RUABON ROVERS (The Recreation Ground)

FAW WELSH CUP 1st QUALIFYING ROUND, RUABON ROVERS 2-7 SALTNEY TOWN, ATTENDANCE: 100 (😏)

With England reaching (and losing to Italy) in the Final of Euro 2020 "Football's Coming Home" seemed to be everywhere this weekend so, with that in mind, I decided to keep it relatively local and head to Ruabon where you could say the Welsh Cup "came home".

The village of Ruabon is intertwined with the history of Welsh football and the Welsh Cup itself as the competition began in an hotel, The Wynnstay Arms, just yards from where today's game took place (naturally, it would have been rude not to have a beverage at his historic venue).

In 1877 local resident, and inaugural Chairman of Football Association of Wales, Llewelyn Kenrick established the competition after being inspired by the FA Cup and in 1878 local the local team, Ruabon Druids, reached the first ever final where they were beaten by 1-0 by Wrexham.

It was Llewelyn Kenrick who established football in Wales as we know it today after reading a challenge in "The Field", a London based newspaper, to arrange a football match between Wales and Scotland or Ireland. He told The Field that the footballers of North Wales accepted the challenge and Wales went on to lose 4-0 to Scotland in March 1876.

In May 1876, a further meeting was called at the aforementioned Wynnstay Arms Hotel in Ruabon where the name the "Football Association of Wales" was agreed and a constitution was drawn up. Welsh football was born and, the rest, as they say...

The Welsh Cup made an appearance at The Rec

It was another little piece of history this afternoon as Ruabon Rovers made their debut in the Welsh Cup competition. The club were formed in 2020 but, due to the Covid pandemic, they never played their first competitive game until last Saturday (when they beat Brymbo Lodge 2-1). Coincidentally, the last competitive game I saw in Wales, back in January 2020, was a Welsh Cup tie as Swansea University lost to Prestatyn Town (the competition was not completed that season and not played at all last season).

Ruabon are the latest club to come out of the village and the first since the demise of Ruabon Villa over fifteen years ago. A favourite son of the village, Mark Hughes, is the Honorary President of the club.

The club play on the Recreation Ground in the heart of the village. The ground is just a pitch with no football furniture but today the club produced a matchday programme and this clearly attracted groundhoppers from far and wide to visit The Rec. Obviously the Covid pandemic means crowds are restricted to 100 but I would say there must have been a few more out and about taking their exercise or walking their dog!

Saltney Town were the opposition today but unfortunately for Ruabon there was no cup upset as the higher ranked opponents cruised through the next round. Despite being on the backfoot from the beginning, it took until the 19th minute for Saltney to make the breakthrough when Thomas Booth scored. However nine minutes later it was four to Saltney as Booth added a second (21) and Corey Mason (23) and Adrian Callaghan (28) netted. Callaghan scored his second on 41 minutes and most of the crowd were anticipating a cricket score.

Ruabon to their credit dug deep in the second half and scored after 51 minutes when Michael Jones headed home. Rovers' Adam Jones saved a penalty from Stephen Chiocchi before Booth completed his hat-trick on the hour. Carl Pleavin (78) made it seven for Saltney but the final word was left to Ruabon skipper Chris Bennion who took advantage of a defensive mix-up to make the final score 2-7.

STAMFORD AFC (The Zeeco Stadium)

FA CUP 4th QUALIFYING ROUND, STAMFORD 1-1 WREXHAM, ATTENDANCE: 1,264

Continuing the Welsh theme of the past few weeks, today I headed across to Lincolnshire where Northern Premier League Division One South side Stamford were hoping to cause an FA Cup shock by knocking out Conference giants Wrexham.

Stamford have never reached the first round proper in their history, whilst Wrexham have had their giantkilling moments in the distant past.

My visit came almost four years to the day since I last visited Stamford. The Daniels were then playing at Kettering Road which was their home from 1896 until December 2014, when they moved to a brand new purpose built ground, Borderville Sports Complex, known as the Zeeco Stadium in a sponsorship agreement.

The ground is everything you would expect of a smart new stadium, with a seated stand along one touchline and a terraced stand behind one of the goals. The ground is exposed down one side, with a grass bank offering perfect views of the pitch. Security patrolled said bank to ensure nobody was watching for free!

It had been a turbulent build up to the game for The Dragons as manger Gary Mills was sacked on Thursday after a poor run of results, losing four of their last six games. It all added to the potential banana skin that was facing Wrexham this afternoon.

The odds though were clearly against Stamford but their three wins at home have come in cup competitions, including two in the FA Cup. To reach this round the Daniels have beaten Sleaford Town, St Neots Town, Gresley and AFC Mansfield. They nearly pulled off the shock.

I travelled across with a Wrexham supporting mate of mine and he was telling me how bad Wrexham have been this season. At this moment in time he reckons staying up will be success. I was a little taken aback by that that comment but having seen them today I now understand where he is coming from.

A Zeeco Stadium record crowd of 1,264 watched The Dragons start brightly and take the lead after 5 minutes when Shaun Harrod fired home from six yards after Martin Riley had headed down a deep cross.

Wrexham tried to play football but there was no end product and they couldn't find the killer pass. Stamford in truth offered little in attack and the first half drifted to it's conclusion with only the one goal difference.

Stamford made a tactical substitution at the break and it turned the game on its head. Ryan Robbins came on to play alongside Jevani Brown and the pair caused the Wrexham backline all sorts of problems.

Robbins had a glorious chance to level the match when he went through one-on-one but he could not beat Shwan Jalal in the Wrexham goal. It wasn't long before The Daniels were level though when Brown was fouled in the area and Lee Beeson (58) fired home the resulting penalty.

After that Stamford created enough chances to have gone on and won the game, especially with another one-one-one chance which was squandered, this time, by Brown. 

Wrexham will be relived to have another chance at The Racecourse on Tuesday. Stamford may feel this was an opportunity missed.

BRICKFIELD RANGERS (Clywedog Park)

WELSH NATIONAL LEAGUE (WREXHAM AREA) PREMIER DIVISION, BRICKFIELD RANGERS 1- 2 MOLD ALEXANDRA, ATTENDANCE: 48 (h/c)

No programme today
but I did get an issue on
my visit to Court Road
in 2005

After the madness (and expense) of an Easter Weekend groundhopping in the North East, I opted to stay local (and cheap) by heading to the outskirts of Wrexham town centre.

This season Brickfield Rangers have a new home at Clywedog Park having moved from their spiritual home of Court Road, where they had been based since their formation in 1976. This was where a very young Robert William Savage started his playing career.

When I began my groundhopping odyssey many years ago, Court Road was one of the first grounds I visited. The ground was simply a roped off pitch and it is fair to say that Clywedog Park is a vast improvement. 

The pitch is fully railed off and there is a tea bar behind the goal. There is no football furniture but the club are hoping to install changing rooms as currently they are using the adjacent secondary school.

Today Brickfield (playing in unfamiliar orange instead of their usual green and white) were taking on Mold Alex, the result today having implications at both ends of the table.

At the beginning of play, Rangers were third bottom whilst Alex were top of the table. However Mold have second placed Hawarden breathing down their necks, just a point behind but with a game in hand.

Mold scored two first half goals, the opener was from Lewis Buckley after a well work free kick routine and Buckley also added the second , this time a tap in after a goalkeeping error.

Brickfield manager Peter Gabriel had clearly urged his side to don't give up and they had more of the ball in the second period. They did pull a goal back late on through Ryan Nelson but Mold were able to see the game out to claim the victory.

BARNET (The Hive)

CONFERENCE PREMIER, BARNET 1-1 WREXHAM, ATTENDANCE: 2,143

The second part of my North London double was a Barnet's new home, The Hive. This game was moved to the Sunday for live TV coverage and I was certainly not the only groundhopper attracted to this fixture. It also helped that The Bees had an offer on the tickets, knocking 50% of the normal prices.

Barnet left their home since 1907, Underhill, in May after a disagreement with the local council. This move took them out of the London Borough of Barnet and into the London Borough of Harrow.

The land where The Hive was built was originally called The Prince Edward Playing Fields and when construction began it was supposed to be for a new home for Wealdstone FC. Building was halted when Weadlstone's investment partners went into liquidation and Harrow council put the site up for tender in 2006, which Barnet won and it was used as their training ground.

The arguments for both sides can be found on this link...

http://www.onlybarnet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3231

The ground has recently run into problems regards planning permission for the West Stand and the floodlights;

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/10707322.Barnet_FC_issued_enforcement_notice_from_council_over_stadium_at_the_Hive/?ref=rss

Nonetheless it wasn't really a that bad for a new build and the view from the away end was good.

The game was typical Conference fayre with plenty of perspiration but very little inspiration. Barnet took an early lead through Anthony Acheampong. It was a simple header as the guy was left unchallenged by a static Wrexham defence. Barnet played well in the opening 25 minutes, their defence protected superbly by their No1 Edgar Davids - don't think I have ever seen an outfield player with the No1 on his back - but Wrexham did have their moments going forward.

In the second half Barnet seemed content to sit back and play on the counter attack as Wrexham pushed forward in search of an equaliser. The homesters nearly pulled it off until the last minute of normal of play when they conceded a free kick. Dean Keates duly fired it home to level but it was what happened in the moments before the kick was taken that proved the talking point.

Edgar Davids picked up the ball to prevent a quick free kick and Stephen Wright tried to grab the ball from his hands. Davids proceeded to elbow Wright in the face and both were sent off, though why Wright was sent off I haven't the foggiest.

Deep into the 9 added minutes of stoppage time, Wrexham were reduced to 9 men as Johnny Hunt was shown a red card for a dreadful two footed 'tackle' and Barnet's David Stephens could have won the game but his header hit the post, when it looked simpler to score.

Home via the Euston Tap, another enjoyable day out, but I was so happy to have only paid £8 to watch the actual game!

A tribute to Barnet's fan base

PEN-Y-FFORDD (The Castle Ground)

WELSH NATIONAL LEAGUE (WREXHAM AREA) PREMIER DIVISION, PEN-Y-FFORDD 5-2 MOLD ALEX, ATTENDANCE: 38 (h/c)

With the conclusion of the season drawing ever near, there are very few games to choose from, so as I generally do at this time of year I keep it local. Today I opted for for a visit to Pen-y-ffordd and their game with Mold Alex in the Welsh National League (WNL).

Pen-y-ffordd started out as kids team in the 1970's, set up with the aim of giving the children of the village a chance to play football. The club progressed and established a senior section in 2001. Over the next decade or so they reached the level where they are now, that is the Premier Division of the WNL.

However in order to obtain promotion they had to leave their home in Pen-y-ffordd and find a ground to satisfy league requirements. After much hard work they did just that, setting up base at 'The Castle Ground' in the grounds of the Hanson (nee Castle) Cement works in 2011. This is just down the road in Padeswood.

The club organised an official opening in the October of that year and I know many ground hoppers who attended and had nothing but praise for the club.

In contrast, today's visitors have a long and illustrious history but find themselves competing at this level after relegation from the Cymru Alliance in 2010.

This game was great entertainment as both teams decided attack was the best form of defence, maybe because the respective defences were a little suspect given what occurred in the opening 45 minutes!!



Nathan Lavender's effort nestles in the back of the net



Pen-y-ffordd took the lead after just 3 minutes when a free kick was swung into the Mold box and Nathan Lavender headed home. Two minutes later though Alex were level as Anthony Mee converted a penalty kick.

After 7 minutes Pen-y-ffordd restored their lead when Tom Hainsworth curled a delicious shot into the top corner of the net.  With 13 minutes on the clock Mold were level once again when Damon Ketly raced clear, rounded the 'keeper and rolled the ball into the unguarded net.

After 20 minutes Pen-y-ffordd were in front yet again as Hainsworth shot home for his second of the game.



Anthony Mee scores from spot to make it 1-1



There could have been many more goals in the intervening minutes as both teams missed a glut of chances, Mold were especially guilty of missing a few sitters and they were made to pay as a routine shot was initially saved by the Mold 'Keeper, before a combination of errors led to the ball squirming over the line and the 'keeper getting the final touch (41).

As was expected, the managers got hold of the teams at the break and sorted out said suspect defences so the game was a little more tighter in the second period.

One further goal after half time finally put the result beyond doubt. That came courtesy of man-of-the-match Tom Hainsworth who completed his hat-trick with a neat turn and finish (58).

The scoreline completed a miserable week for Mold Alex as they lost out on the WNL title to Chirk AAA. 

An enjoyable afternoon, despite the weather, and, as I generally find, the WNL did not disappoint and I would highly recommend a visit to Pen-y-ffordd.