A finely contested goalless draw with Llandudno at The Rock in front of a bumper crowd of 539 marked a treble of achievements for surprise-package Cefn Druids.
Not only have the side secured themselves their highest league finish in the JD Welsh Premier League, the Ancients have also eliminated any threat of relegation and are guaranteed of a place in the end of season Europa League play-offs.
Few would’ve tipped the club to have made the top-six cut at the start of the season – I myself had pencilled the Druids in for one of the relegation spots and it’s been nothing short of a remarkable Phase 1 campaign from Huw Griffiths’ squad.
It was an away draw on Matchday 20 (of 22) with Connah’s Quay over the festive period that put Cefn Druids in pole position to reach the top-six for the first time. That draw was then duly followed up by them taking a further four points from their final two games against Carmarthen and Llandudno, who they eventually finished three-points clear of.
Cefn Druids were able to maintain a steady return of points throughout their fixture schedule as they mounted an unlikely top-six challenge. The Ancients took six points from their two meetings with fellow top-six hopefuls Barry Town as well as claiming three points on the road at contenders Llandudno, but it was perhaps the convincing 3-0 home win over Bala Town and shock victory at Bangor City in which Huw Griffiths’s men truly established themselves as a genuine candidates to break into the top-half of the table.
With a two-week stop-gap to draw breath and take stock until the WPL resumes, the next challenge awaiting Cefn Druids will be a formidable test.
This season’s Championship Conference contains four teams who will be desperately thrashing it out over the final ten games of the season to claim the second automatic European spot.
Connah’s Quay, Bangor City, Cardiff Met and resurgent Bala Town will all want to lay claim to the lucrative runner’s-up spot and that’s even before you consider the Druids will have to face runaway leaders and champions elect The New Saints in a further two games.
The highly competitive edge in between those Euro-chasing clubs might just be a step too far for Cefn Druids in Phase 2 with the gulf in quality between them and the leading clubs one challenge too many in a season in which they have already achieved.
At worst there could be some one-sided contests that aren’t in Cefn Druids’ favour over the course of their final ten games, but the key to the Druids making a relative success of Phase 2 will be whether they can lift themselves towards the end of season and prevent confidence from becoming dented as they head into the play-offs.
If the club can keep spirits high in what will be a truly testing Phase 2 and remain galvanised come the play-offs, in what is the real business end of the season, Huw Griffiths may not yet be finished overachieving with his well-organised Cefn Druids team.
