Cefn Cribwr boss Dryden looking forward to local derbies next season

Cefn Cribwr BC boss Scott Dryden says he’s looking forward to locking horns with local rivals Cornelly United and Porthcawl Town Athletic.

It’ll be a short seven mile journey to travel to Porthcawl and a five mile journey to Cornelly, now that they’re in Division One of the South Wales Alliance.

With pre-season in full swing, the full fixture schedule is the only thing that awaits Cefn Cribwr now from making their plans.

Cefn and Cornelly had already met last season in the Intermediate Cup, where Cornelly came out as winners. The game attracted a big crowd in the lower tier of Welsh football, with all the ingredients of a local rivalry.

“With all the local clubs in this division we shall be looking forward to the fixture list being released.  Cornelly will obviously be a huge occasion for us and one that we’ll be looking forward to.

It was a great experience for us to play them last season in the cup in front of over 300 people so we shall look forward to locking horns with them again this season.”

We will clearly be the under dogs when we face both Cornelly and Porthcawl but with local bragging rights up for grabs.. who knows?”

Despite being rivals, manager Scott Dryden has given praise to those at Porthcawl and say that the management staff there have done a good job.

“Likewise with Porthcawl we shall be coming across a club with a fantastic history and great traditions. Ray Walker and Kevin Downes have done a great rebuilding job down there so it will be another tough task when we face them but one that we shall really look forward to.”

Cefn are in the position to play Cornelly United and Porthcawl Town after winning promotion to Division One last season.

The Bridgend club finished third, eight points ahead of nearest placed Cardiff Airport.

“It was always our aim at the start of the season to really push for promotion. We knew that it wasn’t going to be easy as there are some very good teams with strong pedigrees in Division Two to contend with so it was always going to tough.”

Personally I’m really proud of the efforts of the lads and my backroom team throughout the season which has resulted in our aims being met.”

The small Bridgend town team will be playing in a higher division for the first time in their history and Scott Dryden says leading the club to their highest league finish is a massive achievement.

“It is right up there as one of my biggest achievements at the club. We have never been any higher in the pyramid than Division Two, to be the manager that has taken the club to its highest league position in its 40
year history is a very proud feat for me personally.”

Like any club, Cefn held their own awards ceremony, to celebrate the clubs successful season. Gordon Watt was named as the clubs League player of the Year and his manager was in of high-praise of him.

“Gordon Watt deservedly won our league player of the year award this season. He is a fantastic ‘old’ school winger who has the ability to beat his man with a drop of the shoulder and provide pin point crosses.

He was a revelation in the 2nd part of the season providing and scoring important goals. He’ll be looking forward to facing the challenge that next season will provide.”

Like every single successful team, there is always a captain that leads the team forward to success and that was Tom Harris, who was in his first season as captain of the club.

“Tom Harris, my captain, had another fantastic season. Hes not a screamer on or off the pitch but leads by his own work rate and performance levels. This is his first season as captain and he would go on to learn a lot about the
role as the season went on.”

Perhaps one award that stands out is the Managers and Players Player of the Year and that accolade went to Jonathan Tiffin, a centre-back in what was the second best defence in the league.

Jon Tiffins performances this season at centre half have been amazing from start to finish. His marshalling of the defence was one of the main reasons we finished with the 2nd best defensive record in the league last season.
He’s been so consistent and a really good football brain. A deserved winner of my player of the season.”

The new season is nearly upon us and Cefn and Dryden are looking forward to it and what they can achieve as the new season dawns upon us.

“We are a very ambitious club and one that wants to play as high as we possibly can. We shall take each game as it comes and see where it takes us. Looking at the division are some very good teams in this division so we shall look forward to testing ourselves.

I have a very honest and hard working group of players here and i know that like myself they are looking forward to the challenge that lies ahead.”

(Featured Image: Cefn Cribwr FC)