With the club’s maiden season completed, ahead of the senior team’s presentation night on June 8th we take a look back at the past 10-11 months with our 2018/19 season review.
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After a long and testing pre-season, the league campaign began on September 1st at home to Hopkinstown. In a game that, with hindsight, was a signpost for the season ahead, a topsy-turvy game finished 3-3 thanks to Geraint Lewis’ injury time equaliser. This was a climax to a game that had seen Pontypridd take the lead, then trail 2-1 and 3-2 before Lewis salvaged a point. It was game in which Ponty were good and bad in equal measures and on another day any number of scorelines were possible.
Three days later the club’s first ever win game thanks to an edgy 2-1 win at Nelson Cavaliers 2nds before a 6-2 thrashing of Carn Rovers at the Maritime in the South Wales FA Intermediate Cup. This game was noteworthy for three incredible goals. In the first half, goalkeeper Piotr Tolak scored from his own penalty box before then club captain Ryan James scored direct from a free kick on halfway. In the second-half Ceri Williams fired home a spectacular goal from just inside the Carn Rovers half.
A first competitive defeat came a week later against a well-organised and experienced Trecenydd side. A local derby double header against Cilfynydd followed. The first game, in the league, ended 2-2 with Pontypridd squandering a 2-0 lead. The return fixture, at Upper Boat, in the Greyhound Cup was a 5-goal thriller. After a goalless and uneventful first half, Calvin Mugadza fired Ponty into the lead before two goals in a two minutes gave Cilfynydd the advantage. However, Huw Ward’s double in the final quarter changed the course of the game and Ponty took the win into the next round.
After a reasonable start to the campaign, as autumn began to turn towards winter inconsistency set in and results began to reflect those erratic performances. At home, on the Maritime 3G, Pontypridd were a different proposition to the team that struggled on sticky grass pitches on the road.
A 4-1 home win over Treforest 2nds sandwiched cup defeats to Caerphilly Athletic 2nds (Bernard Martin Cup), Talbot Green (Greyhound Cup) and Holton Road (Intermediate Cup). The latter two defeats particularly disappointing as early leads were thrown away by cheap goals at the other end. This poor run reached its nadir when terrible team performance resulted in a 4-1 defeat away to a bare 11 Llantwit Fardre 2nds outfit.
With the season on the brink of ruin, Ponty hit back with a memorable 4-3 win away to Hopkinstown. Twice conceding first half leads, Ponty found themselves 3-2 down with eight minutes left. However, a fortuitous own goal and a Kieron Cook penalty four minutes into added time secured a 4-3 win.
Successive postponements hit any momentum from that and despite a dominant first half performance, a 1-0 lead against Trecenydd eventually ended in a 4-1 defeat at the Maritime after a late collapse.
Joe Vellam smashed a hat-trick in a 5-4 win against Nelson Cavaliers 2nds at the Maritime. Even this win didn’t come easily, a first half 2-0 lead was given up before 5-2 lead was almost surrendered to a late Nelson fightback. Fortunately, Ponty just about held on. As well as Vellam’s scintillating treble, the Nelson win was also the first start for Joshua Husband – a young player that joined from Pontypridd Town’s youth set-up and made great strides in our first team through exposure to regular senior football.
At Christmas Pontypridd found themselves in 3rd place in TERV Division One, four points off the leaders Cilfynydd with a game in hand. Following Christmas the old gremlins appeared as a 3-1 defeat away to Treforest 2nds dealt a savage blow to any lingering promotion hopes. However, successive home wins over Llantwit Fardre 2nds (2-0) and Caerphilly Argyle (6-2) were a welcome boost.
It would be nine weeks before Ponty played again due to fixture scheduling and two postponed matches against Aber Valley. When action resumed in March it was not much surprise to see rusty performances. A disappointing draw away to Caerphilly Argyle was only alleviated by Argyle’s decision to quit the league and therefore results involving them were expunged from the official record. A 4-1 defeat at champions-elect Caerphilly Athletic 2nds on a blisteringly hot day removed any remote possibly of promotion. In a game that was much closer in play than the result suggested, two early individual errors effectively decided the game’s outcome.
A first ever clean sheet away from home arrived after a turgid 0-0 draw at Aber Valley but four days later Ponty turned on the style by thrashing the same opponent 7-2 at the Maritime. The final two fixtures came against the top two and reflected where Pontypridd were this season. Despite two competitive performances, Ponty went down 2-1 at Cilfynydd before losing 3-2 at home to Caerphilly Athletic 2nds – a win that crowned Caerphilly champions.
Those two performances showed that Ponty can compete over 90 minutes with the best sides in the league but over the course of the season, more often than not, in these games they have found themselves on the wrong side of the fine margins that separate victory and defeat. There were things that could have been done better to change the course or favour of fortune and while a 6th placed finish was ultimately very disappointing, there remains potential within the squad to improve on that next season.
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Our under 13s have enjoyed a season of progress. Including seasons under the banner of Pontypridd Town, this campaign represents the best ever for the squad, recording 2 wins and 2 draws. Despite some heavy defeats, these also represent a step forward with matches much more competitive against some very strong outfits like Llantwit Fardre, Penydarren and BTM United. Whereas in past seasons the lads were losing by double figure margins, this season they haven’t conceded more than nine goals in a single game.
The most important thing though is that this group of outstanding young men remain together and playing sport as one. The commitment and team spirit of the boys is second to none and their coaches wouldn’t swap them for any other group; they are without question a credit to our club and we are very proud to have them on board.
We all believe the progress will only continue season after season and they remain a big part of the picture of Pontypridd Football Club.
The under 13s recently celebrated their season at the end of year presentation; once again congratulations to all those recognised with awards and thank you to every single player that has put on the Pontypridd FC shirt this season and represented the club with honour.
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Overall the picture is positive for the club. We must not lose sight of the fact we are a new club, starting from scratch at the bottom of the ladder. The first team has been competitive on the field, a good core squad has been built around committed players. The first team management hopes to build on that over the summer and hopefully strengthen with the addition of a few players in key positions.
Off the field the club has developed good relationships with local businesses whose support and sponsorship we are very grateful for. We aim to start growing the junior section of the club, adding teams alongside our under 13s side. Our inclusive and community club ethos has been demonstrated by support for local causes, including continuing donations to the local food bank, participation in a GTFM fundraiser, as well as allocating our final home fixture against Caerphilly Athletic 2nds in support of the ‘Football v Homophobia’ campaign. We are also very pleased to have developed a positive relationship with RCT community radio station GTFM and wish to thank Tomos and Nathaniel for their coverage on Saturday afternoons. Support from Sport RCT through a Community Chest grant has enabled the club to provide additional coaching education with two of our under 13s coaches pursuing the FAW ‘C’ Certificate.
There is plenty more we can and hope to do to support our community and good causes and we certainly plan to take more action in this respect over the next 12 months.
As always, thank you for the support.
