Crows Online

First up well done to the team for a great result yesterday! That meant so much to the Crow support yesterday. Lets face it the Croes rolled into the stadium expecting to roll us over easily, well they bl**dy well did not! The team showed some grit and fight, as a supporter you love that. Although we let a late goal in it still felt good at the final whistle, which is strange as this is usually a bit of a downer. I suspect that that game felt like a loss to the Croes and their support. After all the problems we have had over the past few seasons, on and off the field, it was great to hear the comment coming from our support we are Cwmbran Town nobody likes us but we are still here!!

WE had the better of the first half, but credit to the cross they ground out a result for themselves in the second half.

On a positive note it was great to see the kids as match day mascots, and their parents there supporting the club. Once there would have only been only the die hard Crows support at the game, surrounded by Cross support, yesterday this showed healthy signs of being corrected. A good sign we may be slowly moving in the right direction.

Crow 61, firstly i agree with you about the mascots, this is great and we are the only club that does it so long may it continue. On that note can i please ask an official of the club to encourage the senior players and management to do something with the youth! They have shown there commitment now lets see if this is returned!

As far as the game goes i have to disagree with you on a couple of points, yes the croesy players and management came off the field looking dejected and really down, but in my opinion it should have been our players that looked and felt this way! What does it say when the home side are calling for the final whistle (manager, players and supporters) in a a game that they led for quite a while? Remember, we are Cwmbran Town FC, should we be happy with a 1-1 draw against a side that have been in our shadow for so many years? Thats no dis-respect to them because i actually think they have a great set-up. It is also dissapointing that we tried to hold on to a draw rather than go all out to beat them, after all they obviously were'nt on form yesterday as Jodie Jenkins could have had a hat-trick in the second half. Would i also be correct in saying that the Cwmbran no 8 played in goals earlier in the season? If that is the case and hes now a midfield player (who played well i have to add) then what sort of message does that send to the players on the bench that there goalkeeper starts outfield before them? Weird?

The club has had a lot of problems both on and off the field for the past couple of seasons but shouldnt we be setting our sites and aims a bit higher than celebrating a HOME draw against Croesy? Didnt feel like a derby game either really, not many tackles flting in etc...OH and Celtic won again! Cant wait for that game.

Hels bel gotta agree with you over the youth. It does my heart good when I go down town and see the kids wearing thier Cwmbran town tops with obvious pride. This was not always the case as you were unlikely at one time to see a Cwmbran town top anywhere in town. I hope the youth teams are aware that the rank and file Crow fan are very pleased that they are part of our/their club!

As for being happy with a draw, you are right we should want the win. But bear with me for just a second and I will explain my reasons for being happy with yesterdays result. First up being a long time Crow supporter I have seen the Cross come back from the dead so often late in games it was great for me anyway that this did not happen yesterday. This may also explain the calls for the final whistle from the long suffering support. Note that the Crow fans changed their tune when we got a late corner. We must remember also that the Cross came into this game on a fine streak of form, and I belive they were really confident of beating us well. As for playing to hold on I do not think this was the case,I think although it pains me to say it that the Cross are a good side, and simply just got the better of the second half, although we had some good moments that long shot that just sailed over the bar being one of them. I feel the side wanted a result yesterday and fought to the best of their ability to get one, for me that can not be bad. So although it was a draw I felt that I was seeing small signs of progress, I hope so anyway. Come on you Crows!!

Spot on Crow 61. We had a good few notable chances to score, whereas Croesy had the majority of possesion, but only forced the one save from our keeper. They are a better side than last season i reckon and they're well organised. But our lads stuck to their tasks and ground out a point. While KP showed on the day that he only needed a sight of goal to score.

Some interesting points:

should we be happy with a 1-1 draw against a side that have been in our shadow for so many years

Yep, definitely. I don't see what history has got to do with it. We were once a lot higher up than Croesy. So? We're not now. We have to get away from this 'big-headedness' sentiment. Once being in Europe doesn't help Leeds get promoted. Once being champions of Europe doesn't stop Nottingham Forest from being in a relegation battle. It's here and now that's important. It wouldn't surprise me if the reason people apparently hate us is because we think we're too good for the teams we now share a division with. Why do we have the right to expect to thrash Croesy? Just because we were once 6 divisions apart? That seems to be completely against the nature of football...and Croesy deserve respect.

It is also dissapointing that we tried to hold on to a draw rather than go all out to beat them

- strange comment, they were the better side for the majority of the second half! You can't magically walk up the other end a score when the other team are bossing procedings. You have to play to your strengths when up against a stronger team. And it would have worked had we defended better on that one corner. I'm not embarrased to admit Croesy were the better side overall. It's only one game though.

Would i also be correct in saying that the Cwmbran no 8 played in goals earlier in the season? If that is the case and hes now a midfield player (who played well i have to add) then what sort of message does that send to the players on the bench that there goalkeeper starts outfield before them? Weird?

- it sends out the message that you have to fight for your place in the team, or someone just as good as you might replace you!

Why do you assume he's a keeper starting outfield? He might be an outfield player that had to play in goal until we found a replacement keeper? It hardly matters though. He scored last week and we haven't lost while he's been in midfield. Try and rememebr that this is amatuer football - we're not talking about Petr Cech keeping Lampard out of the team

Great to have some interesting debate on here. It's quiet a lively forum this season isn't it

Looking forward to Tuesday now!

Try and rememebr that this is amatuer football

Really?? -

Try and rememebr that this is amatuer football

Really?? -

I tell you what, some of you don't deserve a club. We have endured 5 seasons on the trot in relegation battles, and then we have a fine win last week and it goes dead on here - just 2 replies to the result thread. Not a good word from the regular whingers about the team or manager.

We make it two games undeafeated in the league (which hasn't happened in over 12 months) and play well against a stronger side, and still no praise. It makes me wonder if some of you actually enjoy spending £4 to watch the team and crossing your fingers for a poor result just so you can come on here and complain!!

I have no problem with negative comments when they're deserved, but we've just got 4 points from 6, scoring 5 goals in the process. What's the matter with you all?! You should be ashamed of yourselves! Call yourselves 'fans'?!

Rant over

steve, i think you've hit the nail on the head there.

cwmbran are an amateur club playing against a mixture of semi professional and amateur opposition. as the club are no longer financially able to pay players, they will always be battling for the remaining players who are willing to play for free. fans must realise that teams now have to live within their means. noone wants another merthyr.

as far as i can tell, there are only a handful of teams in division 1 who don't pay, and about a 50/50 split in div 2. there are, of course, teams that do well without paying but sooner or later someone will notice their best players and snap them up.

when you can't pay players (or indeed any other staff of the club) you have to rely on giving people the opportunity to prove themselves. in gareth morgan, croesy have an excellent manager with great contacts, who is using the opportunity to showcase his talents. hopefully barrie will be able to do similarly with cwmbran.

the biggest problem though is that cwmbran have so many rivals localy all competing for the same players. as we've identified before, there are about 8 teams in the same area and at the same level all after the same players. there's nowhere near that much competition anywhere else, not even in cardiff.

Cheers Jeffers.

You've probably got the best insight to Welsh League football out of all of us, so hopefully people will heed your words and try and be a bit more sympathetic to the cause. But even if they don't it would just be nice to hear someone say something positive about the team or one of the players for a change!

Anyway, looks like you're having a good start to the season mate. All the best

I agree with you about Jeffers, great knowledge of welsh league footbal, good (not going to big him up too much) goalkeeper, shows an interest in CTAFC and what did we do? LET HIM GO! He also ran the 18s, no longer in existence! Jeffers i believe has 'blue' blood so if he's not convinced that playing for CTAFC is the correct thing for him then we really do have a problem!

Gary P let him go. That's what managers do sometimes - make bad decisions! Don't get a big head Jeffers!

Your right, we agree, a major breakthrough! Gary P did let him go, but he did train with us this season and we should have begged him to stay. And then we may have had an under 18s as well !

black and white blood bring back the black and white kit...we are Crows after all.