Happy birthday Joe Chaplin – a consistent striker at a high level over numerous seasons

Any manager who signs Joe Chaplin knows what they are getting – a striker with natural finishing ability and great work ethic who has performed consistently at a high level in Welsh football throughout his career.

Today sees Joe celebrate his 31st birthday, having been born in St Asaph on October 11, 1992.

The experienced front man is currently in his third spell at Cymru North club Gresford Athletic, who have started the 2023-24 campaign really well.

Joe rejoined the Colliers in the summer 2023 transfer window having last season represented Llandudno in Tier 2, scoring 12 goals.

The player started his career with Llandudno in 2009 before moving to South Wales with Cardiff Metropolitan University in 2011.

Spells at Glan Conwy and Conwy Borough followed between 2014 and 2017. In 2016-17, he bagged 16 goals in 20 appearances for Boro.

Next came a switch to Porthmadog, where he scored a fantastic 26 goals in 2017-18 for the Cymru North outfit. One of the highlights was a hat-trick in an epic 5-4 win at Rhyl FC.

Joe then spent the 2018/19 season at Airbus UK Broughton, which was followed by a transfer to Colwyn Bay in 2019. He went on loan at Gresford for his first stint at the Wrexham club during the 2019/20 season, which proved to be very successful.

Athletic signed Joe permanently in 2021 and during his two spells at the club, he scored a total of 21 goals in 35 appearances in all competitions, finishing as the JD Cymru North’s fourth top goalscorer during 2021/22.

He was back at Llandudno in the summer of 2022 and helped the club finish third in the JD Cymru North, scoring 12 goals in 28 games in all competitions, before landing at Gresford for a third time.

Joe’s sporting talents are not restricted to football! He had a fine 2023 season for Mochdre in the North Wales Cricket League Premier Division, where the team finished in fifth place. Joe scored 504 runs and took 21 wickets.

Happy birthday Joe, all the best.