APR-30

Final home game ends all square against Bryntirion

We took a 43rd minute lead with a goal from Dan McGrath, but on 52 minutes Bryntirion drew level with a goal from Cuss, the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

We might not be going up this season, but next season looks to be bright for our young side, again tonight the squad was stacked with our very good youth side, in fact 7 of the youths were in the squad, so the future is looking rosy at the Marston.

Tony

APR-30

Squad news for Bryntirion game

L Cosker - Rory McCreesh - D Williams - D McGrath - J Williams - K Howells - M Waters 
C Payne - M Beynon - K Roberts - L Borrelli - S Best - C Thomas - D Thomas.

Their are fitness tests for Steve Cox & Shaun Morgan.

Tony

APR-30

Bryntirion match preview

Bryntirion are relative newcomers to the welsh league and are only in their 5th season, they were South Wales Amateur League Champions in 2001-02 and gained promotion to the welsh league. In their first season in div 3 they came a very respectable 5th. In their 2nd season in the welsh league they won promotion to div 2, and the very next season won back to back promotions to reach division 1 having come third that season. They are an ambitious club and have made overtures to make their way up to the welsh premier league. Their 1st season in division 1 saw them finish in a safe 9th place, and last season they went one better to finish in 8th place. This season will see them improve their position for a 3rd year running in the division, their final placing yet to be decided, but anywhere from 6th to 4th is a safe bet.

This is a fairly new fixture for Afan Lido and is only our 3^rd home league meeting with two previous meetings resulted in a 0-0 draw last season and a 3-1 win the previous season with Ianto scoring a brace and Chris Piper the other.

We have beaten Bryntirion away in the league this season, when goals from Michael Waters and Steve Davies gave us all three points just three weeks ago, and tonight we look to complete the double over them.

Tonight’s final home game doesn’t look like it will have a large crowd attending due to the champions league semi-final taking place as we are on the field, but we should end the season with an average of over 160 for the season if we get around 100 for tonight’s game one of the best in the welsh league if not the best.

The squad line for tonight’s game will be posted when I receive it later on today, and hopefully it will see us at full strength.

Tony

APR-29

D-Day tomorrow night in title race

A win for Lido is the only result which will keep our title (or top 2 finish) alive, but Bryntirion our opponents will be looking for points to finish as high as they can with their remaining 4 games. We undoubtedly have the hardest fixture of the night, as the other 3 teams have relatively handy games and do not face any of the teams in the top half of the table. 2nd placed Dinas Powys are home to Bridgend, while 3rd placed Ton Pentre should have little trouble against almost relegated Maesteg Park. In the other game ENTO Aberaman are away to Taffs Well.

Our many draws this season has been our biggest hindrance in being in 5th place and not higher in the table, in fact we have drawn as many games (9) as Goytre, Dinas Powys & Ton Pentre put together.

So good luck to the team tomorrow night, in what will be a very tough game against a good Bryntirion side. 

Tony

APR-28

Under 16 Reds share title with Port Talbot

And that was the way for both teams throughout the season, win after win for both sides, in fact 16 wins each, they both somehow avoided each other until the final 2 games of the season.

On April 21st Port Talbot White's hosted our Reds, A win for Port Talbot would hand them the title with a 40 goal better difference, but the game ended in a 1-1 draw. Two days later both teams final game of the season would decide the title, only a win would see our Reds carry away the trophy, a win or even a draw would see our neighbours as champions, and it ended in another 1-1 draw, so both team finished the season unbeaten after 18 games and both teams finished on 50 points, so commiserations to our under 16 Reds on a great season and a congrats to Port Talbot.

SLIGHT AMENDMENT TO THE ABOVE. I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT GOAL DIFFERENCE DOESN'T COUNT IN THE JUNIOR LEAGUES, SO THAT'S GOOD NEWS FOR THE REDS AS THEY SHARE THE TITLE WITH PORT TALBOT

My thanks to Peter Reynolds for putting me right on the subject (my website watchdog always puts me right when I make a boo boo)

View league table

Tony

APR-26

Promotion looking doomed as the teams above us just keep winning

Goytre recorded a 5-0 hammering of Newport YMCA to go top of the table and certainly looking like favourites for the title, Dinas Powys move up to 2nd with a 6-0 demolition job done on Cambrian & Clydach away.

Both Goytre and Dinas leap frog Ton Pentre who drop to 3rd after they were held to a 0-0 draw at Croesyceiliog.

4th placed Aberaman also secured another 3 points today with a 1-0 home win over Caldicot Town and they move to within a point of Ton Pentre.

Today's results leaves us 8 points off top placed Goytre and having played the same amount of games (30) while we are 7 points off that elusive 2nd spot help by Dinas who have played 1 more game than us.

But Goytre only need 4 more points from 4 games for us not to able to to catch them even if we win our last 4 games which is a tall order anyway, and Dinas require 5 points from their last 3 games to avoid us catching them.

So it's looking like another season in the welsh league next season for Lido and another crack at it in 2008-09 season, realistically the best we can hope to finish is 4th or at very best 3rd, but we could end up as low as 8th if all the results go against us, as down as far as Newport YM in 8th spot can mathematically catch us.

Next match up for the Lido is Wednesday night and our final home game of the season against the team directly below us Bryntirion, kick off is at 7:30, so come and support your team one last time this season, and roar on the young team to victory.

Tony

APR-24

U19's put 5 past Cwmamman in tonight's league game

The win takes us level with Carmarthen Town on 44 points but they edge out of 2nd spot with better goal difference.

Our scorers were Steve Hughes (2), Matt Beynon (2), Joel Kabia.

View league table.

Tony

APR-23

Lido young guns see off Garw

Shaun Best scored his first, first team hat-trick with Carl Payne scoring the other.

More tomorrow

Tony

APR-23

Team news for the Garw game

Shaun Morgan, Steve Davies and Karl Roberts are missing from tonight's squad, all three are out injured since the last game.

Squad:

L Cosker - Rory McCreesh - D Williams - D McGrath - J Williams - K Howells - M Waters 
C Payne - S Cox - N Hodgson  - R Whitelock - L Borrelli - S Best - C Thomas - D Thomas

This squad consists of eight under 19's for a 2nd game running, another testament to our strength in depth and the managers faith in the youngsters.

No news for tonight's result unfortunately as I wont be around, but the full SP tomorrow.

Tony

APR-23

Lido Reserves lose to champions Bryntirion

Lido remain in 4th place and can't catch any of the teams above them, or can be caught by the teams below them. 

The Reserves final game of the season is home to Cardiff Corries this Saturday.

Tony

APR-19

Lido go down 2-1 against Caerleon

Half time score: Caerleon 1-0 Afan Lido.

Hope of a come back were dashed as Caerleon doubled their lead on 62 minutes to take a 2-0 lead, a first away league defeat of the season seems inevitable.

Lido scored a late consolation goal on 93 mins, with Mike Waters 6th league goal of the season.

Final score Caerleon 2-1 Afan Lido

Tony

APR-18

Lido line up to face Caerleon

In most games we have featured at least 4 youths in the starting 11 and in some games 5, so the future for the first team looks secure, but we turn our attention to the present and the task against Caerleon, who are having their best season in the league for some time, their away form is the 4th best in the league and ha gained them 30 of their 46 points, luckily for the top teams their home form isn't as good, but they have been no pushovers either, defeats by Goytre and Dinas Powys were both by a single goal and both 2-1 defeats, but Ton Pentre only managed a 0-0 draw and Bryntirion a 2-2 draw.

While they no chance of challenging the top 6, they will be ken to end the season as Gwent's top club, that means overhauling Newport YMCA who are just 3 points ahead of Caerleon.

Once again we defend the leagues only away unbeaten record and a must win game for us to keep up the chances of a top 2 finish and promotion to the Welsh Premier.

We already tasted defeat this season at Cold Blow Lane when Caerleon beat us 3-1 in the league cup, last season in the corresponding fixture we were well beaten 4-1 in the last game of the season prior to our cup final appearance, so that scoreline was somewhat expected as we used several reserves and youths, this season we were held to a 1-1 draw at home, so we are due a win against them, 3rd time time lucky.

Captain Karl Lewis and Steve Parry are unavailable due to work commitments and Ianto is still out sick, but the youngsters are more than capable of filling in for the more senior players, no one more so than Shaun Morgan who since returning to the club from Corus Steel has made his place in the defence his own, but he is not 100% for tomorrow's game and under goes a late fitness test. But we welcome back Dan McGrath from injury and Dan takes his place in the squad.

Lido squad to face Caerleon is:

Leon Cosker - Justin Williams - Karl Roberts - Daniel Williams - Steven Cox - Stephen Davies
Kieran Howells - Corey Thomas - Damon Thomas - Luke Borrelli - Rory McCreesh - Carl Payne
Shaun Best - Daniel McGrath - Michael Waters - Shaun Morgan (fitness test)

Tony

APR-14

Squad news & Pontardawe preview

Pontardawe are a bit of a bogey team for Lido since our stint back in the welsh league, in our 2 away league games we have failed to beat them, both games have ended in 1-1 draws, our scorer last season was John Felton, they have also had the better of things at he Marston winning 1-0 in the previous two seasons, but we did get a 2-1 win at the end on January to record our first league win over Ponty in 5 attempts.

Ponty have been in the bottom reaches of the table for most of the season, but they are safe being 9 points off the drop zone, they are capable this season of beating the top teams at home as Dinas Powys can testify to when they were beaten 1-0 just 9 days ago.

Tonight we look to extend our unbeaten away record to twelve games and to notch up victory number seven, hopefully we can break that bogey tag and move up to third in the table.

For tonight, the team are missing just two players from the squad, Steve Parry is out as is Ianto, who misses his third game in a row through illness.

The squad for tonight's Pontardawe game.

Lido Squad  
Leon Cosker, Dan Williams, Shaun Morgan, Kieran Howells, Steve Davies, Corey Thomas, Ian Jones, Steve Cox, Michael Waters, Justin Williams, Nathan Hodgson, Luke Borrelli, Rory McCreesh, Karl Roberts, Carl Payne, Remi Whitelock, Damon Thomas.

APR-11

Lido away record still in tact

With less than 10 seconds on Lido keeper Leon Cosker was adjudged to have committed a foul, the free was re-taken a 2nd time and Bryntirion scored, not a good start to the match.   But the home sides lead lasted just a few minutes, when on 8 minutes Afan Lido were awarded a penalty (which even the Lido faithful said was never a penalty) and Waters drew us level.

No more scoring action in the first half and we were level 1-1 at the break.  

We took the lead on 54 minutes with a goal from Steve Davies to take a 2-1 lead, a lead we never relinquished to come away with a fine 2-1 win over Bryntirion.

Tonight's win moves us up a place to 4th moving above Goytre by a point.

Tony

APR-11

Bryntirion team news and preview

A win for the home side would see them go top of the league a point clear of Ton Pentre, but that lead would only last until tomorrow afternoon as Goytre have a cert 3 points as they host bottom club Garw, leaders Ton Pentre have a difficult task as they travel to King George V New Field to take on Cambrian & Clydach, Also Dinas Powys should have no problems in taking 3 points when they entertain another relegation favourite Pontypridd Town.

While a win for Lido will see us move just one place to 4th but that will be back to 5th as it will be Goytre we will jump with a win.

Since our return to the welsh league and Bryntirion's elevation to the first division, it hasn't been a happy hunting ground for the Lido. Two season's ago we managed a 3-3 draw with Ianto bagging a hat-trick. Last season we were on the end of a 3-0 thumping, but many will forget we fielded a weakened side due to our impending welsh cup final appearance and resting of many first team players.

Failure to claim a win could see us drop to 6th, if ENTO Aberaman beat Caerleon on Saturday, but our away record of 10 games unbeaten with 5 wins and 5 draws is the only unbeaten record still in tact, and with just 4 goals conceded in those 10 games some sort of result will be hoped for.

The squad for tonight's game is the same as Tuesday's Goytre game.

Lido Squad  
Leon Cosker, Steve Parry, Dan Williams, Shaun Morgan, Kieran Howells, Steve Davies, Corey Thomas, Ian Jones, Steve Cox, Michael Waters, Justin Williams, Nathan Hodgson, Luke Borrelli, Rory McCreesh, Karl Roberts, Carl Payne, Remi Whitelock, Damon Thomas.

Tony

APR-8

Afan Lido beat city rivals

It took 23 minutes for the first goal, and it came from Steve Davis with his 5th league goal of the season. 

Things got better when Shaun Morgan scored his first goal of the season to make it 2-0 on 40 minutes.

Goytre needed to start well in the2nd half to get back into the game and on 50 minutes they got the goal they were looking for to make it 2-1, but that's as close as they got as Lido ran out 2-1 winners.

Even though we collected 3 points tonight, we still remain in 5th place, but t5hat little bit closer to the teams above us.

Tony

APR-8

Lido squad for tonight's derby game with Goytre

Tony

APR-1

Lido suffer home defeat to Dinas Powys

After a goalless 1st half Dinas Took the lead on 48 minutes, they were awarded a dubious penalty, many thought it was a dive but 1-0 it was.

Dinas got their full revenge for their recent home defeat by sealing the 3 points on 78 minutes, and Lido never really looked like getting one goal back let alone 2.

The defeat could be the final nail in the coffin for our promotion hopes, but there are still 9 games left. The win now sets Dinas up nicely for a crack at the title, being just 3 points off Ton Pentre and with a game in hand.

Match report tomorrow.

Tony

APR

Fixtures for April