HOLYWELL TOWN 4 – 1 LLANRUG UNITED

20^th December 2014 – Welsh Alliance Division 1

It was the final weekend before Christmas and unlike previous weekends where there were an option of games I would have liked to have visited, there was only one place I was planning on venturing to for some festive entertainment - the home of Holywell Town, Halkyn Road!! My hometown team were playing in their final game of 2014 at home in a Welsh Alliance League game against Llanrug United, in what was all set to be an excellent game to finish off what has been an incredible year for the Wellmen.

As you might have read in previous blogs I have written, Holywell Town (@HolywellTownFC) are having an amazing season, arguably their best season ever in the history of the club! The Wellmen are enjoying a 100% winning record in all competitions so far this season, achieving 20 wins from 20 competitive games with 11 of those wins coming in the Welsh Alliance Division 1. Their previous league fixture had been a hard fought victory away at Pwllheli, where they managed to resist a resolute home comeback and tough team to win 5-3 and continue the winning streak. This had left the Wellmen top of the table on maximum points (33 points) and 10 points clear of second-placed team Llandudno Junction (who would be the opponents for the first home game of 2015). Holywell were also looking to go through the whole of 2014 undefeated at home, as their last home defeat had come in early December 2013. However on that day they had lost 2-0 to today’s opposition!

RUTHIN TOWN 9 – 4 PENYFFORDD F.C.

13^th December 2014 – Welsh National League (Wrexham Area)

For this whole week prior to this weekend, I was completely undecided on which game to travel to. Cymru Alliance games at Conwy and Llandudno looked very appealing, as did the Welsh Premier game at Bala and even venturing over the border to Eng-er-land to see Witton Albion play was also on the list. However after some careful consideration, I committed myself to head in a southerly direction into delve into deepest Denbighshire to encounter my first game of Welsh National League action this season. The WNL game I would endeavour to watch was Ruthin Town take on Penyffordd in another Denbighshire versus Flintshire derby. This match stood out for me initially as Buckley Town’s manager Tom Taylor advised me it would be a potentially decent game to go visit from the list stated above. Plus I was keen to see the standard of football in the WNL this season as I have not been to a WNL match in a long time, and to compare it with the standard of the similar levelled Welsh Alliance (both leagues are on the third tier of the Welsh football pyramid). Finally it was a great chance to tick off another ground from the list as I had not visited Ruthin’s ground before.

It looked promising to be a decent match as it was second versus third in the table, with Penyffordd having the better start to the season. They were 6 points ahead of their rivals today but had played a couple more games. Both teams were looking to get back on track after both suffering defeats the previous weekend – Penyffordd surprisingly losing in the NEWFA Challenge Cup to fellow Flintshire side AFC Brynford 3-1, whilst Ruthin had taken the lead but were narrowly beaten by league leaders Hawarden Rangers 2 goals to 1 in their last WNL game. With both teams aiming to regain some momentum going into the Christmas & New Year period, I was looking forward to this match!

AIRBUS UK BROUGHTON 5 – 1 BANGOR CITY

6^th December 2014 – Welsh Premier League

The first weekend of December allowed me to make the journey to a venue I am very familiar with, probably more familiar than other ground I have visited. The Hollingsworth Group Stadium (or The Airfield to give it its pre-sponsorship name) is the home of Airbus UK Broughton and a stadium I drive past every weekday to and from work. Throughout my lengthy employment with their parent company, I have seen the team and ground develop from a mid to lower table team that had a temporary small trailer for a stand and a grass pitch, to a title-challenging, Europa League qualifying team that now possesses two permanent stands and a state of the art 3G artificial surface! The club and Airbus itself should be highly praised for putting in the investment (or arranging the funding) to steadily improve both the team and the facilities to make The Airfield an excellent Welsh Premier League venue and Airbus UK Broughton a tough team to beat. The Airfield was also the starting and finishing point for my 1888 Challenge charity tour that I did in 2013!

The start of the 1888 Challenge Tour in July 2013 at Airbus UK Broughton

Despite all of this, I still had yet to actually watch Airbus play at The Airfield. Therefore this was my opportunity to rectify that anomaly especially I was the “lone wolf” this weekend due to all my other groundhopping accomplices either working or being hungover from the night before! I made the well-trodden journey from HQ, down the A55 to the Airbus ground hoping to watch Airbus take on Bangor City in the Welsh Premier League.