September 06th 2007
Llandudno Reserves v Llandudno Junction Reserves.

The most anticipated and talked about game since last season’s semi final fixture v Bodedern Reserves (well in my head it was anyway) was here. All the pundits who sit behind their glass tables talking about the biggest and best derby they have ever encountered, should have got themselves down to Maesdu Park to witness the biggest and the best derby there is to witness. Glasgow has its bigotry, Merseyside has its friendliness, London has lots but you can’t beat the intensity that envelops you when the LL30 get drawn against the LL31. Each FAN has a game they look for first when the fixtures are released, this was that game. After the farcical goings on last weekend with team arrangements we had the pick of LL31’S finest to go into this game, with virtually everyone making themselves available. With us having a good battling result the Saturday before, we had some big decisions to make on what we did with the team, so the squad was as follows: -

Mike Hughes
Chris Darbey, Phil Williams, Ben Thomas, Aaron Jones,
Chris Lloyd, Nathan Watson ©, Danny Parry, John Paul Colville
Bobby Colville 1 MOM and Matt Hughes
Tom Roberts on for Bobby Colville
James Hobson on for Chris Lloyd
Scott Jones on for Chris Darbey
Unused subs Danny Jones and Joey Welsh.

We made a change to the team that done so well against Aston, bringing back Chris Lloyd for Tom who joined a very impressive subs bench which included, Scott Jones after his brief spell with the first team, the first team keeper Joey who was acting as cover for Mike and James Hobson who was back into the squad after his day trip to Manchester. We arrived at Maesdu nice and early to be greeted by the sounds of DJ S-CUM’s, latest remix, I thought it was the Broadway Boulevard kids disco they way it was bouncing. With the tension in the air the lads knocked the ball about outside the dressing room nervously not knowing what to expect, after 5 minutes or so we called them in and they got changed. The warm up was lively; until we got to the heading game then it went to pieces, so we got the lads in and named the team, before we embarrassed ourselves further.

The game started with us being quite positive and not being afraid of our opponents, but after only four minutes Darbey pulled up injured and needed to come off, fortunately we had Scott on the bench who once upon a time was a very good right back. When Darbey was stood on the sidelines I overheard him say that he had finished Thierry Henry’s book of skills and was now reading Lois Saha’s autobiography titled Sick-note which was put together by the producer of Casualty, this now all added up. Back to the game and it wasn’t before long that we created our first real chance with the ball being played to Matt who turned just a little quicker than Milk and shot just wide. The football was very good in the opening minutes and on the 11th minute JP crossed into the box to find the salmon like Bobby rising to meet the ball and head past the despairing town keeper. This is where the football stopped, the battle began and we lost our way a little. Town got their game together and passed the ball very quickly and very accurately around the park and created a chance or two of their own and on the 15th minute mark town equalised with a goal out of the top draw from Gareth Evans. Directly from the re start we gave the ball back to Gareth who waltzed passed our players and bagged his second of the game, putting town 2-1 up. This was a kick in the teeth and was very disappointing but the lads tried to play football but couldn’t, town were very fit and physical and we couldn’t get our game going, which was very frustrating and town took strength from this and clattered into a few more of our players. We did create a chance in the 26th minute when Danny played an exquisite ball through to Chris Lloyd who was brought down again; from the resulting free kick Nathan fizzed the ball just passed the upright. 30 minutes on the clock saw Crouchy go in wholeheartedly into a challenge, showing his commitment and desire for the reserves and two minutes later went in for another challenge but this time came off second best and hurt his shoulder, after a quick inspection he wanted to carry on we told him to keep it moving and don’t let it seize. The game was hard fought with no real end product but as the half was coming to a close Town upped the tempo and had two very good chances which tested Mike to the full, he produced two fantastic saves which kept the game at 2-1. We checked on the lads for any injuries with Crouchy being the obvious one but he insisted he was fine and enjoying his role at right back, and insisted he wanted to carry on.

If we gave town too much respect in the first half we certainly put that right in the early stages of the second half with some good strong tackling displays we had a bit more energy about us and within 3 minutes of the re start we were awarded a free kick which was saved by Town’s keeper. The game was end to end with Town shading the possession; Mike was brought into action again in the 55th minute with another fine save. As we were hunting for an equaliser the game became very stretched and both teams were having more and more chances our closest in this passage of play came from Captain Nathan Watson who struck the ball cleanly but just off target. We introduced James Hobson to try and freshen things up a bit and took off Lloydy who had run himself ragged again. With time pushing on we wanted to get Tom on to try and get us a goal or two but sadly we were unable to pair him with Bobby as he was struggling so Tom replaced Bobby in the 80th minute. Although town were much fitter, we had the hunger to try and get a result but as we pushed forward we were leaving gaps at the back and Town took advantage of this and forced us backwards and gained a corner, which was defended well but two minutes later town scored their third goal through Aaron Pritchard and put the game out of our reach, we kept going till the end but to no avail.
Although this was our big Derby and we lost, we lost to a very good team and if they manage to stay together and stay fit I am sure they will do well this season and challenge for honours. We however scored against a team who hadn’t conceded, our fitness will improve and when all our players are fit and well I am sure we can represent Llandudno Junction and its community in a good light. Thank you to H who ran the line for us and thanks to the lads and lasses who came to support the Reserves, it was very refreshing to see so many first teamers at the ground.

Our next game is at the Home of Football against Wepre on the 22nd September, hopefully we will see you all there. In closing I would just like to wish Crouchy a quick and full recovery and I hope to still see you down the Flyover.