3 games to go, so will be aiming to finish 5th which will still be a decent achievement, considering we were tipped for relegation at the start of the season.

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TNS managed to retain the league title for a 4th straight year after beating us 4-1, and are clearly the team to beat!

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The board were clearly pleased with our performance this season, as they decided to offer me a new contract, despite having 3 months still to run on it.

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April looks to be another quiet month, with just the 3 games. All our attentions will be on the JD Welsh Cup Semi Final against Bangor, as this will be our only chance of making the Europa League 1st round!

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Domestic Season Round Up

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We managed to end the season with a bit of a bang, winning our final 3 matches including the JD Welsh Cup Semi - Final! Mark Jones was in scintillating form, scoring 6 goals in the 4 games.

We managed to secure our 5th place finish, which I have recently discovered doesn't mean we have missed out on a Europa League Place, as there appears to be some kind of playoff, which we will enter at the semi final stage. We also have the Final of the Welsh JD Cup, where victory will give us an automatic spot in the 1st round knockout stage.

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Our 5th place finish in the League has raked in a whooping 7k!! With such a low prize money in the League, our only chance of growing as a club will be through success in Europe, which isn't going to be easy!

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JD Welsh Cup Final

We were up against Port Talbot it the Final and went into the game as heavy underdogs, but will be hoping we can carry over our momentum from the end of the season.

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We did it!

The game turned out to be a lot easier than anticipated, and we were firmly in control for the majority of the match. Mark Jones carried on his goalscoring form and has now scored in our last 6 matches.

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This win means that we have qualified for the Europa League 1st Qualifying Round. Although we are more than likely to be knocked out straight away, I am hoping it will bring in some extra finance and boost our reputation.

30k prize money is another added bonus from winning the JD Welsh Cup, and am tempted to try asking the board to turn us professional, but wont be getting my hopes up.

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We have also been drawn against Aberystwyth in the European Places Playoff Semi Final. We will obviously be aiming to win, but it is nice to know we already have a guaranteed place in Europa Qualifying.

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Nice mate - can't wait to see how you go in the Europa qualifying/League next season!
 
Yeti01 said:
Nice mate - can't wait to see how you go in the Europa qualifying/League next season!
Click to expand...

Thanks mate - I think just getting past the 1st qualifying round would be a decent achievement!
 
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Welsh Premier League Euro Places Playoff

So, despite us having already secured a place in the Euro Qualifying, we still had to take part in the playoffs. The structure of these playoffs is as follows (I am pretty sure anyway):

Quarter Final: 6th vs 7th

Semi Finals: 3rd vs (6th vs 7th) and 4th vs 5th

Final: Semi Final Winners (highest ranked seed plays at home)

Both teams in the final qualify for the Europa League qualifying, unless a team wins the JD Welsh Cup and hasn't qualified through the League system.

As it turned out we won our semi-final match against Aberystwyth and go through to the final, to play against Bangor. Mark Jones got on the score sheet once again, as he picked up a brace. This was the 6th match we have played against Aberystwyth this season, and finally managed to record a win!

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This was the first time Carmarthen Town had ever reached the Final of the Playoffs, so was going to be a special day regardless of the result.

We managed to pull off an incredible extra time victory, with just 10 men after Jordan Sherman got sent off. Mark Jones scored AGAIN! He has now scored in 8 consecutive matches, with a tally of 12 across them. I may well have the Welsh Jamie Vardy on my hands!

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Our incredible end to the season has made further history as we have now set a consecutive win record of 6 matches! Hopefully this will be extended next season

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Congrats on getting to the Qualifiers for Europa League! Hopefully a kind draw is on the cards!
 
End of Season Awards/Review

After guiding a relegation tipped Carmarthen Town to 5th in the Welsh Premier League, i was awarded the Manager of the Year award. It was a nice accolade to receive and has now set a bench mark of 5th place for next season.

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It was no surprise that Mark Jones finished the season as one of the top goalscorer's in the League, narrowly missing on the golden boot award. He has been a major factor behind our success this season and will be hoping for more of the same.

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So, we haven't been rewarded with any extra cash, so will be aiming to release a load of players and replace them with what i can from the free agent list.

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The Welsh Premier League has unfortunately gone down in reputation, dropping 9 places to 127. Fortunately we have managed to increase our reputation as a club, with the prospect of attracting some better players. Lets hope the Welsh Teams can perform a little better in Europe this season and make a name for ourselves!

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Europa League 1st Round Qualifying Draw


We have been drawn against Norwegian side, Tromso IL in the 1st qualifying round. It is a little bit of a David vs Goliath match... but we all know who won that battle.

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Europa Qualifying Round 1


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Unbelievable scenes in Carmarthen this evening, as we somehow managed to overcome Tromso in the first leg. It wasn't quite a 3000 sell out, but we managed to smash our previous attendance record, and is great to see the fans getting behind us.

We played unbelievably well and deserved the win. I was expecting it to be a really tough match, with us starved of possession, but it was far from it. We go to Tromso with a 1 goal cushion and will hoping for a performance of the same quality.

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WE ARE THROUGH!!

It had to go all the way to penalties, but we did it! We frustratingly conceded 2 goals in the second half, which sent the game into extra time. They created to brilliant chances in extra time as we began to fade, but we hung on for dear life and managed to prevail on penalties! What a result.

We also receive a healthy 71k, so will be going back down the boardroom and pleading to make us professional!


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We have been drawn against Bosnian outfit FK Sarajevo in the 2nd qualifying round. I am not expecting a repeat upset, but you never know.

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Unfortunately both Bagnor and Port Talbot have been knocked out of the Europa League qualifying, but TNS managed to overcome Maltese outfit Hibernians in the Champions League qualifiers.


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