It’s been a week of unexpected results in the JD Cymru Premier with Pen-y-bont kicking things off by beating The New Saints last Friday.
Then surprisingly the Saints lost again on Tuesday night with Bala Town winning away at Park Hall for the first time ever.
But Pen-y-bont failed to take advantage as Rhys Griffiths’ boys became the first team to lose against Briton Ferry Llansawel this season, with the newcomers climbing off the bottom of the table at the expense of Aberystwyth Town who have dropped to 12th place.
Friday, 27 September
Haverfordwest County (4th) v Cardiff Met (2nd) | Friday – 19:45
As Pen-y-bont stumbled against Briton Ferry Llansawel, Cardiff Met are back level on points with the frontrunners following their away win at Aberystwyth Town on Tuesday night.
Cardiff Met are enjoying a strong start to the season and have only lost once in 11 games across all competitions in 2024/25.
Haverfordwest County are not fooling around either, as no one has conceded fewer goals than the Bluebirds so far (4 goals in 9 games) keeping five clean sheets.
Given that Haverfordwest County are playing their home fixtures at Carmarthen, Tony Pennock’s team are in an impressive position and aim to secure a place in the Top Six for the first time since the league was reduced to 12 teams.
The Bluebirds have not finished higher than 7th place since the 2004/05 season when they managed to reach 4th place with only The New Saints, Rhyl and Bangor City finishing above them that year.
It ended goalless in the corresponding match in August and the last five contests between these two teams have ended in a draw after 90 minutes, therefore it promises to be a close battle once again on Friday night.
League form:
Haverfordwest County: ➖✅❌❌✅➖
Cardiff Met: ͏✅✅❌✅✅
Barry Town United (8th) v Aberystwyth Town (12th) | Friday – 19:45
After a disappointing run of six successive league defeats, its no surprise that Aberystwyth Town have fallen to the bottom of the table.
This is the first time since December 2020 that Aberystwyth Town have lost six consecutive league matches, and the Ceredigion club have never lost seven in a row in the JD Cymru Premier.
Barry Town United sit in mid-table, and the Dragons are the masters of the draws with their last two games ending 1-1 (eight of their last 17 league games have ended 1-1).
Aberystwyth Town were victorious in the reverse fixture back in August with Jonny Evans netting the solitary goal of the game in the Black & Green’s only win in the league this season.
League form:
Barry Town United: ✅✅❌➖➖
Aberystwyth Town: ͏❌❌❌❌❌
Newtown (5th) v The New Saints (6th) | Friday – 19:45
It has been a shaky spell for The New Saints who have lost two consecutive league games for the first time in five years.
Before the defeat to Bala Town on Tuesday night, the Saints had not lost at home in the JD Cymru Premier since March 2022, and that loss was against Newtown.
But since that defeat, Craig Harrison’s team have not lost in 10 meetings with the Robins, winning their last eight contests and conceding only two goals.
Newtown have had a tidy start to the season and once again Aaron Williams is providing the goals for the squad and sits at the top of the league’s top scorers chart, level with Barry Town’s Ollie Hulbert with five goals apiece.
If Newtown were able to follow in the footsteps of Pen-y-bont and Bala and beat the New Saints, then the Oswestry outfit would face losing three league games on the bounce for the first time since December 1997 when they lost four against Inter CableTel, Cwmbrân, Barry Town United and Newtown.
League form:
Newtown: ͏❌✅✅➖➖
The New Saints: ✅✅✅❌❌
Saturday, 28 September
Briton Ferry Llansawel (11th) v Bala Town (3rd) | Saturday – 14:30
“We’ve joined the party, finally!”
That was Andy Dyer’s statement following Briton Ferry Llansawel’s first win in the top-flight, away from home against table-toppers Pen-y-bont on Tuesday night.
The result has lifted Briton Ferry Llansawel from the bottom of the table and will be confidence booster for the newcomers who will hope to build momentum and climb from the relegation zone.
Despite the shock at the SDM Glass Stadium, there was an even bigger shock at Park Hall in midweek as Bala Town won away from home against the Saints for the first time in their history.
Christian Norton scored his first goal for the Lakesiders during the first half before Alex Downes and Hussein Mehasseb struck in injury time to claim an excellent three points for Colin Caton’s crew.
The only two previous meetings between these clubs have ended in a 2-0 victory to Bala, and Colin Caton will be determined not to repeat what Pen-y-bont did, which was to beat the champions, then lose against Briton Ferry Llansawel days later.
League form:
Briton Ferry Llansawel: ❌❌❌➖✅
Bala Town: ❌❌✅➖✅
Flint Town United (10th) v Pen-y-bont (1st) | Saturday – 14:30
“We’re not as good as perhaps what we thought we were,” those were the honest words of Rhys Griffiths after losing against Briton Ferry Llansawel on Tuesday night.
Despite the defeat, Pen-y-bont remain at the top of the table, but it feels like an opportunity missed for the Bryntirion boys, especially as the Saints lost at home against Bala Town.
Flint Town United also fell to a defeat in midweek after conceding one early goal and one late goal against Caernarfon Town on Wednesday night (FTU 1-2 Cfon).
This will be the first game between the teams since October 2022 and Pen-y-bont have only won one of their last eight meetings with Flint Town United.
League form:
Flint Town United: ͏❌✅✅➖❌
Pen-y-bont: ͏✅✅✅✅❌
Caernarfon Town (7th) v Connah’s Quay (9th) | Saturday – 17:15 (S4C)
A quarter way through the season and not many would have predicted that Connah’s Quay would be in the bottom half after losing half of their league games and winning just two out of eight.
Connah’s Quay have finished in the top two in five of the last six seasons (deducted 18pts in the 2021/22 season), but the Nomads go into the weekend in 9th place, after a sluggish start to the current campaign.
Caernarfon Town haven’t had the ideal start either, and after playing in Europe over the summer the Canaries have been struggling in the bottom half of the table this season.
But the results have improved recently for Richard Davies and his squad who have secured seven points from their last three league fixtures.
The clubs met less than two weeks ago, and although Billy Paynter started with a young team, Connah’s Quay came out on top in the third round of the Nathaniel MG Cup (CQ 3-2 Cfon).
League form:
Caernarfon Town: ❌❌✅➖✅
Connah’s Quay: ͏✅❌❌❌➖
The highlights of the games will be available on Sgorio’s social websites and the best of the weekend’s action on S4C on Monday night.
