Aberystwyth Town manager Nev Powell has admitted he is worried by his side’s start to the season after a heavy 4-0 defeat to Newtown saw the Seasiders slide to the bottom of the table.
Aberystwyth have not picked up a point nor scored since drawing 1-1 with Barry Town on the opening weekend of the new JD Welsh Premier League season, four successive defeats since then has dampened talk of a revival under experienced manager Nev Powell with the club now being tipped as relegation candidates.
Powell was downbeat following his side’s performance at Latham Park and called for his squad to provide an immediate response in their forthcoming games.
“It was not good enough from us really today, it was a poor game and we’ve got to start picking points up quickly. There’s enough in the dressing room to do that and I’m experienced enough to know that these lads have got to give me more.
“We have got to start scoring goals – goals win games and to say we haven’t scored in four games is completely unheard of in this league. We’ve got to start creating chances all over the pitch but the thing is we’re conceding at the end – it’s a bit worrying but we’ve just got to keep at it and these players have got to start to gel and gel quickly.”
Powell’s initial early season worries appear well-placed. The club, who haven’t been relegated since the inception of the WPL, relied on a late rally to ensure survival last season but have been unable to carry that momentum though into the new season so far this under newly appointed Powell.
Aberystwyth currently find themselves in a dilemma at both ends of the field – leaking goals and struggling to score is a surefire way to errode confidence and Powell will know his squad risk falling into a dangerous predicament.
The visit of Powell’s former club Bangor City to Park Avenue this coming Saturday in front of the live television cameras would be the perfect game to start an early-season revival, but should Aberystwyth continue to slump in the coming weeks their ever-present Welsh Premier League status will start to become under considerable threat.
NEWS & NOTES FROM AROUND THE GROUNDS
Carmarthen Town boss Mark Aizlewood says his experience helped get him through his team’s winless start to the season. Carmarthen had crashed to four straight WPL defeats in uncharacteristic fashion before recording their first victory of the campaign with a stunning 4-0 win at Bala Town on Saturday.
“As you get more experienced you learn not to panic when things don’t particularly go your way. We had four performances, of which I was happy with one of the four to be fair and that was Bangor away. We won’t get too despondent because we’ve lost four and we won’t get too carried away because we’ve won one”, he explained after the Bala game. “We thoroughly deserved it, we dominated the game – they did have a few chances, not from free play but from set-plays but I thought in the second-half we were very comfortable which pleased me enormously.”
Bangor City’s clash with Connah’s Quay was postponed mid-game on Friday night following floodlight failure at the Bangor University Stadium with the hosts leading 1-0. The rearranged fixture will now be played 7:45, Tuesday 26th September and entry will be free of charge the Citizens have confirmed.
Cardiff Met have announced that Director of Football Christian Edwards is to return to his previous role as first-team manager following the departure of Wayne Allison. Edwards had originally stepped down from the management role in February but will now replace Allison, who has not been involved in any games this season due to ongoing family commitments. The Students are enjoying a good start to the season so far and are currently second in the table.
A total of eight clubs from the Cymru Alliance and Welsh League have applied for the the FAW Tier 1 licence which replaces the previous domestic licence and is a essential requirement to meet the Welsh Premier League’s promotion criteria.
Airbus UK Broughton, Caernarfon Town, Flint Town United, Porthmadog, Rhyl, Haverfordwest County, Llanelli Town and Penybont have all registered their interest.
Weekend results: Bala Town 0-4 Carmarthen, Bangor City P-P Connah’s Quay, Cardiff Met 0-0 The New Saints, Cefn Druids 2-2 Prestatyn, Llandudno 1-0 Barry Town, Newtown 4-0 Aberystwyth
Featured image courtesy of Newtown AFC / Welsh Premier League
