Afan Lido Football Club

Afan Lido starting line up:
M Lewis, S Hillman, C Evans, R Williams, S McCourbrey, Damon Thomas, Daniel Thomas, C Pridham, M Jones, N White, C Payne.
Subs:
L Shrimpton, C Latham, C Baker, D Lancey, C Thomas.

We started of well and could have taken the lead on 4'. Rhys Williams almost scored from a header but his effort was saved on the line.
Goytre made the breakthrough on 7' the Lido defence opened up and let Richard Ryan in for a goal.
On 44' we went down to 10 men, Chris Pridham got his marching orders when he picked up his 2nd yellow card of the game. 1-0 Goytre at half time.
Expecting that Goytre would make the extra man count, it was 10 man Lido that scored the next goal, on 52' Damon Thomas scored Lido's equaliser.
On 54' we had a 2nd person given his marching orders, this time it was assistant manager Vince Lewis and he was sent to the stand, well the view is better from there anyway.
Goytre scored the winning goal on 58' with a goal from Daly. Two minutes later Lido went down to 9 men, when Scott McCourbrey was shown a straight red card.
For the last 30' 9 man Lido held the league leaders scoreless, for a final score of Goytre 2-1 Afan Lido.
 

Afan Lido have signed a new player from Pontardawe and the midfielder goes straight into the squad for the Goytre game tonight.
He is Daniel Thomas a midfielder from Pontardawe. Gaffer Mark Robbo stated that he had put in a 7 day notice on the player, and had been tracking Thomas for some time and has now got his man.
Dan has previously played for Britton Ferry before his transfer to Pontardawe. Dan has become the 17th new signing since pre-season.
View transfer page
 

Managers Mark Robbo and Vince Lewis have named a squad of 16 players for the all important derby game against Goytre Utd tonight.
They are:
M Lewis, S Hillman, Carl Evans, D Thomas, Daniel Thomas, C Pridham, N White, L Shrimpton, C Baker, C Thomas, D Lancey, R Williams, C Latham, C Payne, M Jones,
S McCourbrey.
 

Friday night we play our biggest away fixture of the season when we take on our nearest rivals Goytre United at Glenhafod Park Stadium.
Goytre remain unbeaten at home after 6 games at Glenhafod with 4 wins and 2 draws, they have beaten Dinas Powys, Cardiff Corries, Pontardawe and Bettws and drawn against Ton Pentre and Ely Rangers. They have been one of the most consistent teams in the division and have not finished outside the top 2 in several seasons, while clubs have been well funded like ENTO Aberaman and Bridgend, they continue to be one of the most dominant clubs in the welsh league, and able to attract top players to the club in their pursuit of welsh league dominance.
Last season they beat us 2-0, while in 2007/08 we came away with a 2-1 win, in 2006/07 we also won at Glenhafod Park 1-0, in 2005/06 Goytre won 2-1.
Our away form has been poor so far this season with only 1 win in 5 outings, and that win came in our first away game beating Ton Pentre 3-1 at Ynys Park, we have failed to score in our last 3 away games, but did pick up a good point last time out away against champions Aberaman, bringing and end to 3 successive defeats. Goals have been in short supply on the road with just 4 goals from our 5 games, Nathan White has been our most productive scorer on the road with 3 out of our 4 away goals, with Sam McCoy scoring the other. Nathan remains our top marksman with exactly half our league goals, scoring 10 from our total of 20.
With our poor away form and Goytre's solid home form a win for the home side would look like the most likely outcome, but it is a local derby and the form book might have a night off (fingers crossed). We lie in 4th place and 10 points adrift of Goytre but we do have 2 games in hand, a defeat will leave us a massive 13 points adrift of Goytre, an almost impossible gap to close in our pursuit of a top 2 finish.
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Caldicot Town are the visitors to the Marston this Friday night (7:45 pm). Caldicot are enjoying a 2nd successive good start to the season though last season they dipped away badly finishing in 13th place but that was still high enough for them to finish as Gwent's top team in the welsh league, and this season they are emulating that again, but this season only 2 teams from Gwent grace the division.
Last season in the corresponding fixture we came out 1-0 winners with a late goal scored by Scott McCourbrey. And the only other fixture the season before ended with another single goal victory when we beat them 2-1, with Ianto and Kieran Howells scoring the home goals. Both away games since they were promoted have both ended in draws, so they are yet to beat us since their promotion 2 season's ago.
Our home form has been excellent this season, with 5 league wins on the trot, and just 1 defeat coming in our opening fixture against Bridgend Town, and we have kept 3 clean sheets from the 6 games, and 2 clean sheets in both our last 2 games, while scoring 6.
Caldicot currently lie in 8th place in the table on 17 points, but do have a game in hand over us on 19 points, behind the top 2 teams competition is tight, as only 2 points separate 3rd to 9th. and 2 of those clubs meet Friday night, when Bryntirion in 9th host Cambrian in 3rd. Tonight Ton Pentre host leaders Goytre so any slip ups on Friday night could see us drop 2 places to 6th.
View league table
 

Afan Lido have been drawn at home against Abertillery Bluebirds in the 3rd round of the Nathaniel car sales league cup.
The tie will be played on Saturday December 5th with a 1:30 pm kick off. The away game against Taffs Well in the league on Dec 4th will now be re-arranged.
Full draw:

Afan Lido	v		Abertillery Bluebirds
AFC Porth	v		Porthcawl Town
Barry Town	v		Bryntirion Athletic
Bridgend Town	v		West End
Camb & Clydach or B F Llansawel	v		South Gower
Cardiff Corinthians	v		AFC Llwydcoed
Llangeinor	v		Croesyceiliog
Pontardawe or Ammanford	v		Goytre United

 

There were wins today for both our under 19's and under 18's teams.
The under 19's were away and beat BF Llansawel in the opening game of the league. The under 18's were also away and beat Maesteg Park.

In the opening fixture of Youth division west, our under 19's beat BF Llansawel 5-0 to get their campaign off to a flying start. Our scorers were Matt Beynon 2, Ellis Harris, and Connor Harris.

Our under 18's also had a comfortable win at Tudor Park beating Maesteg Park 3-0, the scorers for Lido were, Shaun Beddows 2, and Thomas King.
 

This will be a game that Lido will want to forget, a poor performance despite a victory through to the next round. We were fielding a team minus several first team starters on the day.

It was a first start in Lido colours for Rob Cockings since his transfer from Trefelin in mid-week.

We went behind to a 17' goal from Cardiff Bay, and we only drew level in the 66' when sub Scott McCourbrey scored for Lido. But 3' later we took the lead to make it 2-1 through a goal from Jonah.

Jonah rounded off the game with Lido's 3rd in injury time to make the final score Lido 3-1 Cardiff Bay.

Lido line up:
M Lewis, S Hillman, R Cockings, R Williams, S Galsworthy, C Payne,  C Baker, J McEvoy, M Jones, N White, G Jones.

Subs:
M Benyon, V Lewis, C Latham, S McCourbrey, C Thomas.
 

M Lewis, R Williams, S Hillman, S Galsworthy, R Cockings, G Jones, C Payne, C Baker, M Jones, N White, S McCourbrey, C Thomas, C Latham, J McEvoy.

The club also welcome back an old face to squad for the league cup game, Chris Latham makes a welcome return after leaving Lido for neighbours Trefelin 2 season's ago. Chris was a Lido favourite during his time at the club for his non stop dynamo performances.

Chris becomes the 2nd player this week to sign from Trefelin and the 4th this season.
 

Former Port Talbot defender Robert Cockings is the latest Afan Lido signing. Robert signs from near neighbours Trefelin BGC. The 33 year old defender signed for Trefelin in September 2007 from Port Talbot, where he made 155 + 14 welsh premier league appearances and scored 2 goals for the Steelmen. Robert's signing brings the total signings to 15 this season, and he is joining 2 former Trefelin teammates Craig Baker and Damon Thomas who have also signed for Lido this season.
View transfer page