Goytre United’s John eyeing top six finish

Lee John and his Goytre United side will travel to third placed Cambrian & Clydach this weekend as he eyes a top six finish, improving on their 7th placed finish last year.

An emphatic 7-0 victory against Monmouth Town will do all the world of confidence for them as they take on Craig Hughes’s men.

“I was really proud of our performance last week. Up until the hour mark it was a tight game and lucky we took our chances emphatically at the right times. Some of our plays in the second half was excellent, we were clinical on the day.

We’ve created more chances in games we’ve lost this season than against Monmouth last week. I mean that respectfully as we were clinical against them. In a few cases there have been numerous games where we’ve played so well but struggled to score goals.”

Going back a week before, Goytre also won their Derby match with Port Talbot in dramatic fashion with late goals in the dying embers of the game giving them the three points.

“Our derby win over Port Talbot was very fortunate, it’s the poorest we’ve played all season. Port Talbot were excellent in the second half and totally dominated the match. Our keeper was fantastic on the day and through the players show of togetherness, commitment and determination, in the final minutes they snatched 3 massive points. The celebrations were fantastic in the changing rooms as I’m sure you can imagine.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s game, John has said Goytre will be without two players, but former Port Talbot man Martin Rose could be in contention but it hangs in the balance of a fitness test.  He also isn’t woried about having to adapt to Cambrian’s 3G surface due to their experience of training on it. 

We have Steve Berry away with work commitments, new signing Danny Williams is suspended and Martin Rose will have a late fitness test. We have a strong squad, so there will be no excuses from us.

The 3G pitch is certainly different but we train on it every week so I’m sue we’ll be fine, there will be no excuses again. We’ve played 2 games on 3G pitches this season and both games we’ve won.

Goytre United are currently the second best defensive side in the league and this goes side by side with their form, losing just once in their last 7 league games, manager John says Goytre are now offering something different in each game. 

“I believe we overplayed slightly at the start of the season and now we are mixing our game up a bit more. We’ve got so much experience in the squad we know how to win football matches. Our goals are coming from all over the park and not just 1 or 2 players.

We’ve got to keep the feel good Factor by working hard every game. We’ve got a real honest bunch of lads who enjoy playing together.

Defensively we’ve been very good most of the season. We defend as a team and it starts with the attackers, it’s hard to pick any individual, but our skipper Dale Griffiths is very consistent and leads by example.”

Goytre are currently bettering their finish from last season and with progression on the mind at those at Goytre United, John is hoping they can deliver, despite losing a lot of players to Welsh League Division Two side Llanelli Town.

“The club finished 7th last season with a very stable squad that had been together for a few years. Our aim after a really tough pre season where we lost all our players to Llanelli was to try and better 7th place. So a top 6 finish would be great. We are on course to do that as we currently sit 5th in the table.”

The Goytre United boss leaped praise onto Saturday’s opponents and Craig Hughes, praising their standings in the table. 

The home game was probably one of those games where we played so well but just couldn’t score. The Cambrian goal keeper Steven Hall was brilliant on the day. We are hopeful that Saturday will be totally different, but my old mate Craig Hughes is doing a fantastic job on limited resources. To be sitting joint second is a superb effort.

“We know this will be a really tough game. Cambrian have a fantastic academy set up and many of those players have come through to the first team over recent years. You don’t get anything at Cambrian for free, Craig’s a motivator and I’m sure they’ll be fired up Saturday to try and get the 3 points.”