Airbus UK Broughton
Football Club The
Wingmakers - February 2010 news
.
February 27
Airbus land a late winner
Airbus left it late to claim all 3 points when it
looked like ending in a goalless draw, but Josh Johnson scored the winner
for the Wingmakers on 89' having only been on the field for 7'. His goal was
enough to give clear day between our selves and Carmarthen, other good news
was Haverfordwest also lost, they went down 2-1 at home to Newtown, who also
scored their winner in the 89'
Airbus line up:
K Rogers, R Edwards, R Roberts (J Johnson 82'), M
Woodward, M Allen, J Abraham (T Rowlands 60'), A Williams, D Desormeaux, C
Owen (M L Williams 65'), J McIntosh, G Feliciano.
Tonight we take on TNS for the 6th time in league
contest at home, for the first 3 encounters we ended up pointless losing 6-0,
5-0 and 1-0. but for the last 2 season's we have come out on top over the
Oswestry full timers, winning 2-0 and last season 1-0. One interesting thing
is that on all 5 occasions the losing team has failed to score a single goal.
As usual when most teams face TNS they are the
underdogs, and so we go into tonight's game as underdogs again for the 6th
home game against them, even though the Wingmakers have won on the previous 2
meetings, it must be said that this is the strongest team/squad that has yet
faced the visitors, but the game comes when we are going through a poor run of
results with 7 points from the last 8 games, which has seen us win only once
with 4 draws and 3 defeats.
With our last home game against Prestatyn postponed,
it gave Carmarthen the chance to knock us out of the safe top 10 places, and
they did that but only narrowly beating basement side Caersws 1-0 but it was
enough to move them into 10th and Airbus into 11th and Haverfordwest lie just
2 points below us in 12th. Although an 11th place finish will guarantee welsh
premier soccer next season as no team from the welsh league will be promoted
next season, we were looking good for a finish a lot higher than that at the
start of December, and need to get back to accumulating the points prior to
then, but with our next 2 games against TNS and Carmarthen we will need to be
at our best to add to our total of 29 points.
Jack Abraham misses out on tonight's game as he
serves out his one match suspension.
February 21 Updates from the Airfield from the
Chairman
Things continue to progress well. Stand is on track with
steel frame now up. Floodlights scheduled for overhaul 12 March. Planning in
place for Ladies International, and we now await
confirmation of Loosemores Cup Final revised date.
February 17 FAW look to delay league cup final
until May
The FAW have approached
Airbus UK Broughton to look for a delay in the proposed
Loosemores cup final to be played at the Airfield.
The final had been due to be played over
the Easter period on the 4th of April between Rhyl and
TNS, but the FAW want to delay the final and have it
played on Sunday May 9th. The cups sponsors are unable to
attend over the Easter period.
Also on the fixtures front the
Wingmakers v TNS has been put back 24 hours, and will now
be played on Wednesday 24th February with a 7:30 kick off.
The Druids game has also been put 24
hours to Wednesday March 10th with a usual 7:30 kick off.
February 15 Ashley Williams selected for Wales v
Portugal
Wales Semi
Professional Manager Terry Boyle has named two new faces
in his International Challenge Trophy squad for the away
fixture in Portugal next month. TNS striker Alex
Darlington is rewarded for a fine run of form in the
Principality Welsh Premier and former TNS academy product
Rob Williams also links up with the squad, having
impressed with Conference club Altrincham this year. The
6'??5 defender was released by the Saints at the end of
last season, after limited opportunities at Park Hall,
which included two loan spells at Caersws and Newtown.
Lee Surman returns to the squad after
injury kept him out of November's international and
Bangor'??s Michael Johnston and Dorchester'??s Kyle
Critchell also return to the fold. Barrow'??s Michael
Pearson, who was also named in the original squad for the
last match, will again have the chance to make his debut,
after he was a late withdrawal last time out. Airbus
full-back Ryan Edwards and Neath defender Sean Cronin both
miss out through suspension. There are fourteen players
from the League in the 18-man squad.
Wales led 2-0 in their opening group
fixture against Northern Ireland last November in
Portadown, but drew the game 2-2. This second group
fixture will be played in the Municipal Stadium of Fatima,
on Wednesday 3rd March 2010 at 3:00pm
Wales squad to face Portugal in the
International Challenge Trophy
Goalkeepers: Lee Idzi (Haverfordwest County);
Stephen Cann (Aberystwyth Town)
Defenders: Lee Surman
(Port Talbot Town), Michael Johnston (Bangor City), Kyle
Critchell (Dorchester United), Rob Williams (Altricham
FC), Curtis McDonald (Forest Green Rovers), Michael
Pearson (Barrow FC)
Midfielders: Scott
Barrow (Port Talbot Town), Craig Jones (The New Saints
FC), Aeron Edwards (The New Saints FC), Drew Fahiya (Port
Talbot Town), Luke Sherbon (Aberystwyth Town), Ashley
Williams (Airbus UK Broughton FC)
Strikers: Jack
Christopher (Haverfordwest County), Craig Moses (Llanelli
AFC), Alex Darlington (The New Saints FC), Jamie Reed
(Bangor City)
Stand-By: Craig
Williams (Newtown AFC), Ryan Batley (Llanelli AFC), Lee
Bevan (Haverfordwest County), Craig Jones (Llanelli AFC),
Sion Edwards (Bangor City), Jordan Follows (Llanelli AFC)
Welshpremier.com
February 13 Rhyl FC miss key trio for Newtown test
RHYL will have three key players suspended for tomorrow’s
home Welsh Premier League encounter with Newtown (2.30pm).
Phil Doran starts a three-match ban
following his dismissal in last Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at
Bangor City, Chris Williams completes a three-game
suspension and top scorer Mark Connolly misses one fixture
after accumulating five cautions.
“It will stretch the squad a bit but
give others a chance to show what they can do,” said
player-manager Greg Strong.
“The positive thing is Chris will be
fresh when he comes back and can provide us with some of
the quality we’ve been missing.”
Rhyl hope to welcome back Martyn Naylor,
who missed the Bangor game for personal reasons, and
Tyrone Kirk, who withdrew through illness on the day of
the match.
Strong is challenging his players to
bounce back from the loss at Farrar Road.
“It’s never nice to lose to anyone and
in a local derby it’s not nice at all, but looking back
nine of the 14 or 15 players in the squad were aged 20 and
younger,” he said.
”It’s a big ask to expect them to go out
and win a game like that against a good side, but I still
believe there’s a lot of quality in the squad, it’s just a
case of getting the new players bedded in as quickly as we
can.”
And the Lilies boss insists spirits
remain high in the Belle Vue camp despite recent squad
losses caused by the club’s financial difficulties.
Dave Jones
February 13 Confident Bangor City FC ready for The New Saints
BANGOR City will be full of confidence when
they visit The New Saints tomorrow (2.30pm) in arguably
their toughest test of the season.
Title-challenging Saints are unbeaten on
their artificial pitch at Park Hall this term, having won
10 out of 12 league matches there with 35 goals scored and
just three conceded.
City have also failed to beat Andy
Cale’s side in their last nine league meetings, eight of
which have been won by the Oswestry-based outfit.
But after making it six wins in seven
league outings last Sunday with a 3-1 triumph over Rhyl at
Farrar Road, Powell insists his men need fear no-one.
“We’re full of confidence,” he said. “It
will be a difficult game as TNS have such a good record on
their plastic pitch.
“The stats show just what a big
advantage that pitch is to them, but we’re playing well
and we’re hopeful of causing an upset.
“The lads enjoy testing themselves on
that pitch once a season and we’ll be giving it a good
go.”
Bangor are currently in ninth spot, but
just six points off third place.
“We’re just taking it one game at a
time,” stressed Powell.
“After this weekend we’ll have got
Llanelli, Rhyl and TNS out of the way and then there’ll be
games where we’ll be confident of picking up some points.
“It’s very tight now between ninth and
third place and anyone putting together three or four wins
will be right in the thick of it.”
Dave Jones
February 13 Llanelli boss Legg’s good news on and off the pitch
LIFE is just about as good as
it gets at the moment for Llanelli player-manager Andy Legg.
Llanelli have won eight on the
trot and enjoy a four-point lead over The New Saints going into tomorrow’s Welsh
Premier visit from lowly Porthmadog.
But that pales into
insignificance following a visit to his cancer specialist in midweek.
“It’s been a good week for me
personally as my consultant has informed me I am out of remission,” said Legg.
“I don’t need another check up until five years down the line. They’ll still
keep an eye on me, but it completed a great week after we won back-to-back
matches at Newtown and Airbus.”
A win against Tomi Morgan’s
strugglers would ice the cake for Legg. But he recalls two years ago when
Porthmadog were one of only three clubs to lower the Reds colours as they
stormed to the championship.
“We’ll treat Porthmadog with the
respect they deserve. I well remember that defeat and we don’t want a repeat,”
he said.
Main challengers Saints,
unbeaten in 22 matches at Park Hall, face a test against Bangor , who have won
six of their last seven.
Bangor have not beaten the
Saints in nine matches, but boss Neville Powell said: “We’ll go there with
confidence. Of course, it will be difficult, but the way we’re playing, who
knows?”
ICWALES
February 13 Port Talbot come unstuck
at Park Avenue
Aberystwyth climbed back into
the top three with a 2-1 win at home to Port Talbot last night.
Teenager Ryan Fraughan
scored the opener after 20 minutes before Luke Bowen doubled the lead.
Liam McCreesh pulled a goal
back for the visitors.
Bala moved up to fifth with
a 2-1 win against Cefn Druids. A goal seven minutes from time by substitute
Neil Fisher decided the outcome, after Ricky Evans had put Bala ahead with
John Rush levelling for Druids.
Welshpool and Airbus UK
fought out a goalless draw.
ICWALES
February 10 Stadium Boost
for Elements Cefn Druids
Elements
Cefn Druids have received some excellent news with
confirmation that the application to turn The Rock,
Rhosymedre, into a village green has now been withdrawn.
This paves the way for their move away
from Plaskynaston and into a new stadium on the new site,
which will provide the Ancients with an opportunity for
Welsh Premier League football in the future.
A small group of protestors had lodged
the application after planning permission had been granted
for a portion of the land to be used for a new stadium for
Elements Cefn Druids while the club's existing
Plaskynaston home would be developed into a Tesco Express
or Metro store.
Frustratingly for the Board Members of
the Druids who have worked tirelessly on the project, by
their own admission the protestors' move was made against
Tesco and had nothing to do with Druids moving on to the
land. Given the importance of timing with domestic club
licensing being an essential requirement for Welsh Premier
League participation in 2010/11, this had left the Druids
in an unenviable predicament.
The club's website reports that now that
the application has been withdrawn, it is hoped that work
on the new stadium will start in the coming weeks.
Elements Cefn Druids AFC had no further comment to make at
present, but further announcements will be made via this
website in due course.
Welshpremier.com
February 10 Next season's away game
against TNS could come closer to home
The New Saints have applied to play
at Blue Square Premier strugglers Chester City's Deva
Stadium next season.
It follows the refusal by Welsh Grounds Improvement to
grant aid for further development of their Park Hall
ground.
TNS had asked for funding towards a new 1,000-seater
stand and other upgrades needed to play in next season's
slimmed down 12-club Welsh Premier League.
"We are exploring all options, of which Chester is
one," managing director Mike Harris told the Saints
website.
Harris expressed his "disappointment and frustration"
at being turned down for the grant aid that would help
Park Hall meet the licensing criteria for the new league,
describing the refusal as "short-sighted".
The matter will be considered by the Football
Association of Wales, but the geography of the situation
makes it more complicated.
The club's Park Hall stadium at Oswestry is in England,
but has been recognised by Fifa as Welsh in footballing
terms because of the old Oswestry Town club's prominent
role in setting up football in Wales in the 19th century.
Chester's Deva Stadium actually straddles the
England-Wales border, but the club falls under the
administration of the English FA.
The matter is potentially more complicated even more by
Chester City's current financial struggles.
BBC
February 9
Llanelli
match summary It was billed as he battle of the hot
shots, and tonight one of them was on the score sheet,
unfortunately for Airbus it was Rhys Griffiths who scored
the games only goal. The first half ended without a
goal, but within 3' of the restart Griffiths struck his
18th goal of the season. Airbus were unable to get on
the score sheet tonight and we suffer our 3rd home defeat
of the season. It was Griffiths 8 league goal at the
Airfield and the 4th season in a row he has scored at the
Airfield. Only 2 points separate us and Carmarthen but
Carmarthen have a game in hand. Llanelli move 4 points
clear of TNS. In tonight's other game, Neath's poor
recent form continued as they lost 1-0 at Newtown, Newtown
move up to 13th.
Airbus UK Broughton
Kristian Rogers, Jack Rowlands (Matty
Woodward 76'), Giovanni Feliciello, Gareth Sudlow, Mark
Allen, Jack
Abrahams,
Ashley Williams, James McIntosh, Carl Owen,
Marc
Lloyd-Williams (Garry McConnell 82'), Josh
Johnson (Ryan Edwards 67')
February 9
And people say the super 10 won't increase
attendances?
And people say the super 10
won't increase attendances, there already up by 38% even before the super 10
comes in.
How you might say, well I looked around for some
reference to how the super 10 teams attendance differs from their
attendances with the other 8 teams, (but as no other website has bothered to
work out the stats, I out of curiosity decided to be the first to see how
they compare for myself) and taking the top 10 teams as they are now in the
league averaging their attendances against each other in the top 10, and
from the 18 teams league with an average of 288, the top 10 teams average
amongst themselves is up to 398, and every team bar Aberystwyth has an
increased attendance (Though Aber's is only down 0.2%. Neath and Bala are
the biggest gainers with 135.3% and 136.9 % increase respectively. Rhyl has
the highest with 638, and Airbus the lowest with 233 (though that figure is
up almost 30% on last season's average).
Interesting facts with over half the season played
and not so pessimistic as some were anticipating if you take away the bottom
8 teams from the equation. I didn't bother doing a
super 12 as that will only last for one season. Wouldn't be surprised if
this doesn't raise some interest, maybe some media websites might get on the
bandwagon on this topic for a bit of discussion.
1st is top 10 only in the 18 team
Lge, then top 10 on their own
Average
attendance for the whole 18 team league as is.
288
Average attendance for the
top 10 without the other 8 counted
343
Average attendance for the
top 10 teams amongst themselves
398
Overall increase from 18
team to top 10
+138%
February 9
Llanelli
match preview Tonight's game against Llanelli is
probably our toughest home game so far this season,
against the team with the best away record in the league.
Llanelli are on a 7 game winning streak since their 2-0
home defeat by TNS. They are also unbeaten in their last 5
away games. Their away form has seen then win 6 of their 9
games with 2 draws and just 1 defeat which came against
Neath going down 2-1.
This game is very important
for both teams, for the Wingmakers to consolidate our
place in the top 10 and for Llanelli it is their game in
hand over 2nd places TNS and a win for them will put them
4 points clear of TNS, also a win for Airbus will give us
a 5 point cushion over next placed team Carmarthen.
The game throws up 2 of the most prolific goal scorers
in the welsh premier, with Jiws topping the list
with 315 goals giving him a goals to games ratio of a goal
in every 1.3 games, and Rhys Griffiths ratio at 1.3 as
well so they are evenly matched in finding the back of the
net. Griffiths just requires 3 more goals to move into 2nd
overall in the scorers chart to pass Chris Summers who has
177.
Llanelli are the league top scorers so far
with 49, and Airbus are on 33. Defensively Llanelli have
the 3rd meanest defence with 16 goals against and Airbus
have the 4th with 20.
Our league position could be
a bit higher it we had turned domination into
points against Hwest and Rhyl and a within a point of 5th
in the table if we beat Llanelli, but that wasn't to be,
and a win tonight is anyone's guess, but it would throw us
right in the mix of catching teams from Aber in 5th to
Bangor in 9th.
February 8
League cup final comes to the
Airfield
At a meeting last week the Welsh Premier League Board
of Directors decided that the Loosemores Cup Final should be played at Airbus UK
Broughton on Easter
Sunday 4th April 2010, KO 2.30pm. There are advantages to
doing this as the competing clubs are due to play each other in the League on
that weekend and Airbus
are away on the Saturday. However it will effect the fixtures provisionally
rearranged for
Easter Monday as follows:
Carmarthen Town v Rhyl
Technogroup Welshpool v The
New Saints
These will require further
rearrangement.
This decision was taken
reluctantly as the favoured option would be the May Day Bank Holiday
Monday 3rd May. However, The Welsh Cup Final is on the
previous day and both The New Saints and Rhyl are still in that Competition. The
only other alternative is to play the Loosemores Final the following weekend 8th
or
9th May, which would have financial implications for the
competing clubs.
John Deakin
February 8
Craig Harrison hails Airbus UK
Broughton win over Aberystwyth
CRAIG HARRISON was delighted
to see good form finally bring its reward as two second-half goals earned
his Airbus side maximum spoils.
The Airmen had only taken a
single point from their previous two matches despite outplaying both Rhyl
and Haverfordwest, but it was a different story at The Airfield on Saturday.
“We got our just desserts
at last,” said Harrison. “The confidence and belief was in the minds of the
players that if they kept playing well they’d get a win.
“We bossed the game
throughout and Aberystwyth hardly had a chance of note, although they did
threaten a little from set pieces.”
Defender Jamie Smith
enjoyed a promising debut for the Wingmakers, which pleased Harrison.
“He brings a confidence and
calmness to the side,” added the boss. “He did nothing particularly
spectacular today, but did everything well.”
Daily Post
February 6 Wingmakers hit the big five 0
Airbus finally set both records, 50th win and 1st home win
over Aberystwyth when the Wingmakers scored 2 2nd half
goals.
Carl Owen opened the score in the 57' and Jiws made
the game safe on 78' to record our 1st win in 6
games, it was also our first league double of the season.
Midfielder Jamie Smith made his Wingmakers debut.
Today's win cements our 10th place as nearest rival's
Carmarthen were held to a 1-1 at home Welshpool, and Harry
West were beaten last night at Port Talbot.
Airbus UK Broughton
Kristian
Rogers, Ryan Edwards, Giovanni Feliciello, Matty Woodward,
Mark Allen, Jamie Smith,
Ashley
Williams,
Danny Desormeaux, Carl Owen, Mark
Lloyd-Williams (Josh Johnson 82'), Jack Abraham (James
McIntosh 82')
Chairman Paul McKinlay was in contact with me today and
gave me an update of things at the club.
He said "Things
are progressing well. We are delighted to be hosting the
Ladies W Cup qualifier, and are also hopeful that we will
be chosen to host Loosemores Cup Final.
The
foundations for stand are virtually complete, and we are
hopeful (weather permitting) to be able to start erecting
steelwork later next week. We are still on track to
complete mid March. Despite the atrocious weather, the
pitch is in great condition - groundsmen Steve and Craig
have done a great job- and all the work we put in at the
end of last season has really paid off.
It is also great to see
some old faces back at the club - Smudge is a great
signing, and will really add a winning mentality, and it
is also great to have
Chris and Rollo back at the club. Chris has already
been at the academy coaching the young goalkeepers, and
the lads really appreciate it.
February 6 Aberystwyth match preview.
Today's game against Aberystwyth see's the Wingmakers
looking to break another duck. In the 5 previous meetings
against Aber we have failed to beat them at home, with 2
draws and 3 losses.
Not only will we break the home Aber hoodoo with a win
today, but we will at last reach the 50th league win for
the club in the welsh premier.
Last season Aber won 2-1, but we had a good 3-0 away win
against them September, but they have shot up the table
since the appointment of Christian Edwards as caretaker
boss and the appointment of Alan Morgan as their new
manager, they currently lie in 5th place, but a win
against Airbus today will see them rise to 3rd.
Aber do have the luxury of having the best away record in
the league with 6 wins from their 9 games, with 1 draw and
2 defeats, their best win saw them beat Port Talbot 2-1
inflicting Port Talbot's only home defeat of the season.
A win will maintain our place in 10th in the table with
Carmarthen level on points with Airbus, having hauled back
the 6 point advantage we had over them.
Hopefully today we can turn dominance of recent games
against Hwest and Rhyl into a victory.
February 4 Harrison aims high as Airbus face tough double header.
THE Wingmakers face a crucial home double-header against
two of the Welsh Premier League’s strongest sides in the
space of four days.
Airbus’ midweek trip to Bangor was
postponed for a second time this season, due to a
waterlogged pitch, and now manager Craig Harrison is
preparing his players for a crunch week.
Fourth-placed Aberystwyth travel to the
Airfield on Saturday (2.30pm) and second-placed Llanelli,
who are just two points off leaders The New Saints, are
due in Flintshire on Tuesday (7.30pm).
“The next week is a really important one
for us and we’ve got to look at taking six points, and at
the very bottom line, four,” said a confident Harrison.
“We’ve got respect for all the teams,
but after playing everybody apart from Bangor, I don’t
fear anybody at all. I’ve got respect for them and know
that they are good teams. We know we’re going to have to
be at the top of our game, and they’ll have to be a little
bit off theirs.”
The former Middlesbrough man added: “Who
would have thought that two or three years ago we could go
to places like Haverfordwest and Rhyl and play them off
the park.
“Speaking to the lads who have been here
for a few years, we used to go to these places and try and
keep a respectable score.
“We’ve been going to these places this
season and although we’ve not got the results we deserve,
it’s another step to take up the ladder. We’ve already
made a huge step by competing with these teams and now the
next step is going there next year and beating them.”
“We’ve got six or seven players who just
need another 10 or 15% of learning and we’ve got a really,
really good squad here.”
David Bergen
February 2 Wingmakers boss
makes final transfer signing.
AIRBUS UK Broughton manager Craig Harrison added to his
squad before the window closed, and he brings in 35 year
old former England under 21 player Jamie Smith.
Jamie was with the club last season coaching, he had a
long successful career in the English system with Wolves,
Crystal Palace and Bristol City amongst his list of clubs.
This makes four signings for the Wingmakers along with
Chris Doran, Tom Rowlands and Josh Johnson.
