AFAN
LIDO FC NEWS PAGE FOR MAY 2007
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MAY-29 |
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U11's
Football Festival results
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The under 11's got off to a
great start in the Football festival at Butlins. In their first game they
beat Wednesfield (West
Midlands Premier Div) 5-0, their 2nd game they drew with Wootton Basset
(Hellenic League Division One West) 3-3, The lads were in a commanding
position at half time leading 3-0, but the Wiltshire club clawed back to
gain a draw.
Our 3rd game was against Cheltenham
Saracens (Hellenic
League Division One West) and we came out 4-1 winners (they also may invite
us to their own tournament)
Our 4th game we lost to the
eventual winners Ibstock (Leicester Senior league Prem), but only going down
by a goal to nil.
But results around us
didn't go our way and we finished in 3rd place. The
boys received a lot of praise in the way they played football and a lot of
people were surprised that we didn't get anything. Though Conor O' Callaghan
will be remembered by the Wootton Bassett #4 ;)
The boy's their parents and
the coaching staff all had a great time, The
downside was we got booed going up for our medals by some of the English
contingent, Sir Geoff Hurst presented the medals which is something to look
back on in the future.
Tony
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MAY-26 |
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U16's
win Federation Cup
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Last night the Lido Reds under
16's beat Port Talbot Yellows 2-0 in the Federation Cup final.
After a scoreless first half
Chris Petty put the Lido ahead with a header. After several near
misses Ceri Cook secured the win sliding the ball past the keeper from ten
yards with 5 minutes to go.
Tony
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MAY-23 |
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Player
of the month and season winner
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The
voting for player of the month for April & May have been totalled.
The winner for April &
May was Ian Jones. with 20 votes, and when the season's votes were totalled up
Ianto came out as player of the season too. Congrats to Ianto who just fell
short of 100 total votes by 2. Runner up was keeper Brian.
Good to see someone voted for
Gaffer Phil, must have been his Mrs :)
To view the final voting
table click here
Tony
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MAY-22 |
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Under
age news update
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UNDER
14
The Afan Lido Reds
under 14 side lost 2-1 to West End in the under 14's cup final on Monday
night.
West End scored both their goals in the first half and the Lido side had a
penalty three minutes from time but they were unable to press for an
equaliser.
UNDER 16
The under 16's match v Port Talbot will now take place on Friday night at
Morriston. The Port Talbot management did not want to play at the Lido in case
of crowd trouble following the recent Port Talbot cup final between the sides.
UNDER 11
The under 11's are heading off on tour, 16 of them are heading off to
Butlins in Minehead along with their parents in a tournament where they will
face teams from Cheltenham,
Wiltshire, Leicestershire, Devon & Wolves. It’s
an 11 a side tournament 20mins each way. They will play 2 games on the Saturday
and Sunday and 1 game on the Monday. Detail of their games will be posted on
the website.
Tony
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MAY-19 |
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U16's
progress to cup final
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Our
under 16's team progress to their 2nd cup final, last night they played Morriston
and the game ended in a 1-1 draw, but our lads nerve held out as they won the
penalty shoot out 5-4.
They will now play biggest
rivals Port Talbot in the final, Port beat Caerau 2-1.
The final is scheduled for
next Tuesday
Tony
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MAY-20 |
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A
few pic's of the lad's in Dublin
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The
players took a bit of a breather from all the sight seeing and posed for a
couple of quick pic's.
Here they are taking time out
near the river Liffey, the main water source for the Black Gold called Guinness.
Tony
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MAY-19 |
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U16's
progress to cup final
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Our
under 16's team progress to their 2nd cup final, last night they played Morriston
and the game ended in a 1-1 draw, but our lads nerve held out as they won the
penalty shoot out 5-4.
They will now play biggest
rivals Port Talbot in the final, Port beat Caerau 2-1.
The final is scheduled for
next Tuesday
Tony
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MAY-18 |
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The
Lido news round up
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In the
under 14's, Lido won last night 3-1 against Llwynypia and so play West End
(Swansea) who beat Fleur De Lys 3-1 on Tuesday. That final is on
Monday.
Tonight our Lido 16's play Morriston and Port Talbot 16's play Caerau, the final is on
Tuesday, if Lido and Port both make it to the final, our league winners will
be looking for revenge over Port for the recent cup final loss.
The
under 12's reached the semi final stage ages ago, now struggling to get the
final played.
And
on a final bit of news. Len Howells dad of club workaholic Alan Howells is
recovering in hospital from Valve and Artery replacement, and a Quadruple
bypass, the operation lasted 7 hours and the operation went well, so get well
soon Len.
Just
got a text from Gaffer Holmsey, the Eagles have landed in Dublin Airport, and
they can't wait to start their tours of all the Galleries, Museums and Historical
landmarks.
Tony
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MAY-18 |
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A
new member to the Hurley household
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Yesterday Leanne and Lido legend
Greg Hurley, became proud parents to daughter Gracie-May.
Mum Leanne and Baby
Gracie-May are both doing well, and Greg can't wait to start teaching his
daughter the finer skills of FIFA 07, no on second thoughts Evo had better do
that.
Congrats to Mum and Dad from
all at the website.
On
a final note tonight, here's hoping that the lads have a
great trip to Dublin enjoy a well earned break after a
long hard season.
Tony
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MAY-17 |
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Swansea
Ladies at the double
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Swansea City Ladies won the
league and cup double last at the Marston Stadium. They had already wrapped up
the league and last night added the cup as well when they had little trouble
in seeing off Newport Ladies 4-0.
It was no surprise to anyone
the ease with which Swansea brushed aside Newport's challenge, they met twice
in the league last month with Swansea coming out on top in both games 4-1 at
home and a 3-0 win at Newport.
Newport have struggled over
the 2nd half of the season, after matching Swansea win for win after the first
5 games, but they have had problems putting out a team and have been on the
end of a few hidings in recent matches, and were no match for the Swans.
View
league table
Tony
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MAY-16 |
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Caerleon
beat Lido in season's finale
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It started off promising for the
Lido when Ianto opened the scoring after 6 minutes, but Caerleon drew level
after 26 minutes, they then took the lead on 35 minutes and looked to have
sealed the game when they were awarded a penalty a minute before the break, to
go in 3-1 up.
The only scoring in the
second half cam from another penalty in the 89 minute, to cap a good 4-1 win
for the Gwent side.
It could have been a
different story had we had a full strength team out, but we were missing 7
first team players on the night through injury and work.
Match report to follow
Thursday night (work)
Tony
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MAY-16 |
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Caerleon
team news
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For our final game of the season
there are a few out for tonight's trip to Caerleon.
Out: Karl Lewis (Knee) Chris
Piper (Knee) Liam McCreesh (Groin) Steve Parry (Holidays) Shaun O'Leary (work)
John Felton (Work) Brian Thomas is 50/50 (Work)
In: Remi Whitlock - Carl
Payne - Corey Thomas and Shaun Best.
Tony
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MAY-16 |
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U19's lose
out on 4th place
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Sunday saw the curtain fall on
the under 19's season, they were in a 3rd/4th place face off with neighbours
Briton Ferry, and it was the home side who triumphed 2-1 to claim 3rd spot and
our young under 19's had to settle for 4th place, any result other than a loss
would have seen us claim 3rd place, but it wasn't to be on the night. Will
confirm our scorer and finalise the scorers table when I get the name.
View
league table
Tony
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MAY-16 |
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They think
it's all over well it's not yet
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So with our last home game
played on Friday night you would expect the Marston Stadium to be fairly
quiet, but not true, just take a look at the games being played at home this
week.
Last night:
Under 14 Boys Club semi: Fleur de Lys v West End
Wed: Women's Cup Final: Swansea v Newport
Thurs: Church cup finals
Fri: Welsh League Under 19 Cup Final: Pontardawe v Cambrian
Sat: Boys Club game
Sun: Junior Tournament.
So no rest for the wicked at
the Marston just yet.
Tony
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MAY-15 |
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Final round
up for the under 9's
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All the results and scorers for
the under 9's season have now been updated, and can be viewed from their pages
Under 9's pages
Under 9 team
News: Penalty king competition in Marston Stadium prior to FA Cup Final on Saturday.
Meeting time to be confirmed in training on Friday. All Welcome afterwards to
watch Man Utd and Chelsea Battle it out for the all important Cup.
1st
tournament 20th May Venue Afan Lido details from
Dai in training on Friday @ 4:30 Western Avenue.
Tony
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MAY-14 |
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Afan Lido
win League cup
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Tonight is our penultimate game
of the season, and the last of three competitions for the first team to claim
silverware.
It looked the most likely piece
of silverware of the three, just the small matter of beating Goytre in the
final. Tonight's team
line up is.
B Thomas - C Jones - K Lewis
- D Williams - C Evans - C Martin - L McCreesh - P Evans - I Jones
C Piper - G Hurley.
Subs: C Edwards - C Latham -
M Lavis.
The first half has ended
scoreless at the RE/Max in front off a 500+ crowd.
On 83 minutes Lido took the
lead with a goal from Craig Martin, his first of the season.
GAME OVER AND AFAN LIDO ARE
THE LEAGUE CUP CHAMPIONS.
Well done to all, and to Phil
& Evs for a successful and winning start to football management in their
first season, not that hard is it lads.
Match report to follow tomoz.
Tony
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MAY-11 |
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Team news
ahead of the Barry Town game
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Tonight we take on bottom of the
table and relegated Barry Town at the Marston, looking to match or better our
previous meetings this season which were a 4-0 welsh cup win and a 7-0 league
win, Ianto will be looking to hit the 40 goal mark with just 3 games left he
only has 3 goals to go, He scored 5 when the teams met at Jenner Park in the
league back in November.
Out: Shaun O'Leary - Steve
Parry - John Felton - Greg Hurley.
In: Justin Williams - Phil
Holmes.
Tony
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MAY-9 |
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A bad night
for the Lido teams
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Both our teams playing tonight
were well beaten, The firsts were away to Bryntirion and lost 3-0, with the
goals coming in the 20th, 26th and 88th minute.
While our Ladies team were
playing their final match of the season at home to UWIC, they were 6-1 down at
half time and the final score was 9-1 to the students.
Tony
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MAY-9 |
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Team news
ahead of the Bryntirion game tonight
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The welsh cup journey is now
over and we get back to the bread and butter of the league. With nothing
really to play for in the last 3 games as 3 wins would still leave us on equal
points with 4th placed Ton Pentre, we would have to 16 goals without reply to
claim 4th spot, equally ENTO Aberaman would have to win their last 2 games and
score 17 without reply to claim 5th spot.
Tonight's news is.
Out: John Felton (work) Steve
Parry (holidays) and Shaun O'Leary (retired?)
In: Carl Edwards, Matt Lavis
and Justin Williams.
Tony
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MAY-9 |
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U16's lose
in final to Port Talbot
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The under 16's played local
neighbours Port Talbot in the under 16 cup final, but alas our league winning
side failed to scoop the double, with Port Talbot winning 2-0 in a game played
in terrible weather.
The under 16's are also in
the last four of the welsh cup, where Morriston stand in the way of our team
making it to a second final, where the could meet Port Talbot again, if both
teams win through.
Tony
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MAY-9 |
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Under 10's
results up to date
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The under 10's results are up to
date, results and scorers sent in by Brian Thomas's younger brother Kirk.
to view up to date results
and scorers visit Under 10's pages
Tony
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MAY-9 |
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Last league
game of the season for Lido Ladies
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Our Lido Ladies take to the
field tonight in their last league game of the season when we host 3rd
placed UWIC at the Marston.
But unfortunately even a
victory on the day will not be enough for our Ladies to avoid the wooden
spoon, any hope we had of getting off the bottom of the table was killed off
on Wednesday night when Haverfordwest beat Bridgend 5-0. But they still have
the chance to end the season on a winning note against UWIC. Though this will
be a tough test for the Ladies as the students have only lost twice this
season and both defeats were to league leaders Swansea City.
If our side can field a full strength
team (which they have not been able to do for most of the season) they are
capable of giving any team in the league a run for their money, so good luck
Ladies.
View
league table
Tony
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MAY-6 |
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Ianto brace
not enough to halt Carmarthen
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The Lido lads put in a good
performance to push Carmarthen all the way in the welsh cup final.
Kaid Mohamed opened the
scoring for Town in the 13th minute when he fired in from 17 yards.
But the lead only lasted a
few minutes, in the 16th minute Lido were awarded a free kick inside the box
and the kick was laid off to Ianto who fired into the net leaving Town's
keeper stranded.
On 26 minutes Town regained
the lead, with a low drive from former Lido player Sasha Walters that bounced
just in front of Brian and over the diving keepers hands.
Liam McCreesh had two chances
for our equaliser, hitting the bar with one and forcing a save from Thomas
with the other.
On 48 minutes Town opened a 2
goal lead when Mohamed scored his 2nd of the game hitting low across Brian's
goal leaving him no chance to stop the shot.
Following Town's 3rd goal we
played our best soccer of the game, with good passing movements, but alas the
final ball rarely troubled Neil Thomas.
Just when it looked like we
were never going to get a 2nd goal, up popped John Felton on the left wing and
played a low cross which Ianto touched in sweetly into the top right of the
goal for his 2nd of the game and his 37th goal of the season.
Try as we did we never quite
managed another serious attempt on goal and although the Lido never gave up,
and with 5 minutes of added on time Carmarthen saw out the game winning 3-2.
A great day for the club and
every player trying their best to the end.
Well done Lido. And
congratulations to Carmarthen on their first welsh cup.
Afan
Lido FC
B
Thomas, C Jones, K Lewis, D Williams, J Felton (Latham 85'), C Martin, L
McCreesh, P Evans (C Evans 68'), I Jones, S O'Leary,
G Hurley (Piper 68').
Yellow
Cards: J
Felton 3'
Attendance:
946
Tony
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MAY-5 |
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Team line
up for the cup final
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The closely guarded team line up
can now be revealed for the clubs first ever welsh cup final appearance.
The Team:
Brian Thomas - Paul Evans - Craig Martin - Shaun O'Leary (c) Greg Hurley -
Karl Lewis - Craig Jones
Liam McCreesh - Ian Jones - John Felton.
Subs: Chris Latham - Chris Piper - Carl Evans.
Gaffer Phil Homes went on to
say about Sunday's game.
" it's a massive
occasion for not only the club but the whole town of Aberavon"
"we'll certainly enjoy the occasion but we're not going there to make the
numbers up."
"we feel we've put Afan Lido back on the Football Map"
"it'll be a wonderful occasion for the supporters as they haven't had
much to shout about in the last couple of years"
"we're going into the game as underdogs which will suit us"
"as league positions go out of the window in cup competitions it's who's
up for it the most"
"Carmarthen are a quality side with a lot of players who can win a game
so it's going to be difficult"
"we'll prepare ourselves as best as we can and if every player gives 100%
then we can't ask for anymore"
Afan Lido can expect a huge
following to cheer them on, as Phil Robinson told me on Wednesday, we have 4
coaches booked and with supporters travelling by car we are expecting around
1,000 fans at the game.
So good luck to all on
Sunday, I had the pleasure of meeting many of the players, fans and club
officials on my recent 3 day visit, and was made incredibly welcome by
everyone, and had a great time. I also hope to put up pictures taken of my
trip early next week, if I can figure out how to download them.
On a final note I hope Rich Taylor's
interview in welsh with the BBC went ok :)
News Just in: Rich Taylor's
interview in welsh went so well he is
looking forward to giving an interview in welsh after the cup final live on SC4, fair
play Rich, rather you than me.
Tony
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MAY-3 |
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Norma
wishes the club all the best
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Our CEO received a good will
email today from one of our welsh league counterparts Norma Samuel of Taffs
Well. Below is the kind message she wrote.
Wishing you and the players
all the best luck in the world on Sunday from everyone at Taffs Well A.F.C.
Good luck.
Tony
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