AFC LLWYDCOED (The Ron Jones Stadium)

FAW AMATEUR TROPHY 4th ROUND, AFC LLWYDCOED 3-1 NEWPORT CORINTHIANS, ATTENDANCE: 34 (h/c)

The fourth round of the FAW Trophy took centre stage this weekend and, not for the first time this season, I was drawn to South Wales. The big attraction was a chance to witness a game at the Ron Jones Stadium in Aberdare where AFC Llwydcoed are playing their home games whilst their Welfare Ground is being redeveloped to meet Welsh Tier 2 standards.

An historic location having being used for various sports since the late 19th century, the stadium complex was built on the site of the old Ynys Stadium which was the home of Aberdare Athletic, who were members of the English Football League between 1921 and 1927. There is no overlap of the original pitch with the current grass pitch, an all-weather pitch is located on the site of the original football pitch, just beyond the athletics track.

The stadium was opened and named in honour of Ron Jones, who still remains one of Wales' greatest athletes having won 12 national sprint titles between 1956 and 1970. He competed at three Olympic games and was part of the Great Britain 4x110 yards relay team that set a world record in 1963.

Outside of athletics, he became Chief Executive of Queens Park Rangers in 1976, the first Managing Director at Cardiff City in 1980 and then Managing Director at Portsmouth in 1988. Ron Jones was inducted into the Welsh Sports 'Hall of Fame' in 2013 and passed away in December 2021, aged 87.

This afternoon's trophy tie pitted AFC Llwydcoed, of the Ardal South West League, against Newport Corinthians, of the Gwent League Premier Division. An interesting match up for the neutral as despite the difference in status, Llwydcoed are down near the bottom of the table and in a bad run of form whilst Corinthians sit top of their league, having lost just one game all season.

It suggested an upset but in truth Llwydcoed were always in control of this tie but after creating plenty of chances they were only 1-0 at the interval, thanks to a goal from Ricky Carter after 14 minutes.

It seemed Llwydcoed would pay for their profligacy when Newport equalised within seconds of the restart, Nathan Perkins scoring the goal. The goal, obviously, lifted Corinthians but they couldn't find that second goal and eventually Llwydcoed recovered and once Dewi Abbruzzese restored their lead on the hour, they never looked like losing the tie. Carter scored his second on 75 minutes and that was game over. 

AFC Llwydcoed will now be at home to another Newport team, Newport City, in the next round on 16th December.

BERKHAMSTED FC (Broadwater)

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION CENTRAL, BERKHAMSTED 0-1 TELFORD UNITED, ATTENDANCE: 252

The beauty of this groundhopping lark is that it is fluid so, on some occasions, you never know where you may end up. Today was one such occasion.

When I left the house this morning, I was actually heading to Somerset but just before I was about to take the junction onto the M5, my passenger checked the app formerly known as Twitter and saw our intended fixture in the FA Vase had been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

As my passenger has done a heck of a lot more grounds than I have, this created a bit of a problem as it would be difficult to find a ground we both could agree on. We pulled into the services and began to scan the fixture lists. In the end we came up with a plan where we could each do a ground we both needed. Instead of heading down the M5 to Nailsea, we were now on the M6 south to Hertfordshire.

After dropping my passenger off at Leverstock Green, which I had visited way back in 2011, I continued with my journey to the town of Berkhamsted, where Berkhamsted FC were hosting Telford United in a Southern League clash. 

Founded by supporters in 2009, as a successor to Berkhamsted Town which was dissolved due to it's outstanding debts, Berkhamsted FC play their home games at Broadwater, which is adjacent to the Great Union Canal.

The Comrades, named as such as the original club was founded in 1919 by servicemen returning from World War I, began life after reformation in the Spartan South Midlands League Division Two before winning back-to-back promotions.

The club earned promotion to the Southern League in 2018 after finishing second in the Premier Division behind Welwyn Garden City. In 2020 they were top of the Southern League Division One when the season was declared null and void due to the Covid pandemic. In 2022 they were runners up before losing out in the play-offs but in 2023 they were finally promoted to Step 3 as Champions, winning all bar one of their 23 home games (the anomaly a 0-0 draw).

The opposition this afternoon, Telford United, were relegated from the National League North. So far this season The Bucks are in the mix for the promotion places whilst The Comrades are struggling to adjust to the higher league and are in the relegation places.

The game went to form but Telford were made to work hard for their 1-0 victory. The winning goal was scored by Jared Hodgkiss after 76 minutes when the full back was on hand to fire home from the edge of the penalty area.

The closest Berko came to a goal was through a lack of communication between Bucks defender Sam Whittall and goalkeeper Brandon Hall when Whitall's headed back-pass ran wide, just, of Hall's open goal.

An unexpected Southern League tick this afternoon and another completed division. Just the three left now to finish off the entire League.