The regular season has come to an end and The New Saints (1st), Connah’s Quay (2nd) and Bala Town (3rd) have secured their places in the European qualifying rounds for the 2024/25 season.
There is one more chance left to reach Europe, and Caernarfon Town, Cardiff Met, Newtown and Pen-y-bont will fight for the last ticket in the play-offs.
Newtown, who finished 4th in the table, will welcome Pen-y-bont, who managed to climb above Haverfordwest County to 7th place on the last weekend of the season.
In the other semi-final, Caernarfon Town (5th) will take on Cardiff Met (6th), with the winners meeting in the final on Saturday, 18 May.
Previous play-off winners and positions:
2022/23 – Haverfordwest County (7th)
2021/22 – Caernarfon Town (4th)
2020/21 – Newtown (7th)
2019/20 – No play-offs due to Covid-19
2018/19 – Cardiff Met (7th)
2017/18 – Cefn Druids (5th)
2016/17 – Bangor City (4th)
2015/16 – Connah’s Quay (4th)
2014/15 – Newtown (6th)
2013/14 – Bangor City (4th)
2012/13 – Bala Town (7th)
2011/12 – Llanelli (4th)
2010/11 – Neath (3rd)
Since the formation of the 12-team structure in 2010, the teams that finish 4th or 7th have won the play-offs most often.
The club that finished 4th has won the play-offs on five occasions, whilst the club in 7th has won four times.
The team that finished in 7th place has won three of the last four finals.
Only once have the clubs in 3rd, 5th and 6th place managed to win the competition in the past.
10 different clubs have won the play-offs, and Newtown and Bangor City are the only ones to win the final twice.
Caernarfon Town (5th) v Cardiff Met (6th) | Friday – 19:45 (Live online)
On Friday, Caernarfon Town will welcome Cardiff Met to the Oval in the play-off semi-finals for the third time.
Caernarfon Town played in the play-offs for the first time at the end of the 2018/19 season, losing 3-2 at the Oval against Cardiff Met in the semi-final.
The Cofis went a step further in the 2020/21 season, winning at Barry Town United in the semi-final before losing 5-3 at home to Newtown in the final.
Then in 2021/22, the Canaries finally won the play-offs by beating Cardiff Met and Flint Town United at the Oval.
But unfortunately for Caernarfon Town, 2021/22 was the only season where the play-off winners did not reach Europe (due to Wales’s position on the UEFA coefficient list), but instead qualified for the Scottish Challenge Cup, and so the Cofis are still desperate for their first taste of European football.
This will be Cardiff Met’s sixth appearance in the play-offs, and the Archers will be looking to win the knock-out competition for only the second time.
After ascending to the JD Cymru Premier in the summer of 2016, Met reached the play-off final three times in a row, losing against Bangor City in 2017, Cefn Druids in 2018, before beating Bala Town on penalties in 2019 and reached Europe for the only time in their history.
Since then, Cardiff Met have lost in the semi-finals of the play-off games in 2022 (vs Caernarfon Town) and again last year in 2023 (vs Haverfordwest County).
Cardiff Met have already played in two semi-finals this year but lost both matches against Swansea’s under-21’s (Nathaniel MG Cup) and The New Saints (JD Welsh Cup).
Momentum is the key word when discussing the play-off games, and it’s fair to say that these two teams are lacking that all-important ingredient.
Caernarfon Town finished the season with a run of four games without a win (lost three, drawn one), with the only point coming from their last game at home against 10-man Bala Town.
It has been a difficult spell for the Cardiff Met crew as well, who have lost eight of their last nine games in all competitions.
The only consolation for Ryan Jenkins’ team is that their only win in the league since December came against Caernarfon Town.
Cardiff Met won 2-1 at the Oval in March, but before that the Cofis had gone on a run of 10 games without defeat against the students (won eight, drawn two).
League form:
Caernarfon Town: ➖❌❌❌✅
Cardiff Met: ͏❌❌❌✅❌
Newtown (4th) v Pen-y-bont (7th) | Saturday – 12:20 (S4C)
Momentum is the magic word when discussing the play-offs, and both teams have that on their side and will be full of confidence ahead of the big game on Saturday afternoon.
Newtown finished the regular season strongly with two consecutive wins (vs Caernarfon Town and Cardiff Met), losing just one of their last six fixtures (vs TNS).
In the bottom half, Pen-y-bont only lost once after the split, ending the season on a remarkable run of six games without defeat and without conceding a single goal (won five, drawn one).
Newtown will be competing in the play-offs for the eighth time in their history, and no club has won the competition more often than the Robins (2 – level with Bangor City).
Newtown, Cardiff Met and Bala Town are the only clubs to reach the play-off final on three separate occasions, but the Robins lost in the final last year (on penalties vs Haverfordwest County).
The summer of 2021 was the last time that Newtown won the play-off games – after winning in Pen-y-bont in the semi-final (0-1) before beating Caernarfon Town at the Oval in the final (3-5).
The 2014/15 season was the only other time Newtown won the play-offs, winning away from home in Port Talbot and Aberystwyth Town that year.
Newtown have reached Europe on five occasions in the past, winning qualifying rounds against Valletta (2015) and HB Torshavn (2022) during the last decade.
Pen-y-bont finished 3rd last season and went on to represent Wales in Europe for the first time in their history (losing 3-1 over two legs vs Santa Coloma, Andorra).
Of the four clubs competing in this year’s play-offs, Pen-y-bont are the only team that have not previously won the competition.
Pen-y-bont have played in the play-offs twice before, losing in the semi-finals on both occasions – against Newtown in 2020/21, and Flint Town United in 2021/22.
Although Newtown finished higher in the table than their opponents, the head-to-head record is on Pen-y-bont’s side as they have not lost in six meetings with the Robins (won five, drawn one), and veteran striker Chris Venables scored three goals in two games against Newtown during the first phase of the season.
League form:
Newtown: ✅✅➖➖❌
Pen-y-bont: ͏✅✅✅➖✅
The highlights of the games will be available on Sgorio’s social websites, and the best of the weekend’s action can be seen on S4C on Monday evening.
