FLOODLIGHTING & ELECTRICAL ARDAL SOUTHERN

Starting with Scott Dryden of Cefn Cribwr (photograph: Scott Dryden, right, still playing occasionally at 50), he takes time out to tell us about his role and background at Cefn Cribwr and how preparations have gone for Saturday.

“I started playing for Cefn Cribwr in 1998. Over 500 games later I’m still here!”

“I moved to Bridgend from Bedfordshire in 1991 and being new to the area and not really being one for ‘putting myself out there’ I continued watching my club, Luton Town with the long commute every week. Due to a bad injury I hadn’t played football for a number of years, but had heard that a little village club, Cefn Cribwr, were looking for a manager of their Under 9s side. After meeting the Junior Section Leader, Jean Owen, I decided to get back into football. After a couple of years my current Chairman and good friend John Griffiths persuaded me to come out of retirement and I started playing for Cefn Cribwr in 1998 and over 500 games later I’m still here! There’s been so many fantastic memories along the way. Friendships that have been formed, not just with team mates but also with opposition players. The many Cup Final victories along the way were always high points and being a part of the side that finally got promoted out of the Bridgend League and into the Alliance League Pyramid at the age of 42 was another big highlight for me.”

“After that promotion winning season an opportunity arose for me to be Player-Manager for our Second Team. I hadn’t managed a team for years, but thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s always difficult managing a reserve side, as its very rare that you can ever field a settled side with the First Team Manager always looking to cherry pick players as and where needed. But that’s the job I guess. I decided to start taking my coaching more seriously and took the first steps of taking my coaching badges. Before too long an opportunity to manage the First Team at Cefn came around, but this would mean I’d have to stop playing football as at my age now the step up was just too much. The legs had gone! That was seven years ago now and I’ve loved every minute of the journey we’ve been on. We have gone from being bottom of the Alliance Second Division to now sitting mid-table in the Ardal Southern South West League in a few years and as you can imagine some momentous moments along the way. Winning the Alliance First Division in our first season in that division was an incredible feat.”

“Nothing though will ever surpass the sheer elation of the final game of last season.”

“A final day win against FC Cwmaman securing the title and the one thing that really sticks in my mind was the sportsmanship shown by Scott Woodford and his Cwmaman side despite the disappointment of them missing out on promotion themselves. Giving us a guard of honour off the pitch at the end was an incredible gesture. Nothing though will ever surpass the sheer elation of the final game of last season home to Blaenrhondda, a side that we’d never beaten before. Anything other than a win would mean that Canton Liberals would be promoted at our expense, so at 2-1 down with 30 minutes to go, it really didn’t look good. For some bizarre reason though I was as relaxed as I’d ever been on the side, which if you ask any of the lads, really isn’t me! 18 year old Arron Weaver scored a memorable hattrick and Matty Symons put the icing on the cake with a late fourth goal to turn the game on its head and secure promotion to the Welsh League with a 4-2 win. Celebrations went long into the night that’s for sure, with the whole club coming together in a mass party! I don’t think that moment will ever be surpassed for myself. When I took on the role, Welsh League football was my target for the club, a level that we’d only dreamed about in the past but we’d achieved our goal.”

“Our current squad is quite young. Apart from Jonathan Tiffin and Dan Jenkins, most of the lads are in their very early 20s. Throw in 3 teenagers and there you have it. We’ve brought in a few players this season, but in the main it’s the same squad that was promoted last season. They are an honest group who work hard, are all very ambitious and get along extremely well. I brought Dylan Powell into the club in the summer as part of our management team. At only 22, Dylan had done a tremendous job at Garw last season against all odds, comfortably keeping them up in the Alliance Premier Division. I knew he’d taken his B License and had a passion for coaching and after watching from afar last season decided that now was the time to make a move for him. Naturally he had reservations about moving, but it’s something he’s absolutely thrived in. It’s a joint venture for us as far as I’m concerned and he has a massive input in the major weekly decisions that have to be made. Most importantly though is the way the lads have taken to him. For someone so young to have earned the respect of a team older than himself takes something special and I believe he has a really bright future in coaching / management ahead of him.”

“This will be the first ever meeting between ourselves and Blaenavon Blues and in all honesty I know very little about them and I’m sure they’ll probably say the same about us. Like ourselves they were promoted last season and as the league table will tell you, they’ve adapted into Tier 3 extremely well and with only 2 defeats in the last 16 games, it suggests that Saturday is going to be a real test for us. But it’s a test that our lads will certainly look forward too. I think after a grueling schedule since Christmas we are all looking forward for a change with our focus being on the cup and we have looked forward to training this week in preparation for this game.”

“Another promotion at some point in the future. That has to be the aim for the club.”

“For us to become an established Ardal Southern South West club would be an incredible achievement in itself. If you’d suggested a few years ago we’d be mixing it with the likes of Port Talbot Town, Pontyclun, Penydarren, Cwmamman United etc etc then people would of thought you’d of lost your mind. Little Cefn Cribwr situated on top of a hill between Aberkenfig and Pyle taking on those clubs??? Well, it’s happened and who’s to ever say we couldn’t ever achieve the ‘impossible’ with another promotion at some point in the future. That has to be the aim for the club. To keep progressing both on and off the field. As for myself, who knows what the future holds. All I know is that after 24 years I’m still absolutely loving my time at ‘MY’ club, Cefn Cribwr Football Club.”