FLINT TOWN UNITED (Cae-y-Castell)

CYMRU PREMIER, FLINT TOWN UNITED 4-1 HAVERFORDWEST COUNTY, ATTENDANCE: 223

With the stormy weather battering the country this weekend I opted to stay local with another visit to Cae-y-Castell, the home of Flint Town United.

Flint returned to the top tier of Welsh football for season 2020/21, after an absence of 22 years but, due to coronavirus restrictions, this season is the first chance for supporters to cheer on The Silkmen. The crowds have reflected this and a recent game against rivals Connah's Quay attracted a 1k plus attendance.

So far, expectations have been well and truly exceeded with Flint spending the majority of season hot on the heels of runaway leaders The New Saints.

Flint were founder members of the League of Wales in 1992 and had six seasons in the top flight before relegation to the Cymru Alliance in 1998.

Flint actually finished distant runners up to Prestatyn Town in the Cymru North in 2020 but were promoted after Prestatyn's Bastian Road failed ground grading criteria.

Cae-y-Castell, or Castle Field in English, has been home to Flint since 1993 when they left their previous home, Holywell Road (which is now buried under a retail park).

The ground is just a short walk along the coastal path from the 700 year old Flint Castle, famous as the location of a fateful meeting in 1399 between Richard II and his rival to the crown Henry Bolingbroke (later Henry IV), an event immortalised in Shakespeare’s Richard II.

This afternoon was a reasonably comfortable win for Flint.

With the strong wind blowing from one end of the pitch to the other, the game hinged on who could take advantage with the wind at their backs. It was the homesters as they went in 3-0 up at the break and it should have been more. Kai Edwards (16) Michael Wilde (41) and Jack Kenny (44) scored the goals.

Haverfordwest, who had former Welsh international Jazz Richards in their starting XI, weren't without their chances and they actually missed the first big chance of the match and had a couple of opportunities to make things interesting after substitute Williams (58) had got one back. However Flint made certain of the points when Kenny (80) scored his second of the match.

Just for further information if you do visit Cae-y-Castell this season then make sure you try the locally produced pies on sale here, they are absolutely superb!

CHEPSTOW TOWN (Larkfield Park)

FAW WELSH CUP 4th ROUND, CHEPSTOW TOWN 3-4 HAVERFORDWEST COUNTY, ATTENDANCE: 300 (est)

The story of this trip began on Friday night when a heavy downfall of snow in the North West caused plenty of transport disruption. I, along with another couple of hoppers, was due to fly to Belfast for a cheeky double header of Ballmoney United and The League Cup Final, between Cliftonville and Crusaders, at Windsor Park.

As the flight got pushed back, we had a team meeting and opted to cut our losses, deciding that we could not risk the possibility of not flying or even flying out but then being stuck in Northern Ireland.

This left me with an unexpected free afternoon, but with the recent bad weather games were dropping like flies. After a scan of the now vital twitter, various clubs tweeted that their games were on. Three clubs to do this early doors were Larkhall Athletic, Barry Town and Chepstow Town. This gave me plenty of back up.

When the draw for the Welsh Cup 4th Round was made before Christmas this was my initial choice of game, before the Belfast trip was mooted. It was to the Gwent border town of Chepstow I therefore headed.

Chepstow, of the Welsh League Division 3, were taking on Division 1 Haverfordwest County. Chepstow returned to the Welsh League this season after being in the Gwent County League since 2007.

Volunteers had worked hard to clear the playing surface of snow, but as you can imagine the pitch was very, very heavy. Having a very brief chat with the referee before the game he said the ball was rolling, the pitch wasn't dangerous and, after all the efforts to get the game on, he was happy to give it a chance.

The club were rewarded with a bumper crowd and said crowd were rewarded with a stonking cup tie.

There appeared little chance of an upset as Haverfordwest settled down quickly and were two goals to the good after 20 minutes, through Ben Steele (15) and a Tony Shier own goal (20).

However before the break Chepstow finally got a foothold in the mud and began to make it more of a contest. They had a couple of great opportunities to get a goal back but were unlucky not to do so, Peter Blain in the Haverfordwest goal making a great save on one occasion.

Chepstow continued their push forward in the second half, as the pitch began to deteriorate rapidly (if that was possible) and had a great chance to score when they were awarded a penalty, but the spot kick was rolled wide.

It was then the fun really began!

Within seconds of the penalty miss the ball was then in the Chepstow net, Anthony Owens (70) scoring to give County a 3-0 lead, but moments later the hosts had a goal back when Jason Thorne (71) scored.

Haverfordwest then missed a penalty of their own and Chepstow's Andrew Wenzel was sent off. The 10 men though pulled another goal back, Chris O'Sullivan deflecting the ball into his own net (76). This gave Chepstow renewed hope but within minutes the tie finally appeared over when a Steffan Williams free kick (80) made it 4-2 to The Bluebirds.

However, Chepstow refused to lie down and Thorne bagged his second (85) to again drag Chepstow back into the game. Despite late pressure though they could not find an equaliser and it was Haverfordwest who went through to the Quarter Finals.

There was never going to be quality football played on a pitch such as today's but both teams produced an absorbing encounter. Credit to everyone for getting the game on and to all the players for their efforts.

 

Highlights from the game can be found on this here link....
http://s4c.co.uk/sgorio/e_/gem/6789/