Shama Deadman’s second season at Cambrian & Clydach is now in full swing. After producing some decent results in their first dozen matches (which you can read about in Part 6), the Cam Army now have their sights on sustaining a promotion push.
Today’s post will take you through four months of action – from November 2021 all the way to February 2022. It’s time to take to the dancefloor, because this Cambrian party is getting started…
NOVEMBER 2021
You join us midway through the autumn, with Cambrian & Clydach sitting 7th in the Cymru South after a steady but unspectacular start to the season. We’d only lost twice, but we’d also only won five times, which didn’t bode well for a title challenge.
November began with a couple of late, late shows that James Corden would be proud of.
Our Welsh Cup Round 2 clash at Pontypridd was delayed by three days due to torrential rain, and after two hours of typically dreadful football from both teams, a penalty shoot-out looked inevitable… until we launched one final attack in stoppage time.
What a moment! Ryan Prosser‘s hopeful volley was fumbled by the Pontypridd goalie, and substitute midfielder Joshua Williams popped up to poke in a winner – in the very last second of injury time! Josh’s heroics booked us a Round 3 date at Haverfordwest, but I hoped we wouldn’t leave it so late again!
It took us a while to get going in our next league game at Briton Ferry too. After losing winger Lewis Ellis to a rib injury during the second half, we didn’t look like scoring until Jamie Wilson calmly converted an 85th-minute penalty. Sadly, Jamie’s joy was short-lived when Ferry’s in-form striker Llyr Morris pinched an equaliser deep into injury-time.
We played out another 1-1 draw at home to Llanelli Town, who were top at the time. Liam Edwards scored a stunner to give us the lead in the 5th minute, thanks to a lovely assist from ex-Cambrian right-back Lewis Foster. Great to see Foster’s still as error-prone as ever!
Unfortunately, our own defence didn’t look so reliable eight minutes later, when a wide-open Llanelli midfielder blasted home from the edge of our box. We then needed to survive a wave of Town attacks before coming away with a point.
At least we then managed to take all three at Ammanford. It was our midfielders who made the difference, with Jack Fox and then Callum Sainty each scoring their first Cambrian goals from distance. Our defenders got 7+ ratings all round too after marking a 45-year-old Lee Trundle out of the game.
We moved up another place after taking five points from three games, which left us just five off top spot at the halfway stage.
DECEMBER 2021
Our nine-match unbeaten run – and our Welsh Cup hopes – then went up in smoke at Haverfordwest. I’ll hand my hands up; I got my tactics wrong.
It’s common knowledge that a 4-4-2 doesn’t stack up well against a 4-3-3. That somehow passed me by until County’s midfield overwhelmed ours and the hosts went 2-0 up inside 23 minutes.
I responded by replacing left-winger Jamie French with an extra midfielder, but the damage was done. Though Wilson pulled one goal back for us, Haverfordwest quickly restored their two-goal advantage before taking total control. In the end, we were lucky to keep the scoreline down to 3-1.
We seemed to be heading for back-to-back defeats when Afan Lido‘s 16-year-old striker Dale Bevan headed in their opener from a killer left-wing cross. Our teenage frontmen had other ideas. Wilson equalised almost instantly, and substitute Dylan Reid scored the winning penalty five minutes from time, after defender Cian Trehy was tripped in the box.
And for my second mistake this month, I held a team meeting to try and keep spirits high. I thought our recent form had been okay (two wins and two draws from five games) but reckoned we could be performing better. Obviously, veteran midfielder Simon Heslop (average rating 6.58) and most of our other players felt we were doing just fine!
Having banjaxed the squad’s morale for apparently having “unrealistic” expectations, I now had to repair the damage before our final game of 2021. We were at home to Undy, who were the new Cymru South leaders, had the league’s second-top scorer – and were still unbeaten away from home.
We smashed them, obviously!
At the last moment, I had decided to bring 18-year-old centre-half Regan Fear into the starting XI, even though he’d made only two cup appearances so far this season. My gamble paid off in the first minute, when Regan fearlessly headed in his first senior goal from an Edwards corner!
That was the first of three assists for Edwards, who returned to his best after a lean spell. He set up further goals for Sainty and Wilson, after the latter had doubled our lead from the penalty spot, as we took a shock 4-0 lead! Undy did grab one goal back, but the end-of-year league table still made pleasant reading for us.
Incredibly, after nine league matches unbeaten, we were now only two points off the lead! We had also conceded the fewest goals in the division (14 from 17 matches), which you wouldn’t believe if you looked at our defenders’ average ratings!
JANUARY 2022
Despite our impressive recent form, I was still looking to add to my squad in the January window. I wanted a new left-back and another striker, so I looked at our scouting budget, and…
…ohhhh boy. Looks like we spent a bit too much scouting English non-league players! I guess we would have to stay local with our recruitment for the time being!
While there were no immediate incomings during January, we did see a couple of players leave. Forward Sam Jones moved north to Guilsfield on a free transfer after losing his place. Midfielder Scott Tomlinson had also fallen out of favour, and as I couldn’t find a clear role for him anymore, I decided to release him.
We made a dream start to the new year, sweeping past Cwmbran Celtic. One of Edwards’ trusty corners led to an early opener, which Fear flicked on for Jarrad Wright to finish. Wilson then helped himself to another brace to put the game beyond Celtic, who did pull one goal back late on.
A comfortable 3-1 away win lifted us up to 3rd – our highest position yet – and put us within a point of the lead. However, our first home match of 2022 was much less straightforward.
Wilson scored his 16th goal (and fourth penalty) of the season to give us the edge over Cardiff Draconians. But just as it appeared we were about to grind out a 1-0 win, goalkeeper Harry Churchill did something very un-Churchillian…
Whoops. Things didn’t get any happier for Harry at Haverfordwest, who headed the opener past him after just 46 seconds. Fortunately, Wilson was still as clinical as ever at the other end, with another two goals from the teenage hotshot putting us 2-1 up…
…for all of two minutes. Our defence showed they had the concentration levels of a chronic procrastinator when they allowed Haverfordwest to level the scores almost immediately. At least that woke Churchill up, as he produced several vital saves to secure a 2-2 draw, which just about kept us within reach of the frontrunners.
FEBRUARY 2022
Here’s the reason why we were still in the promotion discussion. Since changing his role from a poacher to an advanced forward, Wilson had scored nine goals in six matches – and was now on 18 for the campaign! That’s one more than our top scorer Ryan Prosser got last season!
Ah, right, I’d almost forgotten about Prosser! Wilson’s stunning form basically meant the end for our former number 9, who’d scored just twice in 16 outings this season. After two years at Cambrian, Ryan decided to move on and signed for Llandudno. That left us with a vacancy to fill on deadline day…
If you can’t beat ’em, sign ’em. Llyr Morris was the Cymru South’s second-top scorer this season, having bagged 20 goals in just 17 matches for Briton Ferry – including that 95th-minute leveller against us in November. While the pressing forward didn’t have the best technical attributes, Morris would certainly provide plenty of pace, power and grit.
I also welcomed in left-winger Nathan Woolfe from Cardiff Met. The 33-year-old Mancunian brought with him plenty of skill and flair, and a wealth of experience. Woolfe would also take some of the burden off 16-year-old French, who was flagging after a lengthy run in the team.
Our new boys made their debuts at home to mid-table Pontypridd, whose recent form had been very inconsistent. Could we make it 13 league games undefeated and keep the Cambrian party going?
Wh… wha… WHAT THE HELL?!
I know we’ve made a habit of starting matches slowly this season, but this just takes the cookie! We conceded in the first minute again, and then it all snowballed. When a Jake Nicholls own goal made it 3-0 in the 15th minute, I made my first substitution. By the 23rd, though, we had conceded a FOURTH, so I brought on two more subs just to stem the bleeding!
I’m not quite sure what happened. Maybe our egos exploded after four months without a league defeat. Maybe using a sluggish Connor Young as a covering defender was a huge mistake. Or maybe we just weren’t prepared for the Dragons to attack us so hard in the opening minutes. Whatever it was, surely it couldn’t get worse in the second half…
…oh wait, it could! Substitute left-back Harry Blake decided to try and break one of the visitors’ ankles, which saw us go down a man before conceding ANOTHER four goals to trail 8-0! Substitute Morris did score a debut goal for us afterwards, but that was like installing a smoke alarm after the entire village had burnt down.
I wasn’t angry that we lost 8-1. I wasn’t angry that our proud 12-game unbeaten league run had been shattered. Oh no… I was volcanic.
After the match, I locked my players in the dressing room for half an hour, fined nearly all of them a fortnight’s wages, and demoted Blake to the Under-19s! None of them were particularly happy about this, but desperate results called for desperate disciplinary measures.
When we travelled to Llantwit Major a week later, I changed my entire starting XI. Of the 14 men who played in the Pontypridd massacre, only Heslop and Morris kept their places in the matchday squad. Not even Edwards or Wilson were spared the axe as I brought in a second-string team, which included 16-year-old ball-winner Gavin Michael making his full debut in midfield.
Strangely enough, we won 2-0, on what was a mixed day for our wingers. Ellis sustained a hip injury (his third major injury of the season), substitute Christopher Williams scored his first senior goal, and French was sent off for two bookings. Despite being down a man late on, we doubled our lead when Fear sent Reid through to kill Llantwit off.
The regulars returned at home to Goytre United, and they roarded back to life with a thrilling 5-2 win. Edwards opened the scoring before making a couple of assists for Morris and Kyle Jones, while Wilson came off the bench to bag another of his trademark doubles.
Back-to-back victories have left us dreaming of the Cymru Premier again. With seven games to go, we’ve still got every chance of going up!
But as my second season at Cambrian comes towards its conclusion, I’m already thinking about the future. 2020 league champions Connah’s Quay were on the lookout for a new manager, and I threw my hat in the ring, because why not?
Could I be managing in Wales’ top flight next season?
Hmmmm. Looks like the manager will have a big decision to make very soon…
You certainly won’t want to miss the 2021/2022 season finale on Monday! Can the Cam Army get back on track and secure a place in the Cymru Premier? Will Shama be leaving Cambrian behind for a new challenge?
Thanks for reading!
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