GOOD EVENING to you all and a special welcome to our visitors from the English Borders who have indeed had quite a long journey for this match. Well, Europe is certainly beckoning at Richmond Park these days all brought about by our narrow victory a fortnight ago against Port Talbot. I suggested in that match programme that their manager would no doubt display his forthright views after the game and, true to form, he did just that. I would not agree with manager Dai Rees’ views on both TV and in the Press that his side had 80% or so of the play (an exaggeration in my view) and that he was therefore absolutely devastated that he had not got a result here. Somewhere along the lines he has got his plot wrong. Our own manager must have got his game plan correct, for other than dealing with some well taken corners very early in the game I don’t think that Robert Fitzgerald had more than one save to make.

So back to the European scene. On a personal note the ‘European Dream’ that I have always nurtured, even in our Welsh League Division 3 days, has this season got nearer a reality. The headlines in the local press have proclaimed that we are just two games from Europe. In fact we could be even closer than that. Let us visualise a scenario that sees us in the final against say Inter Cable-Tel who have gained a second placed position in the LoW. Then Cable-Tel would automatically qualify for the UEFA Cup without reference to the Welsh Cup and therefore if we lost the Cup Final we would still qualify. I am not being negative, am I, by suggesting this hypothetical route to European qualification, because we are indeed going to win the Welsh Cup, aren’t we?!

Continuing with this European scene, there has been an interesting development as far as UEFA Cup qualification is concerned which relates to the UEFA Fair Play Competition which places the European nations in a Fair Play League Table where points are awarded according to the good conduct of their players in International matches at Senior and Under 21 level. Three additional UEFA Cup places have been allocated under the auspices of this Fair Play League Table. The first placed National Associated will automatically qualify for one of these additional UEFA Cup places. The other two places will be allocated by means of a draw involving all the Associations which have achieved on average 8 points or more. At present, Scotland lead the table with 8.23 points and ten other Associations have an average of 8 points or more. The current points total for Wales is 7.99, just 0.01 point from qualifying for the draw. Wales could break the 8 points barrier if they have a good game in terms of discipline against Switzerland next Wednesday. There are also cash incentives to those countries achieving 8 points and this will add to the incentive, I should imagine, for all LoW clubs to do well in our National Fair Play Award Competition.

It was indeed a long journey home from Bangor last Saturday following that heavy defeat but I have left any thoughts on this game to our manager who has voiced some forthright views in his notes.

I’m sure you will enjoy reading the interview our Programme Editor had with Roger Evans who deservedly won the Clubman of the Year Award last year. I would like to pay tribute to the work Roger has done behind the scenes and on the Football Club side of things. And, of course, behind every good man there is a good woman. In this case it’s Cordelia who is an extremely active member of our Ladies Committee.

Enjoy tonight’s game!

A WARM WELCOME to our friends from the South Wales coast whose team is certainly on the boil these days, especially after their superb performances in reaching the Quarter Finals of the Welsh Cup. Just like ourselves, if they win today, they are just a mere two games away from European qualification and could also, at the end of the season, put paid to Llanelli’s hopes of gaining promotion to the LoW if they pip the Reds to second place.

The blow of conceding a last minute goal in our defeat last Wednesday makes our chances of qualifying for the FAW Premier Cup via a top eight league position look rather more forlone. Today’s game gives added significance as the winners of the Welsh Cup also qualify for the Premier Cup.

Since 1995, when the Welsh Cup became restricted to clubs playing in Wales, LoW clubs have dominated the competition and their grip has rarely been challenged by clubs from lower down the Welsh pyramid. This year, however, that adage may not apply as two CC Sports Welsh League clubs, one even in Division 2, have achieved a last eight place. I feel it is cynical to class such clubs as underdogs with such a massive incentive to win at this stage of the competition. No-one can be written off by anyone!

It is interesting to note that Port Talbot’s fixture secretary is Paul Fisher, a district news reporter with the South Wales Evening Post and his role includes the weekly round-up of the CC Sports Welsh League. One of the oft quoted managers in the press is Port Talbot’s inimitable Dai Rees, whose honest comments create considerable interest to avid readers of Welsh football such as myself. However, I’m sure that Dai’s high profile in the media and Paul’s professional influence are purely coincidental! Paul, however, is here today not as an Evening Post reporter - that job has been delegated to assistant sports editor Jonathan Wilshire - but purely in his capacity as an official of Port Talbot. Let’s hope that neither Paul nor Dai will be singing the praises in next Monday’s Evening Post, on this occasion anyway!

Incidentally, today is quite an historic one as for the first time ever we are opening a permanent Club Shop situated in the Portakabin behind the Clubhouse goal end. This venture has been set up in partnership with Woodlands of Guildhall Square, shortly moving to Pensarn, whereby Club merchandise such as Fleeces, Polo Shirts, Pullovers, etc. will be on sale. It is hoped that the enterprise will develop further with such items as Drill Tops and Track Suits. Lisa Rice will be our manageress and the shop will be open an hour before the match and at half time. Items can be ordered on Saturday and collected from (say) the Social Club on Wednesdays. This arrangement is to continue until the enterprise has built up sufficiently to house our own stock. Malcolm Williams hopes that our current run of success will help secure a successful future.for the project.

It’s nice to see Adrian Havard contributing to our programme today. Adrian, who reports for the BBC in LoW matches on Saturdays was quite a player himself in his younger days playing for Newcastle Emlyn, Milford United and Aberystwyth amongst others and even won a Man of the Match award in a Mond Cup Final for NCE. Adrian is deputy head at Rhydypennau CP School, Bow Street.

Enjoy today’s game!