TRANSFER SPECIAL: Four new signings aim to boost Prestatyn Town hopes of avoiding drop

Prestatyn Town have added four more good quality signings to their squad as they aim to beat the drop in 2025.

Rob Hughes, Casey Faulkner, Sam Ashton and Tom Cain have joined the Seasiders hot on the heels of twins Alex and James Jones being recruited to the ranks.

Bottom of the Cymru North table and on a 10-match losing streak, the twice tier 2 champions need a major turnaround in fortunes in 2025 if they are to maintain their current status.

New manager Gareth Thomas is certainly making positive moves in building a talented local squad for the challenges ahead.

Rob Hughes

Hughes, 32, returns to Prestatyn Town, where he last starred in 2019-20, helping them win the Cymru North title.

A dangerous attacking player who can operate across the forward positions and behind the strikers, Hughes first made his mark in the Welsh Premier with Prestatyn late in the 2013-14 season.

He joined Rhyl FC the following campaign and spent three seasons at Belle Vue where he became renowned for scoring some remarkable goals.

After signing for Australian club Goulburn Valley Suns in January 2017, he returned to Wales and put pen to paper for Connah’s Quay Nomads.

He often impressed for the Deesiders, but at the start of 2019-20 returned to Prestatyn, now in the Cymru North, and was a resounding success, scoring 22 goals – including 13 penalties – before deciding to continue his career in Australia at the turn of 2020 with Melbourne Knights.

In 2020-21, he returned to the Welsh Premier with newly-promoted Flint Town United.

The following season he switched to Caernarfon Town, scoring six times in 27 outings and helping the Canaries win the JD Cymru Premier Play-Off Final, which unfortunately that season did not offer a route into Europe, only a Scottish Challenge Cup place.

Hughes stayed with the Canaries in 2022-23, scoring six goals in 28 matches and began the 2023-24 campaign at The Oval before joining tier 3 Ardal North West champions-to-be Flint Mountain in September 2023.

Across stints with Prestatyn Town, Rhyl FC, Connah’s Quay, Caernarfon Town and Flint, Hughes has made 159 Welsh Premier appearances, netting 23 goals.

This dazzling talent was a big hit with the Mountain last season, hitting 17 goals in 32 games as Aden Shannon’s side won the Ardal North West title, plus the NEWFA Challenge Cup, reached the Ardal Northern League Cup final and the last eight of the Welsh Cup.

This season, he had been involved in 10 Cymru North goals for Mountain, netting six and assisting in four.

Now he is back at tier 2 level with Prestatyn Town – his third spell with the Seasiders.

Casey Faulkner

This exciting to watch 26-year-old attacking right-back first made his mark at Prestatyn Town in 2019-20, making a few appearances for the Cymru North title-winning side and featuring for the Development team.

In 2021-22, he joined newly-formed CPD Y Rhyl 1879, where over the past four seasons he has made 93 appearances and netted seven goals.

He was part of the squad which won the tier 4 North Wales Coast East Premier Division title and Cookson Cup at the first attempt and has gone on to finish third twice in Ardal North West.

Sam Ashton

This 24-year-old midfielder first emerged at Abergele, where he was a North Wales Coast East Division One title winner in 2021-22.

Sam was then a key man in the treble-winning Gele side of 2022-23 which lifted the Division One championship again, as well as landing the NWCFA Junior Cup and REM Jones Cup.

Ashton was snapped up by CPD Y Rhyl 1879 early in 2023-24 and went on to compile 44 appearances before deciding to switch to Prestatyn Town last week.

Tom Cain

Aged 24, Tom was involved in CPD Y Rhyl 1879’s first-ever game when they beat Rhyl Dragons 10-0 in the Welsh Cup on July 9, 2021.

He scored his first goal for 1879 in their debut league game, a 3-2 victory at Penmaenmawr Phoenix and notched two more in a 5-1 FAW Amateur Trophy beating of St Asaph City three days later.

In his first season with Rhyl, he hit nine goals in 29 matches, as the team scooped a tier 4 league and cup double.

Cain made 11 appearances for 1879 in 2022-23 before leaving the club.

He joined Buckley Town in 2023-24 and was involved in a few games before re-emerging in a match for Prestatyn Town Reserves earlier this month.