TOWN PRE-SEASON

27.06.08 Llanelli AFC 2 Carmarthen Town 2
12.07.08 Carmarthen Town 0 Cardiff City 5
17.07.08 Town v Port Talbot v Swansea City - CT 0 PT 0 - Town 0 Swans 3
22.07.08 Newport County 0 Carmarthen Town 1
26.07.08 West End 2 Carmarthen Town 2
02.08.08 Carmarthen Town 4 Merthyr Tydfil 2
09.08.08 Carmarthen Town 2 Ton Pentre 1

09.08.08 CARMARTHEN TOWN 2 TON PENTRE 1

Town rounded off their pre-season programme with a well worked win against Welsh League outfit Ton Pentre. In an evenly balanced first half Town broke the deadlock on 32 minutes when Nicky Palmer found the back of the net after Danny Thomas had touched-on Damon Searle’s curling cross into the box.

But the 'Bulldogs' showed why they consistently do well. Chris James posed Town problems on the right and Ryan Shugar was prominent in the middle as both sides created chances. On the right Town's Richard Hughes broke well sending in some testing crosses whilst Ton keeper Ryan Betteney was forced to deny Thomas and Palmer on several occasions. At the other end Neil Thomas’ quick reaction kept out Ryan Morgan following Phil Clarke’s free kick from the flank.

Both sides made changes of personnel and positions at the break and with Mark Crutch and Morgan commanding in the middle of the Ton defence Town just failed to capitalise on considerable possession before finally adding a second on 58 minutes when Neil Smothers' free kick deflected off Morgan into the net.

But despite the torrential weather Ton refused to give up as they maintained posession well with some neat interpassing and sharp running. Tim Hicks made several breaks for Town but without an end product and when James latched onto a long punt down field with ten minutes remaining he outpaced the Town defence to fire past Thomas and halve the deficit.

Town played the game out well and coach Mark Aizlewood was pleased with the outcome. He told 'Y Dre ar Y We' "Today we were better than last week, very pleasing and there were a lot of good things. The weather didn't help and some of the players looked a little tired, but having had a training session this morning that's acceptable. All in all at this stage in the season with one training session left we're as well prepared as we can be. Today was a good test".

Town: N Thomas, Hughes (Cattlin 46'), Searle (Smothers 46'), Palmer, Hancock (Evans 60'), Dodds, D Thomas (Coombes 46'), Hicks, Fowler, Roberts (Walters 67'), Hudgell (Cotterrall 58').
Ton Pentre: Betteney, Lewis, Clarke, Morgan, Crutch, Hughes, Shugar, Stevens, James, Pearson, Jones Subs: 46' Jaka, Jago & Edwards on - Clarke, Pearson & Lewis off. Referee H Towns.

02.08.08 CARMARTHEN TOWN 4 MERTHYR TYDFIL 2

A first half Danny Thomas hat-trick set up a comprehensive Town scoreline. But if Town had the better of the first half the visitors showed far more endeavour and penetration in the second period. With most of the action taking place in the Town half the Martyrs netted twice to set a tense finale but with a minute remaining Cotterrall struck superbly to ensure that Town ran out winners.

Thomas broke the deadlock after 12 minutes when he headed in Cotterrall's neat return ball after the wing man's first effort had ricocheted off the bar. Small and Steins picked up well on some loose Town passing and it was Steins who came closest to leveling when he first lost out in a one-on-one with Town keeper Thomas and on the half hour mark fired into the side netting having been put clear by the prominent Harries.

Thomas came close to netting a second on the half hour when he chipped just wide with the keeper committed but with Harris and O'Sullivan's strong runs down the left causing problems Town didn't have things all their own way.

Then when Hudgell pounced on Clarke's wayward pass Thomas extended Town's advantage on 35' and with five minutes of the half remaining he netted his third when he finished a flowing move that had been initially blocked off the Merthyr line.

Town brought on Brace and Hughes for Cattlin and Searle after the break but with Merthyr showing more urgency and with the wind at their backs they retained possession well keeping Town pegged back.

Further changes saw Williams and Jones replaced Rewbury and Small for the visitors and Coombes came on for the influential Palmer in the Town mid-field. Merthyr continued to press forward and were finally rewarded when Town were hesitant in defence gifting away the ball for Steins to reduced the arrears on the hour mark.

Wellington replaced Hudgell who had partnered Palmer well in the middle and Glassey and Wharton replaced Harris and Clarke for the visitors.

Merthyr won more of the mid field ball but with Town defending the final ball well the visitors just failed to find a final finish. Then with ten minutes remaining Griffiths' fierce drive rebounded off the bar and Steins got his second as Merthyr looked to complete a great come-back.

A trio of changes for Merthyr saw the last of the substitutions but with Dodds commanding at the back Coombes made a blistering break on the right and Cotterrall timed his run perfectly to put the result beyond doubt. A very competitive and entertaining work out for both sides.

Town: Thomas, Cattlin (Brace 46'), Searle (Hughes 46'), Palmer (Coombes 56'), Hancock, Dodds, Thomas, Hudgell (Wellington 73'), Fowler, Walters, Cotterrall.
Merthyr: Griffiths, Clarke (Wharton 76'), Dawe, Evans, Griffiths, Thomas, Harris (Glassey 73'), Rewbury(Williams 53'), Small (Jones 53'), Steins, O'Sullivan brought on @ 85' Hartshorne, Morgan & Rodman. Officials B James, H Towns & G Ayres.

25.07.08 WEST END 2 CARMARTHEN TOWN 2

Town finished a busy and intense period with their second friendly of the week. New signing Damon Searle made his Town debut and manager Deryn Brace was pleased with his new acquisition.

"Its been a busy couple of weeks with some great performances and tonight Damon had a very pleasing 45 minutes". Brace made eight changes to the team that had faced Newport County with Danny Thomas and young Steffan Davies the scorers.

"Two tough games again this week in Newport and West End. It’s been a good fitness week. Everybody has had a start. There were eight changes for the West End game. Hopefully it gives us a little bit of strength in depth".

Town: A Hughes, Hancock, K Davies, Dodds, Brace, Walters, Wellington, Coombes, Hudgell, S Davies, D Thomas, Searle.

22.07.08 NEWPORT COUNTY 0 CARMARTHEN TOWN 1

Having played Championship opposition twice in the previous week Town took on Blue Square Premier South outfit Newport County at Chepstow on Tuesday evening. Despite having the best of the first half opportunities Town failed to convert and the game remained scoreless at the break.

With new signing Lee Hudgell included in the starting line-up and Neil Smothers in command at the back a Tim Hicks strike in the 88th. minute proved the decider. Following a Nathan Cotterall free kick from out on the left Hicks ran on to the ball in the box to find the left hand side of the net for the only score of the game.

Town : N Thomas, P Cattlin, L Hudgell, N  Smothers, N Palmer, K Thomas, S  Walters, T Hicks (M May 78’), P Fowler, D Thomas, N Cotterrall. Hicks returned for Palmer (85').

County : G Thompson (S James 58’), S Jenkins, D Collins (P Keddle 46’), A Harris (N Davies 46’), N Skelton (M Giles 46’), I Hillier, D Wring (C Hughes 46’), D Rose (C Hartland 63'), P Walsh (A Church 56’), K Cooper (R Evans 63’), L Fisher (P Hall 46’). Skelton returned for Hillier (55'), Hillier returned for Jenkins (63').

Town are on the road again on Friday evening when they take on West End. KO 7.00

17.07.08 SWANS SEAL THREE WAY TOURNAMENT

Despite the hastily arranged tournament the format proved popular with a good crowd well entertained by the three clubs. An entertaining opener saw Town and the Steelmen finish goalless. The Championship outfit showed their class and Swans new signing Gorka Pintado certainly knew how to find the net. With a complete change of personnel for both games the Swans ran out comfortable winners against the Town and the Steelmen to complete a hat-trick of wins against Welsh Premier opposition.

Carmarthen Town 0 Port Talbot Town 0

An evenly balanced 45 minutes with Town having a couple of chances in the last five minutes that were denied by keeper Williams who firstly blocked out Hicks from point blank range and also foiled Danny Thomas with a sharp save to his left. Having netted Hicks was then denied by the Assistant's flag after fine passes by Cotterrall and Danny Thomas.

Town: N Thomas, Cattlin, Smothers, Wellington, Dodds, K Thomas, D Thomas, Palmer, Hicks, Coombes, Cotterrall.
Port Talbot: Williams, Maxwell, DeVulgt, James, Thompson, McCreesh, Walters, Griffiths, N Jones, Famiya, Coates.

Port Talbot Town 0 Swansea City 4

A well taken hattrick for new signing Gorka sealed an impressive win for the Swans. After Gomez was brought down on five minutes Gorka broke the deadlock from the spot and on the ten minute mark the Swans doubled the advantage when an inch perfect cross from Orlandi out on the left was headed home by Gomez for his first strike for the Championship side on 23 minutes. Keeper Rodgers did well to deny Gorka a third but it wasn't long in coming when he latched on to a through ball and netted with a powerful angled drive to make it 4-0.

Swans: De Vries, Williams, Painter, O'Leary, Tate, Gomez, Gorka, Pratley, Van de Hayden, Orlandi, Gower.
Port Talbot: Rodgers, James, Phillips, De Vulgt, A James, John, Thompson, Rose, McCreesh (Maxwell 33'), Barrow (N Jones 39'), Famiya (Coates 25').

Carmarthen Town 0 Swansea City 3

Bauza netted the second hatrick of the night to ensure a comfortable win for the Swans. Once again the Swans broke the deadlock from the spot after Dodds was harshly adjudged to have brought down the front man on 13 minutes. But there was no arguing with Bauza's second effort when he netted a well struck curling shot from a full 25 yards ten minutes later.

Town keeper Thomas did well to deny Tudur-Jones at the far post and Butler scooped over when well placed. Martinez made some changes late on that saw Cornell make his Swans debut between the sticks. Then with Bauza having an effort scrambled to safety he was on the spot to tap home a rebound on the stroke of time after Thomas had parried Collins' shot to give the Swans the second win of the night.

Town:N Thomas, Hancock, Smothers, Walters, Dodds, K Thomas, D Thomas, Palmer, Hicks, Coombes, Cotterrall.
Swans: De Vries (Cornell 36'), Bodde (Allen 33'), Britton (C Jones 35), Monk, Tudur Jones, McDonald, Feds, Bauza, Collins, Serran, Butler.

Officials : S Jones, M Evans, J Twigg.

12.07.08 Carmarthen Town 0 Cardiff City 5

A very strong Cardiff City team proved too powerful for Carmarthen Town in the Old Gold’s pre season opener at Richmond Park on Saturday. Welsh International Parry helped himself to a hat-trick, teenager Rhys Kelleher added a fourth with Town’s Chris Thomas putting through his own net.

City started with 10 players from their first-team squad plus Kelleher and a large crowd was thoroughly entertained by the FA Cup finalists who included six of the Wembley starting line-up. 

Bluebirds manager Dave Jones, who watched from the dug-out, included four new signings – Heaton, who is on a season-long loan from Manchester United, Miguel Comminges, Darren Dennehy and Ross McCormack.

Town welcomed back Mark Dodds to the Old Gold shirt but he and his fellow defenders were given a torrid time by a lively City attack. Manager Deryn Brace told 'Y Dre ar Y We',

“The score line says it all in terms of the difference between the two sides. But in a pre season friendly it’s important to get the right things out of the game to make sure we are in the right frame for the start of the season”.

“I thought we started well but I was disappointed with the twenty minutes leading up to half time. The second half was more pleasing. We knuckled down, we passed the ball well and although the scoreline is disappointing, overall it was a fantastic work out for us”.

“In the end we can’t dwell on what was a convincing defeat against a very strong professional side. We have to focus on developing our game and give as many players as possible as much game time as possible over the next few weeks so that we’re right for the season's opener against Porthmadog”.

Carmarthen Town: N Thomas, Dodds, B Morris, Palmer (S Morris 63), Hancock, C Thomas, Walters (Cattlin 63), Hicks, Fowler (Coombes 51), Davies (Morgan 51), Cotterall (c).

Cardiff City: Heaton, McNaughton (Bloom 56), Comminges, Rae (Wildig 57), Dennehy, Loovens (Hudson 79), Whittingham (Smith 82), McCormack, Parry, McPhail ( Evans 67), Kelleher. Referee Phil Southall.