Ireland pre-season tour announced

The Iveagh Grounds will be the host venue for the pre-season competition.

Port Talbot Town can confirm that we will be heading to Ireland this summer as part of our pre-season preparations.

The club will be participating in a four-team competition in Dublin involving hosts St. James’s Gate, Ballymena United from Northern Ireland and Leyton Orient on the 14th and 15th July.

“It is the first time the club have travelled outside of the UK for pre-season and we’re delighted to have been invited to participate in this competition,” said Andrew Edwards.

“We hope to bring in an influx of new players over the summer and also now have Scott Young on board, so this will be an ideal opportunity to get the squad together ahead of the new season.”

If any supporters are interested in making the trip to Dublin, please contact matthew@porttalbottown.co.uk

Further details on the competition and the clubs involved will be announced shortly.

Free entry for End of Season presentation night

Don’t forget that the club will be holding its End of Season presentation this coming Friday with free entry.

Everyone is welcome to the evening as we celebrate achievements throughout the club to mark the end of another busy season.

Live music from renowned local band ‘The Riff’ will precede the presentation in what should be a fabulous night of entertainment.

The evening gets underway at 7:30pm and is not to be missed!

Under-19’s finish as league runners-up

Port Talbot Town’s Under-19 side were confirmed a highly respectable second-place finish in the MacWhirter Youth Division West on Tuesday night.

A 7-2 victory against Cwmaman Institute on the weekend put Mark Pike’s side top of the table – but they were reliant on Pontardawe Town slipping up in their final game against Neath, in order to hold onto top-spot.

Pontardawe edged past Neath 1-0 in Ammanford to restore their three-point lead and climb back above Port Talbot to clinch the league title.

“The result is gutting but this is a great achievement in what is a highly competitive youth league,” said Pike following confirmation of Pontardawe’s win.

High-flying U-19’s wrap up season in style

Port Talbot Town’s Under-19’s completed their campaign with ruthless 7-2 win over Cwmaman Institute on Saturday – but now face a nervy wait to find out if they have won the league.

Jordan Edwards hit four as the young Steelmen ran riot at the Gen-Quip stadium to go top of the MacWhirter Youth Division West, overtaking Pontardawe Town on goal difference.

Ponty however still have an outstanding fixture remaining and will play Neath on Monday evening knowing a defeat would hand Port Talbot the title.

The Blues got off to a flyer when two goals from Jordan Edwards and Roberto Freitas both netting inside the opening five minutes before Edwards notched a second before the break.

Cwmaman did their best to unsettle Port Talbot’s dominance in the restart and quickly pulled a goal back to make a 3-1.

The introduction of 16-year-old Callum Holden quickly saw Town reassert themselves; Holden quickly spraying the ball out to Matthew Isles, who delivered an inch-perfect cross for Jordan Edwards to slot the ball home, for his hat-trick.

A fifth soon followed as Holden further extended the Blues’ advantage, before turning provider, for another academy product, 16-year-old Evan Corcoran, who made no mistake to fire home Port Talbot’s sixth of the afternoon. And it was Jordan Edwards who was on hand again to grab his fourth to ensure a well-deserved victory, which guarantees the youngsters second place at the very least, leaving Mark Pike delighted with his side’s campaign.

“On reflection of the season we have thrown the title away with silly dropped points in games were well on top of, but what a season in very highly competitive youth league,” said Pike.

“Guaranteeing runners up is an outstanding achievement but we have to look at what we aimed to achieve and by hard work we achieved, runners up hopefully champions, six young lads making their senior first team debuts, two Under-18 Welsh semi-pro call-ups and five under academy 16′s who come up and have played their part in our success. A great effort from all, one that I the players and the club must be proud of.”

U-19’s: Luke Martin (Luke Jones), Ryan John, Ryan Morgan, Dale Morris, Johnny Michael, Mathew Isles (Evan Corcoran), Chris Silva, Alex Williams, Jordan Edwards, Roberto Freitas, Curtis Hutson (Callum Holden)

Presentation night date changed

Our 2011/12 end of season presentation will now be held at the club on Friday 18th May at 7:30pm.

There will be free entry to the night, which includes a buffet and live music from renowned local band ‘The Riff’.

Awards will be presented to both the youth team and first-team, including the 2011/12 Player of the Year award.

Everyone is welcome, so bring a partner or friend for what promises to be a great evening of entertainment, as we bring another exciting season to a close.

Under-19’s fixture change

Youth-team product Aaron Biddescombe has progressed into the first-team squad this year

The Under-19’s final fixture of the season at home to Cwmaman Institute has been brought forward 24 hours to Saturday 12th May.

The fixture, originally re-arranged for the Sunday, has now been brought forward to tomorrow with a 1pm kick-off at the Gen-Quip stadium.

Mark Pikes’ side have enjoyed an excellent league campaign and are still in with a shout of clinching the MacWhirter Youth Division West title and currently lie in second-place in the table.

Should current leaders Pontardawe Town lost to Neath, the young Steelmen can claim the league with three points against Cwmaman Institute; so get down to the Gen-Quip on Saturday afternoon to show your support to the youngsters.

Blues’ back Nu Sxool in Britain’s Got Talent

There will be a familiar faces to Port Talbot Town regulars on ITV1 tonight, as local dance group Nu Sxool compete in the Britain’s Got Talent semi-finals at Wembley.

The group perform in tonight’s live semi-finals after being told by panelist and comedian David Walliams that they had “blown the roof off”.

Ella Hunt is one of group hopeful of being voted into the final and was a regular at Port Talbot Town games, both home and away, before dancing commitments took their toll.

“It would be great if everyone back home involved with the club could show their support for the girls and vote,” said Ella’s father and popular supporter Nigel Hunt. “The group have worked tremendously hard and have strong ties with Port Talbot Town, having performed and held functions at the club.”

Young supporter Brandon Jones also has his two sisters, Tawny and Deeley, in the group, who’re based at the TMD Stage School at the nearby Mozart Drive Community Centre

Port Talbot Town would like to wish Nu Sxool the very best of luck in tonight’s show and urge for everyone connected to the club to pledge their support by voting for the group.

Nu Sxool will be performing live tonight on Britain’s Got Talent from 7:30pm.

Gen-Quip to host South Wales Senior Cup final

The Gen-Quip stadium will host the South Wales FA Senior Cup final this coming Friday (7:15).

Cwmbach Royal Stars face Perthcelyn United in what will be one of the last matches to played at the Gen-Quip this season, with work to begin shortly on the playing surface in preparation for next season.

In-form U-19’s go second ahead of final game

A busy seven days for the Under-19’s saw Mark Pike’s side climb into second spot in the MacWhirter Youth Division West table, with three wins in three games putting the youngsters in contention for a late title bid.

“These lads are just immense, the squad is fantastic; we lie in second place and have guaranteed runners-up but with a win on Sunday and a Pontardawe defeat to Neath in midweek, our lads will be crowned champions. These lads are the best in the league, we have the best defensive record of the league to date and we will go all out for a fantastic end of season game against Cwmaman Institute this coming Sunday,” explained Mark Pike after his side take nine points from nine.

The Blues continued their strong end-of-season form, extending their unbeaten run to six matches with a 2-0 win over Bryntirion at the Gen-Quip stadium.

Jordan Edwards and Callum Holden were both on target in a comfortable victory for Port Talbot despite a strong second-half showing from the visitors.

Last Sunday then saw Pike’s side take another three points at the Gen-Quip stadium, this time against Llanelli.

Jordan Edwards and Callum Holden again struck to fire the Blues into a two-goal lead before Curtis Hutson came off the bench to seal a the win over the Reds.

Mark Pike then steered the young guns to a double over Lanelli in the return fixture just three days later.

“Llanelli however came to the game with nothing to lose and took the game to us with a very high line and extremely fast tempo, they did not leave us on the ball for too long and did cause us problems,” Pike said.

A poor defensive mix up allowed Llanelli to take the deserved lead as Port Talbot trailed by the single goal at half-time and worse was to come as the Blues conceded a second, just ten minutes after the restart. The second goal saw the youngsters reply as they began to dominate proceedings, pressing the Llanelli defence high up the first. Port Talbot’s efforts were duly rewards as a finely placed strike from Roberto Freitas put Town back into the game, as the pressure on the Llanelli defence continued resulting in the opposition conceding a penalty, with Jordan Edwards coolly despatching to make it two-apiece.

With the game evenly poised, a fantastic defensive clearance from Jake Parry kept Port Talbot in the game with just two minutes remaining, before Jordan Edwards stole in with a brave-header for the Blues to complete a dramatic comeback in a hard-fought victory.

Pike hailed his squads efforts, singling out the performance of rookie youngster Callum Davies: “Without seven key players missing, the younger players and fringe players needed to step up and be counted. Cameron Davies at ripe old age of 16 deserved his opportunity for the missing captain Johnny Michael and did ever so well against a strong 19-year-old striker for Llanelli. It was a very pleasing performance from Cameron and I am delighted with his development over the last few weeks.”

U19s vs Llanelli (A):Luke Martin, Dale Morris (Ryan Morgan), Jake Parry, Aaron Biddescombe, Cameron Davies, Matthew Isles, Callum Holden, Roberto Freitas, Jordan Edwards (Evan Corcoran), Curtis Hutson, Kieran Savage (Chris Silva)

U19’s vs Llanelli (H): Luke Martin, Ryan John (Ryan Morgan), Luke Edwards, Aaron Biddescombe, Johnny Michael, Chris Silva, Jordan Edwards, Callum Holden (Cameron Davies), Roberto Freitas, Ben Crooks (Curtis Hutson)

U19s vs Bryntirion: Luke Martin, Ryan Morgan (Dale Morris), Luke Edwards, Aaron Biddescombe, Johnny Michael, Matthew Isles (Evan Corcoran), Alex Williams, Chris Silva, Jordan Edwards (Ben Crooks), Callum Holden, Roberto Freitas

Supporters match at the Gen-Quip set for big kick-off

This Saturday will see the first of an annual end of season supporters’ match up taking place at the Gen-Quip Stadium.

Port Talbot Town FC supporters based in the Swansea area will go up against fellow PTT supporters representing the ‘rest of the world’.

With team spots now full for both teams, supporters are highly anticipating the clash with eyes on the silverware that will be up for grabs.

Swansea based supporters’ player-manager Andrew Jones believes the encounter will be tightly contested. “It will interesting to see all of the boys on the pitch as appose to the stands and who knows, maybe the first team manager will be keeping an eye on things,” he told fellow Town fan and organiser Craig Mapstone.

Their opposition for the day will be managed by Corey Glover who was sidelined after picking up a knock whilst training.

“Sadly as a result of the injury I have decided that it’s probably best to concentrate on the management side of things” Glover explained. “I can’t wait to be involved though and am already looking forward to matches we will have in the future.”

The game will be kicking off at 3pm and everybody is welcome to come along to enjoy the spectacle.

Following the match the English FA Cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea will be screened live in the clubhouse and food will be available from the kitchen

If you are interested in playing at the Gen-Quip stadium on Saturday, contact Craig Mapstone at cmapstone.099457@students.smu.ac.uk but please be aware, spaces are now very limited.