PICTURE by Paul Scholes (Bro Goronwy)
IT’S now two games, two wins for Sean Brett as Glantraeth manager. The former Menai Tigers gaffer arrived at Trefdraeth with a fine reputation and he’s certainly lived up to that so far.
Having guided The Tigers to a cup double (League and cup) in the Gwynedd League just last season, Brett certainly has what it takes to deliver success.
And the question now arises; after what’s been a dismal first half to the Gwynedd League season for the club, can Brett and his new signings march their way up the table in the coming weeks?
If last week’s 3-1 win over Caergybi and Saturday’s 4-1 win over Bro Goronwy is anything to go by then the answer is very much yes as the club played some great football in those two encounters.
The team now jokingly (or perhaps bitterly?) dubbed ‘Glantraeth Uni’ by Bro Goronwy on social media, due to the amount of Bangor University students in the squad, seem like they could bounce back in style in the latter half of the 2019/20 campaign.
Among the students in the team are James Hardwick, Christopher Reid, Paris Hargrave and Brad Bland, all of whom featured in Saturday’s win at Cae Nerys.
The latter has been a formidable force in both Glantraeth and Bangor University’s teams throughout the season, smashing in goals left, right and centre – 12 in total for Glan so far, including nine in the cup competitions. The winger’s goal in the 4-1 win over Bro followed on from a sensational volley he hit for Bangor University firsts in a 2-1 win over LJMU thirds in midweek.
However, it was striker Hargrave who was arguably the star of the show for Glantraeth on Saturday afternoon as he bagged his first two goals for the club and looked lively throughout.
Glantraeth have been further boosted by the arrival of talented youngster Cai Evans, who recently signed from Llanfairpwll, where he was a key player under Vinny Walker and Spud Thomas. The 18-year-old has the ability to command a game well despite his young age and should be a fine addition to Brett’s side if given the chance.
Defender Pip Briggs, formerly of Anglesey League side Valley is also a solid addition to this side. Perhaps the most important signing of all though is prolific striker James Ryan, who opened his goal scoring account for the club on Saturday. The forward has hit well over 100 goals during his last two seasons in the Anglesey League with Bryngwran (now Trearddur Bay) Bulls and Caergybi respectively and hit a further 11 for the latter this year after helping the club secure promotion to the Gwynedd League. He’ll no doubt prove to be a key figure at the club as the weeks go on.
With the club currently sat in eleventh place in the table (out of 15), they picked up their fourth league win of the season on Saturday, having played 12 matches (which is fewer than most) and so it’s fair to say that there’s plenty still to play for.
That leaves them with 16 league games left to play and they are also still very much alive in the Bob Owen Memorial Shield competition too – so there is also a shot at some silverware on offer.
The Glantraeth boys are playing with confidence and belief upon the arrival of their new manager and new signings and so it will be interesting to see what they can achieve come May time. There are some tough, tough teams to come up against in the Gwynedd League this season, but there’s no reason why they can’t move on up the table after a few good results here and there.
For a club with such rich history, Glantraeth has fallen on hard times of late. However, could this now be the turning point they need to start enjoying some success once more in the near future?
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