Airbus UK Broughton Football Club
 The Wingmakers - January 2010 news

I can confirm the dates for 2 of our 3 postponed games, the games against TNS and E Cefn Druids.

The TNS home game is set for the 23rd of February with a 7:30 kick off.
The Cefn Druids away game will be played on March 9th with a 7:30 kick off.

Phil is still in dialogue regarding re arranging the Bangor home game on 26/3/2010 at Bangor's request.

It was a case of 2 penalty goals in the first half, one for each team.

Ryan Edwards put the Wingmakers 1-0 up from the spot on 22' and Rhyl's top scorer Matt Williams equalising for Rhyl on 36' with another penalty.

But Rhyl were down to 10 men after 33' when Chris Williams was sent off for the Lilywhites, Williams had only been on the field 7' coming on for Tyrone Kirk.

Half time 1-1.

Rob Turner gave 10 man Rhyl all 3 points and 3rd place in the table when he scored Rhyl's winner in the 78' that elusive 50th win is still waiting to be claimed.

Full time Rhyl 2-1 Airbus UK Broughton.

K Rogers, R Edwards, G Feliciello, M Woodward, G Sudlow, A Williams, J Abraham, D Desormeaux, C Owen, M L Williams, T Rowlands.

Subs:

J McIntosh, M Allen.

View league table

Tonight we go again in search of our 50th league win and Belle Vue isn't one of the easiest place to go and try and get a win.

Our record there is the same as the record against Haverfordwest where we got a point last Saturday. 4 defeats and one draw. The record stands at 2-0, 1-1, 4-0, 2-1 and 1-0.

It is getting tight in the middle of the table with Carmarthen breathing down our necks and Haverfordwest  just 4 points behind us as well, something out of tonight's game is vital, we do have games in hand on all the teams above us, but we need points on the board to stay in touch with them. We are half way through the league campaign, and we have exactly half the points total manager Craig Harrison targeted to achieve what he thinks should be enough to make the top 10.

Carmarthen and Haverfordwest are both in action on Saturday, and both look like favourites to gain maximum points from their games against Newtown and Welshpool.

We have 4 very tough fixtures in the league starting tonight with Rhyl, next up is Bangor away, then Aberystwyth and Llanelli at home, two teams in the top 3 and the two teams on fire in recent games that has seen them shoot up the league table

There has been talks of at least 4 of Rhyl's key players looking to leave due to wage cuts, but unfortunately for Airbus it looks like they won't be gone by tonight, so Rhyl should be at full strength for the game.

Earlier in the season we were unlucky not to get all 3 points off Rhyl in our home game, we lead 2-0 but Rhyl clawed back the two goals late in the game.

Rhyl have only tasted defeat at home once this season and that was against Haverfordwest 2-1 back in November, and they have only conceded 8 goals in their 10 home games, Airbus has only lost twice away (Port Talbot & TNS) but we have drawn 4 and 3 wins.

Will it be 50th win tonight?

HAVING dominated for most of the 90 minutes at New Bridge Meadow, Airbus manager Craig Harrison felt his team were unlucky not to claim a first ever league win at one of their bogey grounds.

Haverfordwest took the lead against the run of play on the stroke of the interval, when Airbus centre-half Matty Woodward was adjudged to have brought down Tom Ramasut in the box and referee Paul Thomas awarded a penalty which Jack Christopher converted.

Five minutes after the turnaround the Airmen were level when Marc Lloyd Williams swivelled sharply in the box to put away his 12th goal of the season.

“We played really well,” said Harrison. “There was only one team in it for 80 minutes. They (Haverfordwest) had a good spell in the last 10 minutes of the first half but otherwise we controlled it. We enjoyed 65% to 75% of the possession but couldn’t convert it.”

The visitors continued to dominate and were unlucky after 68 minutes to see Jack Abraham’s fierce strike come back off the underside of the bar.

Then in the final 10 minutes Tom Rowlands was through but he was denied by Lee Idzi.

Dave Jones

Today Craig sign's his 3rd player of he January transfer window, while one player departs.

Joining Tom Rowlands return and that of former goalkeeper Chris Doran who has returned to the club from Northern Ireland. Josh Johnson is the clubs 3rd latest signing, Josh signed today after playing in Wednesday's friendly with Wrexham, Trinidad International Josh has played 13 times in the welsh premier league, 19 games for Rhyl in the 2008/09 season scoring 4 goals, he also featured 4 times this season for Druids without scoring. The additions to the squad may not end there?

Leaving the club is Phil Palethorpe, Phil leaves the club and Joins Cammell Laird, Phil made 27 welsh prem appearances for the club, but made only 3 appearances in the league cup his season since the arrival of Kristian Rogers.

View full club transfers this season

We go into Saturday's game against Haverfordwest looking for our first league double of the season at the New Bridge. But if history is anything to go by it's going to be a tall order.

In our previous 5 meeting we have been handed out 4 walloping's 6-1, 5-1, 4-0, and last season 3-0, we did manage a 1-1 draw in our 2nd season in the league. But you will notice that each defeat we have conceded a goal less.

One thorn in the side of the Wingmakers over the last 3 meetings has been the Bluebirds prolific scorer Jack Christopher who has scored 5 goals in those 3 games, and last season he bagged a hat-trick, so hopefully he won't be playing.

Haverfordwest are by recent season's having a bad first half to the season, and currently sitting in 12th place with half the season gone, but still only 4 points adrift of Airbus in 10th. They were most people's favorites to finish comfortably in the top 10 at the start of the season. They finished the 2008/09 in 7th place and only 1 point of 5th placed Port Talbot, so it must be a disappointing first half of the season for all at the club.

They have been busy in January transfer window with several players leaving, but more coming to the club, hopefully they wont have time to settle into the team before next Saturday at least. They have released their top goal scorer Robbie Walters who has scored 9 league goals this season, Walters has now been signed up to play in the welsh league, their next top scorer is Jamie Bradford on 3.

Their form at home not as good as last season's with only 3 wins from 9 games with 3 draws and 3 defeats, last season they only lost 4 games all season at home. They have managed just 1 point in their last 4 home games and 3 defeats but they were losses to Aberystwyth, Llanelli and Neath, and a 0-0 draw with TNS.

So will it be 6th time luck for the Wingmakers or will Harry West continue to dominate this fixture for another season.

Airbus gave Wrexham a good and close game last night at the Airfield eventually going down 3-2 to the former football league club.

The Wingmakers almost took the lead early on but the effort hit the post. Airbus rued the miss as Wrexham went 2-0 up at half time.

Airbus came back with 2 goals of their own from Niall Challinor and Tom Rowlands who scored his 1st goal on his return to the club.

But late on Wrexham had the last say and scored the games final goal to make it 3-2 to the visitors.

Having had many inquires sent to the website regarding Airbus's status achieving the domestic licence, the website got in touch with Airbus UK Broughton's Chairman Paul McKinlay on Saturday morning and asked him for an update on the club's progress, Paul went onto tell the website.

"With regards to the licence, we are progressing well. We have not had the finalised figure on the grant, but we believe it to be somewhere around £60k.

"Work has started this week to prepare the ground, steelwork is ordered etc so we are full steam ahead to get this done. Part of this contract is also to improve the TV gantry as well. To be honest, this is the only remaining work on a major scale to be done. We have upgraded dugouts already, signage improved around the ground, improved medical room already. The perimeter around the pitch has been complete for 2 years, and fence enclosing ground was completed last season. Lights when installed were compliant with criteria, and we just need some alignment and bulb replacement work on these over next 2 months".

"A lot of the work is going on with the administration and procedural side to make sure we comply in all regards, but we are quite confident we will be ready".

"The big challenge is really the top 10 finish, and we are capable, but we have to turn ability into results. The draw was very disappointing, with no disrespect to Druids who played with great commitment on the day and fully deserved a point. However if we are going to get the top 10 finish we have to win those games. The next month is key for us - we have games in hand , but we can't afford to lose touch with those teams above us. It would be a crushing blow to fail to qualify by league position having worked so hard off the field to try to secure the licence".

"The other big challenge if we do qualify will then be to try to secure more commercial backing - a 44 game season will place a financial burden on the club, and we will be appealing to local businesses to come on board, and working on some new ideas to increase revenue.
However, these are good challenges to have - who would have thought 10 years ago that we could be 18 games away from a new top 12 super league in Wales!"

He also went onto tell the website about the long lay off since the Wingmakers last game.

"It has been so frustrating over the last month with so little football, with first team only playing once in 5 weeks, and the reserves have not played a league game since 5th Dec!
The reserves will train at lunchtime today (Saturday) as snow has finally cleared enough for us to get back out on the grass, although today's reserve game has again been called off".

"When we go to the club to train we will take an initial view on the likelihood of game being on tomorrow (TNS) - we have had heavy rain last night, and with a deep frost stopping water getting through to the drains our big concern is that pitch will be waterlogged".

My thanks to our Chairman in putting the website and the supporters up to date on matters on and off the field at the club.

LEGENDARY Welsh Premier League goal machine Marc Lloyd Williams feels great to be on top of the world!

The Airbus UK Broughton striker is officially the world’s leading top division goalscorer amongst still active players.

The International Federation of Football History and Statistics reveals Lloyd Williams’ record of 313 goals from 445 appearances in the domestic league heads a list which includes global greats like Henrik Larsson (268 goals/478 matches), Rivaldo (261/518), Ronaldo (240/335), Thierry Henry (230/443) and Raul Gonzalez (225/534).

Second in the rankings is Juan Carlos Plata from Guatemala (299 goals), with Glenn Ferguson of Northern Ireland club Lisburn Distillery third (296).

“It’s nice to be acknowledged as being top of the world,” said Lloyd Williams, who is popularly known as Jiws.

“It came as a shock when I found out. To be honest, I didn’t know about the Federation (IFFHS), but being ahead of great players like Ronaldo, Raul and van Nistelrooy makes me feel very proud.

“I know the quality of the Welsh Premier is not as high as the levels they play at, but it still means a lot to be on top. I didn’t actually know they played football in Guatemala, but then again I’m sure Plata hasn’t heard of the Welsh Premier either!”

Lloyd Williams began his career in the Welsh Premier with Porthmadog in 1992 and apart from brief spells with Football League clubs Halifax Town, York City and Stockport County, plus short stints at Altrincham, Colwyn Bay and Southport, he has remained faithful to the national league of Wales.

“Growing up in the country, you’ve got to be thankful for the fact with Welsh clubs you get a chance of playing European football every season,” he said.

“I first played in the Uefa Cup for Bangor way back in 1994 and had the chance to play against Liverpool for TNS (as a substitute in the 2005/06 Champions League qualifiers).

“Those kind of experiences stay with you forever and offer you opportunities you won’t get in the non-league system. I’ve played in the FA Cup too, but realistically playing in Wales offers the best chance of playing in Europe.”

Lloyd Williams’ most prolific Welsh Premier scoring spell came at Bangor City, where he racked up 149 goals over five stints, while he also grabbed 60 in TNS colours, 52 for Porthmadog, 18 for Aberystwyth, 16 for Newtown and seven at Rhyl, while he is currently on 11 at Airbus.

He would have won the European Golden Boot after scoring 47 goals in the 2001/02 season, but was not eligible as the Welsh Premier has a lower co-efficient than some of Europe’s bigger leagues.

That 47-goal tally is a record for a single season in the WPL and he is the only player to score six times in the same league match.

A Wales B and semi-pro international, Lloyd Williams has Welsh Premier championship and Welsh Cup winners’ medals in his collection.

Now 36, the question has to be how much longer can this ace netfinder keep going.

“I can see myself getting to 350 goals at least,” predicted Jiws. “I look at Andy Legg and Clayton Blackmore playing into their 40s and think that I’ve still got a few years on them.

“I’ll keep going for as long as I enjoy it; if I start making a fool of myself I’ll know it’s time to call it a day.”

MARC LLOYD WILLIAMS’ WELSH PREMIER RECORD (SUBSTITUTE APPEARANCES IN BRACKETS)

Porthmadog 101 (7) – 52 goals

Bangor City 179 (10) – 149

Aberystwyth Town 26 (6) – 18

Total Network Solutions 51 (16) – 60

Rhyl 10 (3) – 7

Newtown 20 (0) – 16

Airbus UK Broughton 16 (0) – 11

Total: 403 (42); Goals: 313

Dave Jones

AIRBUS UK Broughton manager Craig Harrison will make a shock return to action if his search for a left-sided player proves fruitless, writes DAVID BERGIN.

The former professional star has not kicked a competitive ball since his career was ruined by a shocking injury in 2002, but he is ready to put his boots back on before the end of the season.

“We are definitely looking for a naturally left-footed, left-sided player to put a bit more balance in the whole team,” said the Airfield boss.

“And I have thought, if we’re still going down a blind alley and we’ve got no other way, of getting myself fit, but that could be a big ask at my stage.

“At this moment in time, it’s a long way away, but if I can get myself ready for the end of the season. I wouldn’t rule it out completely but it just depends on ifs, buts, where and when, and what’s happening.

“I didn’t sign on at the start of the season but I’m definitely going to register as a player this month. At the start I had no intention but now I’m definitely going to register as a player, just in case.

“If needs must, it would only be a temporary measure so it wouldn’t be like I’d play every week, just if and when I’m needed – which hopefully won’t be very often!”

“But it’s definitely not something I’ve ruled-out 100% and I will be signing on as a player for the rest of the season.”