WEST END FC (Pryderi Park)

WELSH LEAGUE DIVISION TWO,
WEST END 1-0 ABERDARE TOWN, ATTENDANCE: 37 (h/c)

This weekend I headed to South Wales to watch the mighty blues of Everton in action against Swansea at the Liberty Stadium, but with the game kicking off at 5.30pm, it afforded me the chance of an aperitif as West End were hosting Aberdare Town in the Welsh League.



West End play their home games Pryderi Park, which is in the Townhill area of Swansea. I made the decision to walk from the city centre and I was a little breathless upon arrival as its a bit of steep trek up Constitution Hill to the ground. No wonder there were a few guffaws from other groundhoppers when I said I was walking to the match!

 Constitution Hill 

The club was formed in 1964 by a group of local enthusiasts in a local public House, The Wellington, which was situated in the West end of Swansea, hence the name.

After winning the Swansea Senior League, and the FAW Trophy in 2005 and 2006, the club made the step up to the Welsh League in 2005. They won promotion from Division Three at the first attempt and their rise up through the leagues was rapid and, within four seasons, West End were in Division One, the second tier of Welsh Football.

The club won the Welsh League in 2013 but they were not granted a domestic licence in order to gain promotion to the Welsh Premier League. This led to an exodus of management and players and the following season the club finished bottom and were relegated.

West End have been in Division Two since, however this season they looked in danger of slipping back to Division Three. They look set to finish the season in the bottom three but with Barry Town winning promotion to the Welsh Premier League, and no southern team coming down to replace them, the knock on effect means there will be only one relegation spot from Division Two this season.

Nonetheless, with two home games left to play I am sure West End would like to finish the season on a high, starting today. After a pretty even opening 45 minutes, the closest there was to a goal was in stoppage time when Aberdare smashed an effort against the crossbar.

However in the second half, West End played a superb counter attacking game and, on another day, it could've been three or four nil. Aberdare's goalkeeper though played an absolute blinder, making a series of fine saves. The game was won courtesy of a solitary strike by West End's Nikki Pavin midway through the second half. Aberdare applied late pressure but the home side held on to claim the victory.

On the final whistle I made my way to the Liberty Stadium, which fortunately was all downhill this time! Swansea did themselves a huge favour in their bid to avoid the drop by beating Everton, thanks to a Fernando Llorente header, as the Blues put in another insipid end-of-season performance.

I previously 'blogged' about a visit to the Liberty Stadium in 2012 and, if you click here, you can read all about it!

ABERDARE TOWN (Aberaman Park)

FAW WELSH CUP 3rd ROUND, ABERDARE TOWN 4-2 PRESTATYN TOWN, ATTENDANCE: 120 (est)

A trip to the Cynon Valley today as Welsh Cup holders Prestatyn Town began their defence of the trophy at Aberaman Park, the home of Aberdare Town. 

This had 'potential banana skin' written all over it as Welsh Premier League Prestatyn headed south to take on their Welsh League Division One opponents.

Founded in 1892, Aberdare Town were previously known as Aberaman Athletic before the changing their name to Aberdare Town in 2012. Aberaman Athletic had won the Welsh League as recently as 2009, but were denied promotion on ground criteria.

It was an eventful game as the cup holders crashed out and finished the game with eight men. 

Prestatyn were down to ten men after 7 minutes when Sean Hessey was deemed to be last man and was given a straight red before Chris Miethke gave the homesters the lead after 29 minutes. 

On 33 minutes Lee Hunt received his second yellow card and just before half time Miethke netted his second to give Aberdare a 2-0 interval lead. 

This was soon 3-0 after the restart when Sam Small broke clear to score before Mike Parker deflected home a Jack Lewis shot to reduce the arrears on 55 minutes, to give the seasiders hope. That hope was quickly extinguished when David Hayes was given a straight red for foul and abusive language. 

Sam Danby made it 4-1 with 12 minutes remaining before Andy Parkinson got a second for Prestatyn after 85 minutes. 

Obviously the sending offs had a huge impact on the result and it is a case of 'what if?' for Prestatyn, but take nothing away from Aberdare they had a right go and unsettled Prestatyn from the off,  playing some decent attacking football. Their two wingers caused problems to the Prestatyn defence throughout the game. Aberdare will now be at home to Bodedern Athletic in round 4. 

Pre-match was spent in the Red Cow in Llwydcoed where two Gower Ales 'Sampson's Jack' and 'Gower Gold' were on offer. A top day out in South Wales.

Match highlights can be found on this link here