JAN-31

Opponents and venue for cup Semi 

Last night Tredegar beat Bridgend 2-1 in the long awaited quarter final tie played at Tredegar Leisure Complex.

The venue has been set for our Semi-Final meeting with Tredegar, it will be played at Ynys Park Ton Pentre on Wednesday March 7th with a 7:pm kick off.

Tony

JAN-30

Fixture change for the Reserves

The fixture for our Reserves home game against Garden Village has been brought forward to to Friday 9th February - kick off 7.15pm. Was originally due to be played on Saturday 10th. This is a 6 pointer against the divisions team at the top of the table.

The Reserves are in action tonight when they make the long trip to face Briton Ferry, they need a victory of more than 3 goals to go top of the league.

Tony and Alan

JAN-30

U19's consolidate 2nd win last night

Our under 19's travelled west last night to take on bottom of the table Haverfordwest, and they made the long journey worth while, and ran out convincing 4-1 winners.

Corey Thomas opened the scoring for the Lido with Steve adding the 2nd. Remi Whitlock and Carl Payne  completed the scoring and the rout of Haverfordwest.

Last nights win takes us to within 3 points of Merthyr, though they do have a game in hand. Next up for the team is a home game against Neath on Tuesday 6th of February.

View table

Tony

JAN-28

Other Lido weekend results

Under 12's
After a break of 6 weeks for the under 12's they took on Gwynfi Utd today and ended up 2-1 winners.

Our scorers were Jack Underwood and Ashleigh Mortimer.

Lido 3rds
Our 3rds were at home today but could not get revenge on Margam for the 3-2 defeat earlier in the season the game ended 0-0.

Under 9's
The under 9's only had one game yesterday. The Colts game away to Tonmawr was postponed.
The under 9 Rangers drew away with Cynfig Community 1-1, Regan Taylor scoring for Rangers.

Ladies
Our Ladies team won only their 2nd league game of the season today, adding to the opening day victory over Haverfordwest, beating Bridgend 2-1.
Our scorers were Steph Cook and Kirsty Pratt. Match reports to follow.

Tony, Janine, Peter, Mark, Alan

JAN-27

Lido run out 4-1 winners over UWIC

We took the lead on 26' from a Ianto penalty. It was awarded after John Felton was brought down when through on goals. Half time ended 1-0.

Just 2' into the 2nd half Ianto doubled the lead, on 61' John Felton made it 3-0, and barely after the restart a minute later Ianto grabbed our 4th and his hat Rick.

UWIC did pull a goal back to make it a final score of UWIC 1-4 Lido. 

Tony

JAN-27

Reserves beat Port Talbot 3-0

Our Reserves took on neighbours Port Talbot today at the Marston, and ran out easy 3-0 winners.

Despite the win they stay in 3rd place as both teams above them also won.

Our goal scorers were Mitch Patton, Karl Reynolds and Neil Hendra.

View league table

Tony

JAN-26

Team news and preview for UWIC game

We are missing four for this Saturdays game against UWIC.

Chris Latham and Liam McCreesh are both suspended, Craig Jones is still out with a back injury and Dan Williams has a groin injury.

Saturday we take on struggling UWIC in Cardiff.

Following their 7-3 drubbing against Pontypridd in the middle of December, they have pulled recent results around and got themselves out of the relegation places, their most notable result was last time out where they held league leaders Neath to a 2-2 home draw, they won both their previous two games beating Ely Rangers 4-3 in a local derby at Cyncoed and won 2-0 at Croesyceiliog.

Their home form is befitting a team in lower reaches of the league having won just twice, against Ely and a 2-0 win over Taffs Well, they have suffered four defeats and drawn one. Two of their four home defeats have come against other relegation threatened opposition in Barry Town 2-0 and Grange Quins 3-1.

Things are tight at the foot of the table with just two points separating the bottom six clubs, so the Students will be well up for this game. We will be looking to improve dramatically on last seasons fixture where UWIC came out 3-1 winners.

Three points is a must against lower league opposition to stay in touch with the teams above us, and Goytre sneaking up the table who have games in hand.

Tony

JAN-26

More Lido youth success stories

LEWIS HOLMES

Lewis Holmes currently plays for Cardiff City Academy. Lewis used to play for Afan Lido up to the age of Under 9's under the watchful eye of his dad Phil who still coaches the side. Since he signed Academy forms he no longer plays mini football for Lido during the season as he is now a Category A player and plays on Sundays.

His fixtures consist of Birmingham City, Southampton, Reading, Aston Villa and also graced the turf of Chelsea's Multi million pound Academy at Cobham.

At Cardiff Lewis is the only representative from Afan Lido at his age but at U16 level we also have Rory McCreesh (son of U16 coach Sean) and at U12 level is Kane Owen.

Lewis plays in Centre midfield and is currently injured with a groin strain but hopes to be fit in two weeks for a duel with Birmingham City away.

These players have got their sights set on playing in the premiership but at the same time keeping their feet firmly on the ground. As Lewis said "what kid would turn down a chance of playing against the likes of Reading, Chelsea, Villa and Birmingham".

It goes to show that the structure within Afan Lido is working and teams like Cardiff and Swansea are looking at our players and giving them the experience of a lifetime.

At several of the training grounds at times throughout the season these players have rubbed shoulders with some of the clubs first team players.

As a club we are immensely proud of these players and hope them the very best of luck in the future.

Tony and Phil

JAN-24

Lido ladies beaten by Ferndale

Ferndale who have only lost one game in the league and that came in their opening game against Swansea.

They proved too strong for our 10 players and ran out 11-1 winners, but despite the heavy defeat the ladies remained positive as they have players to come back from injury.

Tony

JAN-21

Other Lido results for the weekend

View 3rds menu

Under 11's

The under 11 Colts played Porthcawl Utd at a wind swept Rest Bay, and the home team came out 4-1 winners.

Colts team: Luke Armstrong, Luke Gregory, Dylan Mountjoy, Sam Glover, Corey Tristram, Liam Davies, Macaulay Evans, Sam Tobin.

The Rangers game against Porthcawl BGC was postponed.

Under 9's

The Colts team lost a close game against Port Talbot Blue 4-3, Colts scorers were, Regan Taylor (2) and Nathaniel Golding.

The Rangers played out a 0-0 draw against Corus.

View latest under 9 squad photo

Tony, Peter, Phil, Mark

JAN-21

Semi-Final opponents to be known

We will know our Semi-final opponents in the Shamrock cup when Tredegar Town play their Shamrock Travel Cup quarter-final at home to Bridgend on Wednesday.

We play the winners at a neutral venue, while the other semi features Goytre United against Bettws.

Tony

JAN-20

Lido see off Aberaman 2-0

Gaffer Evo hit the post and scored the rebound for a rare goal;) And within a minute John Felton doubled our lead to go 2-0 up with his 2nd goal in two games. ENTO had no reply to the Lido and it ended Lido 2-0 Aberaman. This was our first double of the season.

One downside is that Matt Lavis was shown the yellow card and is out of the welsh cup game next month against Ely Rangers.

Tony

JAN-20

Reserves lose at Ystradgynlais 2-1

Today they played at the Recreation Ground against Ystradgynlais and the home side completed the double over our Lido team coming out 2-1 winners.

Our goal scorer was the evergreen Mitch Patton his 3rd league goal of the season, while Remi Whitlock missed a penalty.

View league table 

Tony

JAN-19

Team news and Aberaman preview

Players out are Craig Jones, Carl Edwards and Justin Williams.

Players In Dan Williams and Shaun O'Leary back after his 3 match suspension.

ENTO Aberaman Preview

This Saturday we take on ENTO Aberaman and go in search of our first double of the season, following our 2-0 win back in August with goals from Chris Piper, Ian Jones.

Both teams form over the last five games are identical, with 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat each.

But last time out they managed a good win over Ton Pentre and also completed the double over them as well, their away form shows they have lost just 1 game on their travels and that was a 3-0 loss to Bryntirion Ath, they have recorded 4 victories at Ely, Taffs Well, Grange Quins and Ton Pentre.

We are unbeaten in 6 games at home following our 2 opening losses in our first 2 games, in our 5 home victories, 4 have been by the odd goal, the exception was a 2-0 win over Dinas Powys.

Aberaman are are 2 places and 3 points ahead of us, but we do have 2 games in hand.

But come 3:50 on Saturday we can hopefully have our 1st league double under our belts.

Tony and Gaffer

JAN-17

Latest update on Garry Isaac

Garry broke his jaw in 3 places during the reserve's game against AFC Llwydcoed and was taken to hospital where he had a 3 hour operation.

He had an X Ray yesterday and if it's ok he will be released from hospital.

Tony

JAN-16

Sheriff YC tour and match report 

Landing on Bristol Airports new £4 million pound runway was scary enough but thrown about the air by gale force winds heightened the excitement in the Sheriff camp last Friday evening when Wales was the destination for last seasons Premier B winners. 

Onto a luxury coach then for the ninety minute trip to the seaside town of Port Talbot the boys trip really started when coach driver Mark put Tom Jones song “green green grass of home “ on full blast on the coach stereo. Well they sang along to every Tom Jones hit for that short journey and it was now watch out Aberavon the boys from Sheriff have arrived. 

Following a rather quick check in around 10pm we all headed off to the local Labour Workman’s Club where a two piece band were excellent. The younger lads went off in taxis to Swansea and had right knees up.

Saturday morning saw a few sore heads but they were quickly washed away following a swim in the hotels swimming pool. The lads where feeling really special when a local boy from the Afan Lido schoolboys section arrived with a football he wanted signed by all the players. 

Pre match lunch was for 3pm with the game kicking off at 5 o clock under lights in Afan Lido’s excellent stadium. Lido played in a U E F A cup match against F C Riga in 1996 and funds from this game enabled them to build their impressive stand. Because of torrential rain the game was played on the all weather which was excellent. Playing with a gale force wind at their backs Sheriff opened brightly and Jonathan Rock was unlucky with a shot from twenty yards out. 

The home side played some very neat football and they had some smashing players in their ranks. Having failed to breech the home defence in the first half it looked an uphill battle with the wind in their faces. Having survived a couple of scares Sheriff broke the deadlock and what a goal it was. Sweeping out of defence the ball reached left winger Kenneth Darker and his cross was met by the in rushing Rock who’s shot flashed past the Afan Lido keeper and into the bottom corner of the net. There was still lots of defending to do to hang onto the lead and Sheriff were excellent. The win was secured with ten minutes left on the clock when another fantastic move saw Ross McCarthy smash the ball home from ten yards after good work by Rock. A great win and another great trip to Wales, a trip they will talk about for years to come for the winners of our Premier B division. 

There were also photo's of their time which will be added to the Lido Gallery in a day or two.

Every connected with the Lido stated how much they enjoyed the friendship and company of the Sheriff YC party, and wish them all the best for the future and the continued friendship between the two clubs.

Tony and Dick Redmond

JAN-16

Youths win 1-0 at Llanelli

It was a tight game and the only goal came from a Remi Whitlock penalty.

View league table

Tony

JAN-16

Under age results from Saturday

Our under 9's teams had just one game with the Rangers game at Tonmawr off, the Colts took to the field against Trefelin BGC B and came away with a 3-0 win.

Our scorers were, Regan Taylor, Bobby Lewis and Nathaniel Hyatt-Golding.

Tony, Kirk and Mark

JAN-13

Reserves win at Llwydcoed 2-1

One bad bit of news to come from the game was that Garry Isaac ended up in hospital, after a home players fist was drawn like a magnet to Garry's jaw, and ended up breaking it. Speedy recovery Garry.

Tony

JAN-13

3rds lose to FC Cornelly 2-1

3rds scorer was Lee Evans.

Tony

JAN-13

Player of the month vote closed

Chris topped the vote with 16 votes, heading off a dual challenge from Greg Hurley and Ianto both finished on 12 votes.

View full voting for December

Tony

JAN-13

Pontardawe match updates

Tony

JAN-13

Pontardawe team news

Out Carl Edwards (Pork rope) Justin Williams (ankle) Shaun O'Leary (flu)
50/50 Liam McCreesh, Chris Latham, Greg Hurley.

We will be out for revenge on Ponty for the home defeat they inflicted on us in our 2nd game of the season, when they came to the Marston and went home with a 1-0 win.

Tony and Phil

JAN-11

Lido senior teams fixtures for January

Tony

JAN-10

Loyal Lido band worthy of a mention

Alan Howells and Mark Robbo came to the rescue together with Steve Jones, Gary Cokely, Kirk Thomas, Alan Taylor, Dougie Mallon and the dynamic duo themselves Phil and Evs.

The story goes as told by ?

So many negative vibes, from the helpers when we were forking (it was still pouring down), but with my PR work and persistence, look what we achieved. You could see their faces changing as the water disappeared, especially when I persuaded the referee to start the game. Then there was a tremendous feeling when we scored the first goal. On my part it was 'Thank heavens for that', now they won't blame me for playing the game. It brought back the old days of feeling part of a great team. Everyone pulling together, proud to be part of a good set up. Feeling that we are allowed to do something, that might help.

11:00am A Howells, M Robbo, Phil Holmes decide 'Lets see what we can do, the pitch is quite firm below water'. Referee Paul Fisher helps us out, by not calling game off there and then and gives us some hope. By 11.15am Paul Evs, Alan Taylor, Gary Cokely, Steve Jones and Kirk Thomas all working on removing water. By 11.20am Match referee informed of situation. 

By 11.45am I get agreement from League to delay kick off (Llanwern would like the game to be played if at all possible) By 11.50am The Llanwern Secretary agrees to travel ( I had already delayed them for 30mins) and to a delay in kick off (they have not played since before Xmas) Our players arrive - take the Mickey out of us attempting to get them a game (are we mad). 

By 1pm 50% of standing water removed (still pouring down though). Llanwern arrive - we have played in worse than this before. Dai James arrives - makes squash tea etc with Miriam to keep Llanwern sweet. Peter Reynolds puts corner flags out, amazing how little things like this boosts confidence of playing. Match referee Garwyn Davies and Assts Phil Owen Rob Godfrey arrive - bit of Howells banter regarding my old ref days and how I have played in worse than this and if we delay until 2.30pm the pitch will be playable. 

They want to take into account the grounds man feelings (Glad that Elwyn wasn't there)

Phil Rob sees my concern and tells me 'We've played in a lot worse than this' Kids start arriving to see game - take the Mickey out of me for wearing my Port Talbot academy Jacket and Port Talbot bobble hat (well as I told them 'I am not dirtying my Lido clothing'). That gets loads of laughs.

Referee decides on 2.30pm start. Proviso - if it gets worse or farcical he will call it off. I am now confident if it stops raining we will finish game. Peter R phones league and Press to inform them of decision. 1.50pm The rain has stopped. 2 hours later than Sky News promised Mark Rob (will be watching BBC News from now on. We kick off at 2.35pm - the rest is history. 4.50pm First bottle of Magners. It tasted good. Thanks to all who helped that day, from those named above, too the girls in kitchen. Clubhouse staff etc.

Tony

JAN-9

Tredegar or Bridgend in semi final

Afan Lido will play the winners of the postponed tie between Tredegar and Bridgend, the semi-final will be played at a neutral venue.

The other semi-final will be between

Caldicot or Bettws v Goytre Utd or Neath

The dates, kick off times and the venues are to be arranged.

Tony

JAN-9

Goytre home game confirmed

The last time Afan Lido gained promotion to the Welsh premier, Goytre Utd were also our opponents, on Saturday May 2nd 1998 we beat Goytre 3-0 at Glenhafod Park with goals from Andy Radford, Dean Johnston and gaffer Paul Evans scoring the 3rd. And as everyone knows Andrew Radford is assistant manager at Goytre.

Tony

JAN-9

Re-arranged Quins game

Tony

JAN-9

Reserves dates set for Seven Sisters games

The home game is set for Saturday 31 March, and the away game will be played on Saturday 21st April.

Both games will have a 2:30 kick off.

Tony

JAN-8

December's players vote closest yet

The voting will stay open until the weekend. So if you haven't already voted get cracking.

Tony

JAN-8

Tonight's youth game against Carmarthen update

Tony & Alan

JAN-6

50,000 and counting

Tony

JAN-6

Team news update

Into the squad in his place comes Gaffer Phil. 

Tony

JAN-5

Team news and preview for Llanwern game

There are no new injury worries, other than Matt Lavis who is only rated as 50/50, if Matt fails to make the squad we have the artful dodger sorry that should be the old codger Phil Homes ready to step in :)

Paul (Evs) Evans is due back from New York to (hope he wasn't moving any Xmas trees:)

Now to the Llanwern game, on paper looks a fairly comfortable tie, 1st division against 3rd, but its not so long ago they were a 1st division outfit, and last season and especially this one they look destined to make it up to the 2nd division.

Away from home they this season in the league they have a very record, played 9 won 7 and only lost 1. The pressure and expectation will all rest on Lido's shoulders, so Llanwern will be playing under no pressure and that's when teams are at their most dangerous.

The tie was originally to be played at Newport Stadium, who they share with Newport County, but County are due to play Histon on the same day, so the tie was switched to the Marston Stadium.

So don't forget this Saturday kick off time is 1:30 PM.

Tony

JAN-5

Lido Ladies back in action

The Ladies haven't been in action since the 26th November when they were well beaten by UWIC 9-1. 

It's a must win game for the team as Hwest are directly below us in the table and a win for them would see Hwest leap frog us into 7th position.

Our first game of the season and our only league win came when the side travelled to Haverfordwest back on September 3rd, on the day we came out 3-2 winners with goals from Hayley Williams, Nadean Mahoney and Aimee Bowditch, but Hwest have improved dramatically since that first game having beaten Bridgend in the league cup 2-1 (Bridgend have beaten our team 6-4 when they met in October) and gaining their first league point away to Ferndale 1-1, and lost last time out to UWIC 4-0, so it should be a good game on Sunday when we hopefully chalk up our 2nd league win of the season.

Tony

JAN-3

December breaks all website viewing records

We broke a new record of unique daily visits 3 times and our best day now stands at 372 which came on December 29th, on that day we also saw the most page views break the 3,000 as it reached 3,735. Our monthly unique visits for December also came out on top, reaching 7,612 an average of 245 a day. 

Our total unique visits to the website, lies just a few hundred short of 50,000 which we will easily make before January 25th when the website celebrates its first year in operation. 

View web stats page

Tony

JAN-2

Remembering November 8th 2001

The early evening calm was cruelly shattered by an explosion at Blast Furnace Number 5 at the town's gargantuan steelworks plant, leaving a lasting legacy that will scar the town forever. 

News was slow to filter through, but eventually it became apparent that there were casualties... and fatalities. I was rehearsing for a gig at a friend's house when the call came through. A colleague's father was in the steelworks at the time, and had gone missing, along with dozens of others. 

The first earths-shattering moment came when we were told of the death of Stephen Galsworthy, a loyal servant of Afan Lido FC and a genuinely nice guy, a fanatical Tottenham Hotspurs supporter, described by many as a 'gentle giant.' More than a dozen others were injured, including 53-year-old Len Radford, who tragically died a few days later. 

The last piece of earth-shattering news came when the body of 20-year-old Andrew Hutin was found the next day. Andrew was a personal friend, and another genuinely nice guy who never had a bad word to say about anyone. His death really rocked the community. Andrew was also a member of the Aberavon Quins rugby team, and was tipped for a promising future in the sport. I will always remember the disaster. 

The steelworks community is a family within itself, and although I do not work there, the rest of my family is based on the blast furnace. This meant that we knew the boys personally, and it remains a tragedy that, to this day, causes a lump in the throat. We can only begin to imagine what the families of the deceased keep going through. 

It was with immense pride, therefore, that I was asked to take part in the annual event involving Afan Lido FC and Aberavon Quins RFC in memory of Andrew, Stephen and Len. £226 was raised for the clubs' youth sections, a memorable day was had by all. Myself and Adam John (Epicentre) would like to thank everyone who gave generously and supported a cause close to our hearts, for raising their glasses to the memory of those we have lost and to Phil Holmes for being a more than able compere. 

If he ever retires from football management, we could be looking at the next Owen Money. Also a mention for Peter Bamsey and his chilli ("bit of chilli, bit of singing, quality afternoon" - the man himself), and to poor old Roy who gallantly broke his arm dancing to Hey Jude. Lets hope this tradition continues for a long while to come, and lets hope that even more money is raised next year." Richard Taylor and Adam John

Tony, Rich Taylor and Adam John

JAN-2

Youth's game fixture change

It will now take place a day earlier on Monday 8th, with kick off time at 7:00 pm.

Tony and Alan

JAN-2

Blast furnace goes to Lido

Also a mention for the band (Epicentre) who by all accounts were excellent. 

Tony