Young goalkeeper Noah wins Wrexham AFC hero’s shirt in a football competition

A talented young goalkeeper from Gwynedd showed his deadly accuracy from free kicks to win a top prize.

As a result Noah Wyn Jones, 11, from Tregarth, near Bethesda, has been presented with the shirt of one of his footballing heroes, Wrexham AFC midfielder James Jones.

Noah took on the challenge of kicking a ball at cut-out footballers mounted on a trailer for a competition devised by the club’s long-term sponsors, Ifor Williams Trailers.

The company joined forces with the community engagement team at Wrexham AFC to take the game on a tour of major events.

Among them was the two-day Anglesey Show staged at the Mona Showground where Noah’s shooting skills earned him the prize.

Noah said: “We had gone to the show for a family day-out. I saw the Wrexham stand and the competition trailer and had a go.

“I had to hit the ball like a free-kick and hit one of the cut out players over and score points. There were five of them and I hit them all and scored 70 points in total.”

He was presented with the framed shirt, worn by James Jones during an away match last season, during morning assembly at his school, Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen, Bethesda.

The Head of Year 7, Bethan Durrell, told the pupils that the service was slightly different because a presentation was taking place and Noah was surprised when his name was called out.

According to Noah, he is a keen fan of Wrexham AFC, now owned by Hollywood stars Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, and accompanies dad Stephen to home games at the famous STōK Cae Ras ground.

“I don’t go to all the matches but we go to a few. We went to Wembley stadium in London for the play-off match which Wrexham won and were promoted back into the Football League at the end of last season. I like it when Wrexham win,” he said.

Noah plays mostly in goal for his school and a junior team at Bethesda Athletic, adding he sometimes plays in the outfield as well.

Admiring the shirt he described winning it as “cool” and had decided he would hang it on his bedroom wall.

Dafydd Jones, Show Manager at Ifor Williams Trailers, was delighted to meet up with Noah and present him with his prize.

He said the company have a long-held tradition of supporting events such as the Anglesey County Show.

“We have also been sponsors of Wrexham AFC since 2016 and we have built the club a specially adapted trailer which they use as an exhibition unit and this is normally parked outside the Racecourse ground.

“We took this specially adapted trailer to the show on Anglesey and set it up alongside the other trailer as part of the club’s community engagement programme.

“The challenge of kicking a football against the cut-out players proved to be very popular. We ran the competition on both days of the show and it was a great hit with the youngsters who tried their hand at it,” said Dafydd.