TT No.33: Mike Latham - Saturday 8 November 2014: Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) Division One: Johnstown Youth 1-4 Llanuwchllyn; Attendance: 10 (h/c); No admission or programme 

Matchday images (16) https://picasaweb.google.com/footballgroundsinfocus/JohnstownYouthFC

I’ve been ticking off grounds in the Wrexham Area League for the past decade or so and am down to the last handful. It never ceases to amaze me just how many football clubs there are within a small radius of Wrexham- as a football hub it must be one of the densest in the country especially as it is a largely rural area.

I like the league, the football is generally decent and played in good spirit, the people are friendly and there’s a well maintained and informative website which helps enormously. There are also some magnificently sited grounds with stunning views. The grounds are generally basic, little more than post and rail fenced off pitches adjoining a local community centre in places, but I’m quite happy to spend my Saturdays in stress-free locations such as these.

There are also surprises- over the years I’ve had a few no-shows, a few games that didn’t take place at the advertised time or even at the allotted ground, but the beauty of this league is that if you have a Plan B (essential in the groundhopper’s lexicon) there’s generally another ground within striking distance if you need one.

The weather was cold and unpromising and heavy rain clouds sweeping up from the south-west put paid to my plans to travel further afield. I decided to visit FC Queens Park, newcomers to the league this season and advertised on the website as playing at New Broughton, with detailed directions. Unfortunately on arrival I saw two junior teams warming-up. Further enquiries revealed that this was Coedpoeth U16s and that FC Queens Park play at the Queensway Sports Complex which I’ve visited several times before for previous incumbents. Strange this, as even the club’s Pitchero website lists their location as New Broughton: http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/fcqueenspark/location/

There was no time to mess around and fortunately I had a Plan B. For some reason I’ve never ticked Johnstown Youth and they were at home to Llanuwchllyn. Johnstown is a small former mining village of around 4,000 people close to the A483 south of Wrexham and forms part of the old coal mining community of Rhosllannerchrugog. The neighbouring village of Ruabon is the home of Welsh football legend Mark Hughes and Offa’s Dyke passes close-by.

Again the directions on the league website are inaccurate- they tell the traveller to turn opposite Spar to find the ground- it’s actually the Co-operative. But I had a bit of time to spare and was relieved to see the teams warming-up as I arrived. On an adjoining field two junior teams undertook a minute’s applause prior to their game starting in recognition of Remembrance Day. The teams at my game undertook a minute’s silence.

I rather liked the Moreton Playing Fields- a vast amount of green space surrounded by houses with some children’s play areas and a changing room block. The Johnstown Youth pitch is enclosed by a neat white rail and the pitch, though well grassed is undulating.

Johnstown Youth, a Premier Division club a few seasons ago, are experiencing a bad time at the moment. They began this game rooted to the bottom of the league with eight defeats from as many games, having conceded 64 goals and scored only three. Their visitors from the other side of Bala Lake were expected to win comfortably and wasted several clear-cut openings in a one-sided first 20 minutes.

Much against the run of play Johnstown took the lead- a splendid strike from their young forward. This merely stung the visitors into action and by half-time they were 3-1 up. The second half was largely even and contained just one goal. The home side fought hard and I enjoyed the well contested game which was played in a good spirit.

contributed on 08/11/14