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!

CHIRK AAA (Holyhead Road)

FAW TROPHY QUARTER FINAL, CHIRK AAA 9-0 PENLAN CLUB AFC, ATTENDANCE: 150 (est)

With the storms that have been battering the country over the past few days (and weeks for some people) I had little desire to travel any great distance for a game this weekend. However, when every game in the Cymru Alliance, Welsh Alliance and Mid Wales League fell victim to the weather I feared it was going to be a day in front of the TV watching Sunderland v Southampton bore me in the FA Cup.

The New Stand

However, a ray of light appeared in the form of a tweet saying that the Chirk v Penlan Welsh Trophy game was definitely going ahead after a pitch inspection , so a revisit to Holyhead Road was an absolute no-brainer.

I last visited Chirk back in 2004 (also for a Trophy game in which they lost 2-5 to Denbigh Town) and it is fair to say the ground has improved dramatically since then. There is now hard standing down two sides of the pitch and a smart seated stand next to the changing rooms/tea bar.

Founded in 1876, Chirk Amateur Athletic Association are one of Wales' oldest clubs and, in the year of their formation, were also founder members of the Football Association of Wales. They were a hugely successful club in their early years, winning the Welsh Cup on five occasions. 

..and we are off!!

Welsh footballing legend Billy Meredith began his career at Chirk before going on to play for both Manchester clubs and being instrumental in the formation of the Players Union (the forerunner to today's PFA).

In this last eight trophy clash, Welsh National League Chirk were hosting undefeated Swansea Senior League leaders Penlan, who caused an upset by knocking out higher-ranked Garden Village in round 5.
. 

Celebration as Aron Blackwell's
effort hits the net

Today, however, there was never any likelihood of an upset once Chirk had raced into a 2-0 lead within the first ten minutes. Aaron Blackwell gave the home side the lead after 5 minutes before Nicky Williams made it two after 10 minutes.

Congratulations after Nicky
Williams scores his first goal

As the rain began to relent and the sun appear, Williams (34) scored his second from a free kick to make it 3-0 before Khos Jones (39) made it 4-0. 

Penlan were reduced to 10 men when Robert Jenkins was sent off for a professional foul and, from the resulting free kick, Blackwell was played through to make it 5-0 just before half time.

Nicky Williams' free kick makes
it 3-0 to Chirk

As you can imagine, the tempo of the second period was not as intense, as the work had been done in the opening period, but The Colliers added to their tally thanks to further goals from Williams, completing his hat-trick (65) a superb long range strike from Jason Williams (68) and two late efforts from Shaun Morris (85) and Ben Jones (88). Penlan's misery was also compounded midway through the second half when substitute Keiran Meredith was given a red card for dissent.

Chirk will now go on to face South Wales Amateur League side Ton & Gelli BC for a place in the Trophy final.

Aron Blackwell makes it 5-0

Spot the ball

The Chirk team line up pre-match