Next week the league will be split in two and for the rest of the season the Top Six clubs will compete for a place in Europe, while the Bottom Six teams will fight to avoid relegation.
The New Saints, Connah’s Quay, Bala Town, Newtown and Cardiff Met have already secured their place in the top half, but it’s a three horse race between Caernarfon Town, Pen-y-bont and Haverfordwest County for the last ticket into the Top Six.
Towards the bottom there are four clubs who are in a tight battle to avoid the drop and two of those team will meet in a key fixture on Friday night.
Friday, 5 January
Aberystwyth Town (11th) v Colwyn Bay (10th) | Friday – 20:00
Two games to go until the split and only two points separate Aberystwyth Town in the relegation zone and Colwyn Bay who are safe for now in 10th place.
Pontypridd United are the only club lower in the table and that is only due to their six-point deduction, which means that Aberystwyth Town and Colwyn Bay are the two clubs with the worst record on the field with both teams having losing 14 of their 20 league games to date.
No tean have won fewer games than Aberystwyth Town this season (3/20), and no team have conceded more goals than Colwyn Bay (2.25 goals per game) therefore it promises to be a competitive contest and a real relegation scrap.
Aberystwyth Town is one of the two clubs that have been everpresent since the formation of the Welsh Premier League in 1992 (along with Newtown), while Colwyn Bay are competing in the league for the first time this year and are determined not to fall straight back down to the JD Cymru North.
It ended 3-1 to Colwyn Bay in the first ever meeting between the clubs in September and the Seagulls will be hoping for a similar result this Firday to end their run of four consecutive league defeats.
Aberystwyth Town have not won a league game in two months, losing six and drawing once since, and the Black and Greens are still waiting for their first league win at Park Avenue since their dramatic victory over Caernarfon Town in April which kept them up on the final weekend of last season.
Fixtures before the split:
Aberystwyth Town: Barr (h)
Colwyn Bay: Pont (h)
League form:
Aberystwyth Town: ͏➖❌❌❌❌
Colwyn Bay: ❌❌❌❌✅
Saturday, 6 January
Barry Town United (9th) v Newtown (4th) | Saturday – 14:30
Staying in the league will be the main target for Barry Town United as they are five points clear of the bottom two with 12 games left in the season.
The Dragons failed to score in all of their four games in December, losing three times before a goalless draw against Cardiff Met last weekend.
Despite losing their last two games, Newtown have secured their place in the Top Six as other results went in their favour.
This is the eighth time in 11 years that Newtown have claimed their place in the top half, and after reaching Europe three times in the last decade the Robins will aim to achieve that goal yet again this year.
October 2019 was the last time Barry defeated Newtown and Chris Hughes’ clan are unbeaten in seven games against the Dragons (win 5, draw 2) with league top scorer Aaron Williams scoring twice in the previous meeting in September (New 2-0 Barr).
Fixtures before the split:
Barry Town United: Aber (a)
Newtown: TNS (a)
League form:
Barry Town United: ➖❌❌➖✅
Newtown: ❌❌✅✅➖
The New Saints (1st) v Cardiff Met (5th) | Saturday – 14:30
The New Saints are enjoying a run of 29 games without defeat in all competitions, have won 21 consecutive matches and are 12 points clear of Connah’s Quay at the top of the table with a game in hand.
This is the Oswestry outifit’s best run since August 2016 to February 2017 (31 games without defeat), and during that time they broke the world record with 27 consecutive wins.
Despite failing to score in their last two league games Cardiff Met have sealed their place in the Top Six for the second successive season, and with four European spots up for grabs the Archers will now set their sights on returning to Europe for the first time since 2019.
Cardiff Met also failed to score on Wednesday night before losing on penalties in the semi-final of the Nathaniel MG Cup following a goalless 90 minutes against Swansea City’s under-21 side.
Cardiff Met will need to be weary on Saturday as The New Saints have scored 25 goals in their last five meetings with the Archers Met including a 5-1 thrashing at Cyncoed Campus earlier this season.
Cardiff Met suffered their heaviest ever defeat at home and away in the league against The New Saints last season (Met 0-7 TNS, TNS 7-1 Met).
But surprisingly Ryan Jenkins’ side were the only side to beat the Oswestry giants as well, with a shock 3-2 win at the capital in February (TNS’ only defeat in their last 58 league fixtures).
Fixtures before the split:
The New Saints: New (h)
Cardiff Met: Cfon (a)
League form:
The New Saints: ✅✅✅✅✅
Cardiff Met: ➖❌✅✅➖
Highlights of the matches will be available on Sgorio’s social websites.
