Haverfordwest County versus Connah’s Quay Nomads

 
 

Long journey for The Nomads

 
It was a very long trip from their home at the Deeside Stadium for Connah's Quay Nomads because they faced a journey of well over four hours each way on their round trip of almost 360 miles. It was their first away match; coincidentally their longest trek of the season and they were looking to build on their opening home matches where they drew 1-1 against  Bala Town and beat Penybont with the only goal of the match.
 
 





 

Gajda grounded by late injury . . .

 
The Bluebirds’ day didn’t get off to the best start as just minutes before the start goalkeeper Wojciech Gajda, making his debut after two matches on the bench, sustained a freak ankle injury and previous incumbent Steve Hall had to step in.
 
 









 

. . . But Jack took his chance well

 
Jack Wilson did come off the bench to play up front and played well enough to see him start again as the 19 year old never took a backward step and won the free kick which led to The Bluebirds’ goal as well as his non-stop running. Well done Jack!





 

Manager Andy a tough geezer

 
The Nomads’ manager since November 2015 has been a scot called Andy Morrison, who played for Plymouth Argyle and Huddersfield and was at one time captain of Manchester City - and known as a bit of a tough geezer. But his opposite number for The Bluebirds, Wayne Jones, told us he was a good guy.

Wayne admitted that the pair had met just after he had taken over at The Bridge Meadow Stadium and had been confined to the stand for one match for losing his rag on the touchline – and Mr Morrison was also there for the same reason and they enjoyed a good chat!
 




 

Minute’s silence for lovely characters

 
Prior to kick off there was a minute’s silence as a mark of respect for two lovely characters who had been regulars at the Bridge Meadow Stadium in Mackie Williams and Keith Jones, who was affectionately known as ‘Wobbly’.

Both teams and officials also ‘Took the knee’ in recognition of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.
 



 

Harrison joined The Nomads as First Team Coach in October 2018

The experience at all levels for The Nomads is continued with first team coach Craig Harrison also a top manager in his own right. Harrison was in charge of The New Saints from 2011-2017, picking up a number of Welsh Premier League, Welsh Cup and Welsh League Cup titles in his time at Park Hall.

Harrison played for Middlesbrough, Preston North End and also alongside Andy Morrison during their time together at Crystal Palace in the early 2000's.
 
 
 

Proud record in Europe

 
Over the past five seasons The Nomads had been a consistently top side in the Welsh Premier set-up with a lowest finish of fourth and top spot on last season’s fore-shortened campaign alongside winning the Welsh League Cup as they beat Aberystwyth 4-1 in the final.

They also became the first Welsh team to reach the Scottish Challenge Cup Final in 2018/19 season before losing 3-1 to Ross County and have been involved for the first four years in The Europa Cup, travelling as far afield as Serbia and Finland, and the European Challenge cup last season, where they lost narrowly to Russian side Dynamo Tibilisi.
 
 


 

Bryn takes charge of the game

 
Taking charge of this tussle was referee Bryn Markham-Jones, who has officiated a number of times before at The Bridge Meadow Stadium.

He  is on the Welsh list of three officials compiled by The Football Association of Wales to be on the FIFA International referees’ list and had Dan Beckett and Jamie Sheils as his assistants, with Ryan Kenny as the fourth official.

Bryn originally hails from Wrexham but now lives in Swansea. Bryn is clearly a well-respected referee but some of the few Bluebirds watching the game felt that he didn’t have one of his better days here!
 
 
 

English players outnumber Welsh colleagues

 
It is interesting to note that of the 19 players listed on their official web site (plus three younger players) as being members of the current Nomads’ squad 12 of them are English. It seems to be very much about the ability (and cash) floating around the area that they are able to recruit very experienced campaigners from across the border.
 
 


 

Hakin United players cheer on their former team-mates . . .

 
There were no spectators in the ground but a number of young Hakin United players were there just outside the fence cheering on former colleagues Jack Wilson and Ben Fawcett.
 


 

. . . And so did proud parents!

 
Also there were regular onlookers in parents Chris Watts (Rickie), plus Karen and Colin Fawcett (Ben) – and it was also nice to see Jack’s parents Jane and Will Wilson as eager onlookers. Jane is always good for a chat and when I asked where her hubbie was she said he’s over in the bushes, looking like an orang-utang with dark glasses! I thought he looked totally relaxed but we’ll let you decide for yourself if that is a fair description or not!
 
 







 

Mal’s served The Nomads for almost 40 years

 
It’s always nice to meet genuine characters from the opposition and it was Nomads’ veteran Mal Latter who told me that the entire squad had stayed overnight at the Travel Lodge in Pembroke Dock.

He joined The Nomads in the late 1980's, originally joining them as Assistant Manager to Dave Allen. Despite the various changes in management over the last 25 years, Mal has remained the one constant in the Club's match-day staff, working as physio and kit manager over the years.

During his playing days, Latter played for The Nomads for a 12 month period in the 1970's, also playing for Denbigh Town and Hawarden Rangers – and was inducted into The Nomads' inaugural Hall of Fame in April 2017 for his services to the Club.
 
 








 

Jordan’s still racking up the Twitter hits!

 
Last week we mentioned the astounding success that new media manager Jordan Griffiths his having with his twitter feed at The Bluebirds’ matches – and he was busy again in this match against The Nomads as he racked up another massive 100,000 hits, with more following on Monday morning!

This followed 100,000 hits for the previous home tussle against Newtown so they are having fantastic interest shown on social media. Well done Jordan – keep up the good work!
 
 






 

Keep your heads up!

 
On paper it seems like a heavy defeat for Haverfordwest County but in the final analysis it was the street-wise nature of the opposition which pulled them through – and although there is no doubting the fact that they deserved their victory the scoreline was perhaps a little unfair for the relatively young and inexperienced Bluebirds.

Manager Wayne Jones knew how tough this task was against the reigning champions and now he must rally his troops for two very tough matches away on Tuesday to Barry Town and then to Bala Town next Saturday!