Airbus UK Broughton Football Club
 The Wingmakers - Match previews 2009/10

Saturday we take on near rivals Cefn Druids at the Airfield (game rated by Big Phil as 50/50).

It has not been a good season on and off the field for our visitors, they currently lie in 17th place in the table with just 1 win from their 15 games (Beat Porthmadog 1-0) and have suffered 12 defeats. A top 12 finish looks a huge task especially as they have recently cut their player budget by 50% and there is a strong possibility that some of their key players may leave the club especially as the transfer window is only a few days away. They also lack the facilities at their current home to make the domestic licence criteria.

That said they have had good fortune at the Airfield in past visits, having won 2 of their 5 welsh premier games. These derby's have always been close and all 5 games have only been won by either side by the odd goal. This clash has never been that popular with the Wingmakers faithful, only the first season saw a crowd of over 200 (251) and since then we haven't attracted more than 176.

The away games have seen Druids coming out on top with 2 home wins, one to Airbus and 2 draws, last season saw us do the double over Druids with a 2-0 away win and a 1-0 win at the Airfield.

We cannot afford to take the game too lightly, twice this season we have lost at home and against opposition we had expected to beat.

Saturday we travel to Neath who are on a 11 game unbeaten run in the welsh premier, and unbeaten at home in the league, a win for Airbus will be the 50th WPL win since promotion.

The league's 2nd full time club (with TNS) are in with a very good shout of becoming champions of the WPL in their 3rd attempt. Manager Dyer has brought some very good quality to the Eagles squad this season, as their league position shows, they are currently in 4th place but with games in hand on all the teams above them.

In our 2 previous visits to Neath, they have come out on top on both occasions winning 2-1 in the 2--0/08 season, and 3-1 last season. We have a good away record of 3 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats scoring 14 goals and conceding 8. We haven't yet failed to score on the road, and have keep 3 clean sheets, in our 3 wins we haven't conceded a goal, last time out we came out 1-0 winners at Porthmadog, but a home defeat against Bala saw us give up the chance to move up to 7th place.

Their strike force of Craig Steins with 9 goals and Chris Llewellyn on 7 are a potent strike force, but then again so are our pair of Jiws and Carl Owen who have 15 goals between them.

We have a better goal difference than Neath by 2, and have scored 4 more goals than them, and have conceded 2 more. A defeat against Neath could see the chasing pack catch up to us, with Bala just 1 point away and Carmarthen only 3, some something out of this game would do very nicely as we have a tough fixture list over the next 4 weeks, with Llanelli next up after Neath, then the double header against Druids over xmas followed by Rhyl and TNS.

We welcome Bala Town to the Airfield for the first time in a welsh premier league game.

We go into tonight's game hoping to make another record for Airbus in the league, by notching our 4th win on he trot, and looking to keep a 4th clean sheet to set another milestone.

Bala started off the season with a bang winning 3 of their first 4 games, but have since had their bubble burst by only recording 2 wins in their last 9 games, though they did win last time out against Welshpool who are the only side to win at the Airfield in the league this season.

They have invested heavily in recruiting players in their 1st season in the WPL, with 9 new signings (we made 8). Their away form has seen win just once on the road and that came in their very trip which was a 1-0 win at Newtown, since that victory they have only managed just 1 draw in their last 5 games with 4 losses. We are looking for our 3rd home win in a row, we have scored 14 goals in our 6 home games with Bala scoring 3 in their 6 away games, so all indications would point to a home win, if only it were that simple, I seem to remember saying something similar before the Welshpool home defeat.

A win tonight would see the Wingmakers jump from 8th to 4th in the table 2 points behind Rhyl, something many would not have been able to imagine before the start of the season. But we need Cefn Druids to take a least a point against Prestatyn and for Carmarthen to beat Neath tonight as well as a home win. We will also be looking to draw a good crowd, as our league average has dropped after every game since the league opener, and is down to 190.

 So good luck to the gaffers and players tonight.

We take on Newtown at the Airfield on Saturday, with the visitors looking for their 1st away win of the season. In 6 attempts on the road they claimed 4 points with 3 credible draws against top 6 sides, TNS, Neath and Prestatyn.

They have had the better results in the 5 previous meetings at the Airfield, with us winning 1, 2 draws and 2 victories for Newtown, last season's 3-1 win was our only victory. In fact our form away with Newtown is probably our best against any side we have played in the welsh premier, in our 5 visits we have yet to be beaten, with 3 wins and 2 draws.

Their top scorer so far this season is 18 year old loanee from Wrexham Obi Anoruo with 4 goals from his 6 appearances. Newtown currently lie in 12th place but only 3 points adrift of Airbus. 8th to 13 in the table is very tight with only 3 points separating the 6 clubs and a small gap to 7th placed Aberystwyth on 20 points.

It's been 2 weeks since our last league action which was our good 4-0 win over neigbours Connahs Quay, and it was good to see our scorers coming from all areas of the team on the day.

A win is vital to staying in the top 10 as several of the teams around us could pick up wins over the weekend.

We go in search of our 2nd away league win over Bangor City on Friday night, and another 3 points which will keep well in the top 10. Farrar Road hasn't been a happy hunting ground for the Wingmakers in our previous visits with only 1 win to show for in those encounters, that one came at the 2nd attempt with a 2-1 win back in March 2006.

We have been on the end of two 5-0 thumping's and a 3-1 loss, and last years defeat was by the smallest margin of a 1-0 win for the Citizens courtesy of a Chris Seargeant goal. In all Bangor have scored 15 goals in league meetings with Airbus at Farrar Road while we have managed only 3.

It is also a little bit strange to Airbus above Bangor in the league table, but 3 positions and 2 points separate us, for Bangor it's a poor season so far, while for Airbus it's a good un and looking to get better, though we could drop to 11th if Bangor win and Bala and Carmarthen win their games as well. While victory would not guarantee any movement upwards in the table if Port Talbot beat neighbours Connahs Quay at the Deeside. A win for Airbus and a win or draw for Connahs Quay would see us climb up one spot to 7th, and keep us in touch with the next group of Prestatyn and Aberystwyth.

But to claim all 3 points against the Nomads, we must do something we have never done since we joined the welsh premier, and that is beat them at the Airfield, the story reads played 5 won none drawn 4 and lost 1, Nomads victory came at the 3rd attempt winning 3-2 back in September 2006 when 2 late goals saw us surrender a winning 2-1 lead with 8 minutes left to play.

The last 2 meetings have seen both games end in 0-0 results, last season's 0-0 draw was watched by the Flintshire's biggest derby crowd to date in the welsh premier of 303. Nomads currently lie in 14th place 4 points adrift of Airbus and hopefully come 9:30 Friday night the gap will be 7 points and moving clear of 10th place in the table. Their away form hasn't been good so far in their 6 games with just 1 victory 1 draw and 4 defeats, their only win on the road coming against Aberystwyth wining 2-1. Even a victory for Nomads will still see them remain in 14th position as they trail Newtown by 3 points and have a goal difference of -11 with Newtown.

On a final note worth mentioning, if he plays on Friday night it will be Marc Lloyd William's 398th welsh premier league appearance, and all going well he should hit the 400 against Newtown at home on November 21st.

This Saturday at the Airfield we take on Carmarthen Town for the 6th time in the welsh premier, we have yet to record a home win against them (in fact we have never beaten them home or away in the WPL). The best we have managed at home is one draw which came in January 2007 when we drew 2-2, the other results were 0-1, 1-3, 0-1 and 0-1. 

Traditionally this fixture has been one of if not the poorest attended home games in the league for us, with 3 games failing to reach the hundred mark, and the other 2 have only seen 102 and 104 turn up at the Airfield, and all doesn't bode well for a good turn out on Saturday either with the Wales game against Finland kicking off half an hour after our game starts. 

Carmarthen are having one of their poorest starts to the season for quite a while and currently lie in 12 place with 2 wins, 1 draw and 4 defeats from their 7 games, but 3 of their defeats have come against the current top 4 teams in the table, Rhyl, TNS and Prestatyn, the other loss came away to Haverfordwest.

Their current form has seen them lose only once in their last 4 games with 2 wins and a draw and 1 loss. We currently lie in 8th place and a win would help solidify our place in the top 10, it's tight around the top 10 or so with just 3 points separating us in 8th and Newtown 14th.

At time of writing I'm not sure who is unavailable for the game, but one fact sticks out in that we haven't won in the league since Danny Desormeaux has been injured. One player definitely out is Rhys Roberts who misses one game due to suspension following his red card against Prestatyn Town in our last league game.

Both Airbus sides are in action on Saturday against Lex X1. The first team are at Stansty Park in the 2nd round of the welsh cup, and the Reserves are home to Lex Reserves in the Reserve division cup.

Both Lex teams are doing well in their respective leagues so far this season, Lex's first's are currently 6th in the Cymru Alliance, while their Reserves lie in 3rd spot in the Welsh National League Reserve division, and already have a victory over our Reserves this season in the league winning 2-1 at Stansty Park almost a month ago.

Lex are founder members of the Cymru Alliance since it's founding in 1990/91 and their biggest claim to fame must be playing all their home games at Wrexham's Racecourse ground for a whole season back in the nineties.

Friday night we travel to face Prestatyn Town at the Bastion Gardens in only our 2nd welsh league visit.

Last season we went down by the odd goal in a 2-1 defeat in the opening fixture of the season, Ian Griffiths scored both goals for the home side and we managed a late goal in injury time from Jon Slater.

Prestatyn are on a superb run of a 5 game winning streak, their only loss this season came on the opening night when they were put to the sword by TNS losing 5-0 at Park Hall. Since then they have rattled off 5 wins, 2 at home against Haverfordwest 3-0, then 2-1 over Welshpool, while on the road they have beaten Aberystwyth 3-2, Caersws 5-1 and last time out a good 2-1 at Carmarthen. They are also the league's 3rd highest scorers behind Rhyl and Llanelli, but they have also conceded the most goals of any team in the top ten, although 5 came on the first night.

They have recruited well during the summer especially with their current top scorer Andy Moran who is their top scorer on 4 goals. A win for the home side will see them go top, if TNS fail to beat Newtown at Park Hall tonight, but they will rise to at least 2nd in the table if they beat Airbus tonight, while a win for Airbus will see them remain in 7th place unless they win by a 2 goal margin and then rise to 6th.

Wingmakers manager Craig Harrison was disappointed with last weeks defeat at home to the then winless and bottom of the table Welshpool. The main injury worries for the manager are to influential midfielder Danny Desormeaux and Jack Abraham, points are important from tonight's game for Airbus as there is already a gap starting to open up between the top 5 and the rest, and only 3 points separating Airbus in 7th and Connahs Quay in 13th place.

Friday night we face Welshpool Town for the 6th time at home in the welsh premier league, the first 3 meetings all went in favour of the visitors, 2-0, 2-0 and their biggest win 4-1. in December 2007 we gained our first point against Welshpool in a 1-1 draw. Just 5 months ago we gained our first league victory in the penultimate game of the 2008/09 season beating Welshpool 5-0, it is also the clubs biggest ever win in the welsh premier league.

It's never been a game that has had a great turn out by the fans, the 5 season average is just 166 with the first encounter attracting 240, the previous 4 have been no higher than 152.

Welshpool's players must be facing a huge dilemma, as no matter how well they play or how high they finish in the league they will still be relegated to the Cymru Alliance due to their ground not being suitable to obtaining a domestic licence. The biggest incentive for their players knowing the club will be relegated must surely be to perform at their best in the hope of signing for a welsh premier club next season and staying in the league.

A strange fact is that this is only the 2nd season in the welsh premier that we have got to our 3rd home without being beaten in our first 2 home games, the 2007-08 season we went as far as our forth game before we lost at home, so another record awaits this season's squad of remaining unbeaten against Welshpool to equal the record and avoiding defeat against Carmarthen will see our best home start ever to a season.

Last season saw Welshpool finish one place and one point ahead of us in the table, but this season they are bottom of the league with just a single point from 5 games, that point came on the road against Aberystwyth in a 1-1 draw.

A win on Friday night could see us move above Llanelli into 4th, if we manage to win by 3 or more goals, and Bala Town fail to beat Druids, though that position is only likely to last until Saturday afternoon, all that is depending on beating Welshpool in the first place.

This Saturday we go in search of our first away league win of the season, following our 2-2 draw with Llanelli and the 2-1 loss against TNS.

It is yet another ground we have never won at since joining the welsh premier league. But it is a fixture we have never lost by more than 1 goal, in the 5 previous meetings Aber have won twice both by a 1-0 scoreline, in the very first meeting and the last meeting, in between we have had 3 draws 2-2, 1-1 and 0-0.

Aber are currently on 5 points like Airbus and lie one place above us in the table on goal difference, but they have had a considerably easier start to the season than the Wingmakers, their only win came in the opening fixture of the season when the waltzed through Caersws 3-0 away. They are without a win in their last 3 outings with 2 draws and 3-2 home defeat in their last home game against Prestatyn.

The Wingmakers squad will be in a confident mood following their deserved 3-1 home win over Haverfordwest last weekend. And current Wingmakers top scorer Marc Lloyd Williams will be looking to preserve his top spot in the goal scoring charts, by adding to his current tally of 5 goals from his 4 games played this season. Fellow strike partner Carl Owen scored his first league goal for the club last weekend with a goal against Haverfordwest.

A win at Park Avenue will see the team move up a few places, we could if results go our way and we win against Aberystwyth move up to 6th in the table.

Wednesday night we play our penultimate Challenge cup group game at home to Prestatyn Town (7:30)

Prestatyn like ourselves have just one point from the two group games played, and that point for both sides came in the 2-2 draw at Bastion Gardens in the opening fixture.

It will take an almighty cock up from Rhyl not to qualify for the next round as they only need a point to be sure of making the next stage, Airbus needs to win the last two group games and Rhyl to lose both theirs for us to qualify, not impossible but highly unlikely. Prestatyn like ourselves have given the cup games as a chance for some of their squad players to get in competitive action (though not as widespread as us), while Rhyl fielded their full squad (though mainly due to having such a small squad of players when the games were played).

Prestatyn will be full of confidence going into the game as they sit comfortably in 4th spot in the table, and following their 5-0 bashing against TNS on the opening fixture they have rattled off 3 consecutive victories.

This Sunday we host Haverfordwest at the Airfield, Haverfordwest did the double over Airbus last season with a 3-0 win in Pembrokeshire, and in February the came away with a 4-2 win at the Airfield.

In the 5 previous meetings there has always been a winner, with not a single draw, Hwest lead the way with 3 wins to the Wingmakers 2. Hwest won the first 2 encounters both by a 2-1 scoreline, we won the next 2 meetings 2-0 and 3-1, then last season's 4-2 defeat.

The visitors fortunes have changed in the past 2 season's, and it has seen them climb the table to finish in 7th lace last season, though 1 more point and they would have finished in 5th place.

Hwest have only had one away game so far this season, and it was a fruitless journey to Prestatyn where they were beaten 3-0. They have won both their home games and lie in 6th place after 3 games played.

We are looking to kick start our season with a win following our very tough start playing the top 3 finishers from last season, and accounted ourselves well in all 3 games, and Marc Lloyd Williams has continued his goal scoring extravaganza like he has at every other club he has played for, Jiws currently tops the goal scoring table with 4 from 3 games, and he is sure to be a handful for the Hwest defence on Sunday.

News on the squad for Sunday's game will appear when I get it sent to me.

Saturday we face the 3rd of the top 3 finishers from last season in our first 3 games, and so far we have acquitted ourselves well still unbeaten (not having won either), but I feel we face the most difficult game of the three at Park Hall.

While there have been comings and goings at both Rhyl and Llanelli, TNS have been quietly strengthening their already formidable squad, with some very good signings.

It will be their 3rd home game in three games so far this season, and in their previous two games they have scored seven goals and are still to concede a goal. They blew Prestatyn away on the opening league fixture 5-0, and last time out beat beat a strong Carmarthen outfit.

We have never beaten TNS at their home, and have only scored one goal in those five meetings, but we have drawn with them twice, the 2006/07 is a game is one Wingmakers fans will want to forget when TNS ran out 7-0 winners.

We go into the game on the back of the two games knowing we could have taken more points from both, and that we have the best chance of a win against TNS since the club was promoted to the welsh premier, but doing it is another thing, though not impossible. 

Tonight we face Rhyl for the 2nd time in only a few day's at the Airfield, tonight's encounter is in the league cup and we can expect a very different starting 11 from last Friday's game against Rhyl.

Our first league game away to Prestatyn saw a completely different 11 from the Llanelli game, we have several Reserve team players on show and players yet to make a start in the league.

It will be interesting to see what kind of a starting 11 Rhyl put out with such a small first team squad, they may well be tempted to change their team wholesale as well.

One thing is for sure we don't want another repeat of last season's score line in the same tie, when Rhyl ran out 4-0 winners at the Airfield, they in fact put 10 goals past us in the 2 group games winning the game at Belle Vue 6-1.

Also tonight is Chris Doran's last game for the club before he departs back to Northern Ireland, and what better going away present than keeping a clean sheet.

No doubt win, lose or draw there will be a good send off for Chris after the game.

Friday night we face the difficult task of taking on the league champions at the Airfield. Though it could be said this is the strongest Airbus squad to face Rhyl since the club was promoted to the welsh premier league, that said that is still no guarantee of securing the 3 points.

Rhyl have been in the papers a lot in recent weeks about uncertainty about the clubs future and mass player exodus at the club, the squad is down to the bare bones, but if they can avoid injury and suspensions they will still be there or there about's at the end of the season. so no great benefit for the Wingmakers at this early stage of the season.

Rhyl kicked off their campaign with a good 2-1 home win over a very strong Carmarthen team, showing their first 11 are are just as good as any out there, they will also be boosted by the fact that Luke Holden's proposed move to Coventry City has been put on hold for the current transfer window, that in itself is as good a top signing for the club as he didn't even feature in the Carmarthen game.

In the five meetings at the Airfield in the league, we won the very first encounter back in February 2005, with a Kevin Leech goal separating the clubs, Rhyl have had the upper hand in the last four meeting winning 2-1, 2-0 2-0 and last season 3-1. We have only managed 3 goals against them in the five meetings and two of the goal scorers are still with the club, James McIntosh and Ashley Williams.

Craig and Tommo will fancy the teams chances after putting on such a good showing against title favourites Llanelli in the teams first league game when we were just a hares breath away from pulling off what would have been a deserved victory on the Reds, but we had to settle for a point.

The visit of Rhyl Friday night should see the Airfields biggest or 2nd biggest home gate of the season as this fixture has shown in previous season's with the Bangor home game being the other top contender for best crowd of the season, so hopefully the bigger crowd at the Airfield will give the team an extra lift.

One extra card up our sleeves is the evergreen Jiws who has shown already this season he can still bang in the goals against any team in the WPL and if he and our other forwards can continue to get the service up front he have a chance in beating any team home or away.

Tonight we get our first taste of league cup action. Last season we leaked in goals conceding 15 goals from our 4 games, winning one and losing three. This season we hopefully will improve on that record.

Tonight we travel to Prestatyn Town for our first tie of the four, Prestatyn had a busy time in the transfer market like ourselves, they have strengthened their squad by bringing in 6 players, Andy Moran (Colwyn Bay), Paul O'Neill (Rhyl), Gareth Wilson (Rhyl), Steve Rogers (Welshpool), Matt Towns (Macclesfield Town) and Adie Moody.

They didn't get off to the best start in the league last Friday night getting heavily beaten 5-0 at Park Hall by TNS, so they will be looking to repair the damage they inflicted by putting on a good show in front of their fans.

Our boys will be looking to one better than a draw against Llanelli on Sunday, when we were a cats whisker away from claiming our first away win against one of the top three teams. So it should be a good game. No indication from the gaffer of whether he will play his strongest 11 tonight, or mix it up a bit.

It all kicks off again this weekend after the short summer break, and we couldn't have asked for a more tougher assignment on our first game of the season.

This Sunday we travel to Llanelli to take on one of the top teams in the league and the bookies 2nd favourites to lift the title, surprisingly the bookies have Airbus as 12th favourites to win the welsh premier at 33/1.

This is the 6th meeting of the sides in the welsh premier league, and we are still awaiting our first taste of victory at Stebonheath, we have only avoided defeat once at this venue and that came in the very 1st season back in 2004/05 season when we came away with a 2-2 draw, the last 4 visits has seen the home side win 3-0, 4-0, 1-0 and last season 3-2. Last season we looked to have pulled off quite a result as we were 2-0 up after just 8 minutes with goals from Mark Allen 6' Tom Rowlands 8'. Rhys Griffiths pulled a goal back for the Reds with a 27' penalty, and with just 2 minutes to go it was looking like an unlikely away win for the Wingmakers, until that is Rhys Griffiths popped up in the 88' minutes to put the Reds level and in injury time a Phil Palethorpe own goal gave the home side the 3 points.

Llanelli have been as busy in the transfer market as ourselves, both clubs have so far brought in 7 new players during the pre-season, and 3 of Llanelli's signing have come from the English football league, they are Owain Warlow (Lincoln City), Michael Howard (Morecambe) and Craig Frater (Manchester City). Our manager has brought in 7 players as well, and probably the biggest name is Marc Lloyd Williams, the league's all time record goal scorer, another accomplished striker to join is Carl Owen from Rhyl, the club now has a healthy 6 strikers on it's books, we now have healthy competition for places in all areas of the park, in this make or break season.