At least one new club will be entering the League of Wales in the next few months, with Flexys Cefn Druids having earnt promotion from the North Wales Joinery Cymru Alliance and satisfied the Ground Inspection Committee that their Plaskynaston Lane ground is up to League of Wales standard.
Cefn Druids are an amalgamation of the two clubs in the small Wrexham area village of Cefn. Of the two clubs, Cefn Albion and Druids United, it is the latter who are best known - having won the Welsh Cup on eight occasions in the nineteenth century.
For the past few years, the club have been threatening the top of the table, topping the Cymru Alliance in 1997/98 and taking Caernarfon Town to a Welsh Cup replay before falling away. This year, there have been no such problems for the Cefn-based side, who took on a large sponsorship from Flexys before the start of the season, and have led the Alliance from start to finish.
One of Flexys� more famous players is Dave Taylor, a familiar figure in the League of Wales, having been Europe�s top goalscorer while at Porthmadog in 1993/94, and also played for a number of other League of Wales sides, including Holywell Town, Newtown, Welshpool Town and our opponents this evening, Inter Cabletel, for whom he played in the 1994/95 season, which included the UEFA Cup ties against GKS Katowice.
The Druids surprisingly dominated a league which contained four sides relegated from the League of Wales. Both Porthmadog and Flint Town United, the stronger of the four sides, looked good in spells, but found long-term consistency difficult. Porthmadog drew far too many games to ever look genuine in their pursuit of Flexys, while Flint�s cup runs distracted Steve Buxton�s side from the goal of a return to the League of Wales. Nevertheless, Flint were the only feeder league club to knock out a League of Wales side in this season�s WelshCup. That dubious honour fell to Rhyl, who lost on penalties after a replay and extra-time. The Silkmen also reached the North Wales Coast Cup Final, losing 4-3 to Bangor City a fortnight ago.
In the CC Sports Welsh League side, Ton Pentre remain the side to beat, and look set to retain their title after a 2-1 win over Llanelli at Stebonheath Park last week. However, the Rhondda Valley side have again failed to take the step up to National level, with questions hanging over whether their Ynys Park ground would meet the new League of Wales ground criterion.
As it is, only second placed Llanelli stand a chance of moving back up to the League of Wales, following their relegation in 1996. Although that defeat last week will be a blow to their chances, they only have to finish in the top two places in order to go up. Essentially, the Reds� fate now rests with the chasing pack, and the Sospans may have to wait another week or two to discover whether clubs such as Port Talbot Athletic or BP Llandarcy can realistically catch them.
The promotion of the Stebonheath Park side would be a bonus to the League of Wales, especially with the state of the ground, which was rebuilt in 1988, with a 700-seater stand opposite a terrace and clubhouse.
the Yellow Dragon.
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This article first published in the Barry Town Matchday Magazine, v Inter Cabletel, FAW Premier Cup semi-final first leg, 20.04.1999
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