Football

Caernarfon Town FC – a great club on and off the field

This picture says a thousand words. The delight on mascot Kobi Williams-Anyani’s face as he poses for a pre-match photo with the ever-smiling Caernarfon Town manager Sean Eardley reflects perfectly the club’s relationship with its community. All photos: CTFC Facebook page

They may have scrambled over the line in the end but Caernarfon Town have secured Cymru Premier football for a third successive season.

The Canaries finished fifth at the completion of phase one, sealing a Championship Conference place for a second time in a row since their return to the top flight.

It is a tremendous feat for a club which was on the verge of folding 10 years ago, but has bounced back to emerge as the strongest they have been in many a season.

Town began the 2019-20 campaign with a quite ordinary six points out of a possible 15 before four straight wins – including a 1-0 defeat of champions The New Saints – pushed the Cofis up among the leading pack.

Players Nathan Craig (furthest left) and Gareth Edwards (furthest right) meet representatives of one of Caernarfon Town’s major sponsors Jones Bros

Back-to-back away losses to Connah’s Quay Nomads and Cefn Druids proved a setback, but then five victories in six, a magnificent 4-1 thrashing of Barry Town United among them, put Caernarfon on the verge of clinching top six status.

Unfortunately two losses, four days apart, to Bala Town, sparked a poor reward of just a single point from their final five games of phase one.

Nonetheless, the good work already done was sufficient to cement a top half berth for Sean Eardley’s side, a win for Penybont at Cefn Druids making sure the Canaries could end up no lower than sixth.

Sponsors of the recent Caernarfon Town v Aberystwyth game, Roberts Portdinorwic, meet Canaries manager Sean Eardley

In many ways, it has been a mixed campaign so far for The Oval outfit so far, but 10 wins and four draws in the opening 22 games were enough to achieve their objective.

Town will now get another chance to qualify for Europe for the first time in their history when the end-of-season play-offs come around.

Yet again this season Caernarfon have lit up the Cymru Premier with their exciting style of football, amazing supporters and the fun-loving managership of Sean Eardley and his team.

It is a club very much in touch with its community.

Jess Lane met one of her heroes Aaron Ramsay at the awards

This was never more in evidence than when Town won the Fun Football Provider of the Year in the 2019 FAW Grassroots Football Association Awards back in November.

CTFC’s Football in the Community chief, star first team player Nathan Craig, picked up the award, while one of his coaches Jessica Lane received the Young Volunteer of the Year accolade.

Un Clwb