Adam Raymond, is fully committed to a Club which has just raised £1735 for the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board.
Currently a playing assistant manager of Trethomas Bluebirds, a Welsh League Division 2 side based in Caerphilly and playing out of the 4G facility at Ystrad Mynach.
At 32 years of age, happily ensconced in East Wales with his wife Emma and young son, Lloyd, the Deputy Headteacher made a surprising choice as he relived his ‘Match of My Day’,
A former Schoolboy international and Swansea City academy prodigy until 15, he played Welsh Premier and McWhirter youth football for Haverfordwest County under Deryn Brace as a teenager.
His trusty left foot and nose for goal trudged around the Welsh league circuit with Newcastle Emlyn, Dinas Powys and Ton Pentre.
Much appreciated from a great team, best team we've come against all over.. Cheers again 👍🏻 https://t.co/sc11SAHfWy
— Goodwick United (@GoodwickUtd) May 13, 2016
Raymond recalled a game from 2016 in the Pembrokeshire League between Goodwick United and Hakin United, a winner takes all title decider; the final game of the season.
“It was unbelievable,” said Raymond who had signed for Goodwick United a year earlier.
The Club based on the Moor in Fishguard, no more than a stone throw to the Harbour Port which links the town to Ireland. This was Raymond’s hinterland; he learnt his trade playing for and watching Goodwick’s arch-rivals Fishguard Sports on St Mary’s Field, opposite where he was brought up.
“Playing for Goodwick United seemed the right thing to do at the time, even though it was a two-hour journey along the M4 for games and often training.
“My dad was a former committee member at the Club and was diagnosed with cancer and I’d decided to come home on weekends to spend time with him.
“He was the one who encouraged me to play once he got wind that the Phoenix Park club management team, Nigel Delaney and Chris O’Sullivan were interested.”
The title showdown, on a sun baked Friday evening in early May meant Raymond was scooting out of the School door in Pencoed alongside his young charges at the end of day bell, music blasting as he made haste to beat the Port Talbot gridlock.
“I needed some upbeat music to relax me; the game had been playing on my mind since it was set up following a dramatic late 4-3 victory earlier in the week at Herbrandston.
“We had been playing two or three games for a few weeks and ‘RAGURA’ was in full flow having beaten Hakin 2-1 in the Pembrokeshire Senior Cup Final in late April before winning the West Wales intermediate Cup with a 2-1 success over Morrison Olympic at the Liberty Stadium” he proudly recalls.
“It seemed every man and his dog came out of the woodwork to witness the game at the Observatory Ground” Raymond with a lowered voice.
Hakin is a place few relishes playing at and even fewer return with the spoils, Goodwick going into the fixture top of the Pembrokeshire First Division by a point.
If Hakin United didn’t win, the men in red and black would become the first side in Pembrokeshire to win the treble, of Senior Cup, West Wales Cup and the first division championship, their first title since 1993/94.
“Matches didn’t come any bigger than this” chortled Raymond and with quiet authority,” he recalled the game which saw the Observatory awash for an encounter between two of the County’s heavyweights.
There is history between these teams; respect is gained and favoured and successes over the years have fluctuated, but this encounter predictably held greatness possibly not seen for two decades.
Raymond was vivid in his compilation of words “We arrived as we do for every away game in the team coach” he enthused.”
The Summerdale coach had been emblazoned with a sign ‘West Wales Cup Winners 2016’ which undoubtedly raised the cauldron temperature to boiling point.
“The pitch was rock hard; we didn’t warm up as thoroughly as we do for a Saturday fixture which meant we were off the pace from the start.”
Hakin were first to everything, picking up the second ball, dictating play and ‘the number six’ agreed, “we didn’t settle.”
Striker Nicky Woodrow netted to put the hosts ahead 1-0 on thirty-five minutes, Raymond candidly acknowledged “We were battered and lucky to be just a goal down at half- time.”
It was down to the heroics of goalkeeper James Gwillt that the score remained at 1-0, where he pulled off save after save to keep the red and blacks in the game.
Raymond lucidly acclaimed Gwillt, “He was magnificent on the night and all season; we scored over 130 goals in all competitions but he secured us crucial points, his esteem recognised with the ‘players player of the season’ at the annual dinner held in June.”
Raymond’s car journey to West Wales had mellowed once a calmness had settled him along the M4, the tunes a little quieter and as he approached the coach depot, home of his grandparents to link up with the team.
It was the team song, Ben E Kings 1986 ‘Stand by Me’ mulling in the background. Raymond had visualised with anticipation every kick and header that the evening was to foretell. He knew the magnitude of the occasion, ‘Roll Along Goodwick United, Roll Along’ was all the focus he needed to win his own personal battleground that night.
However, Raymond wasn’t even touching first base against Jonty Bennet and Ashley Bevan in the midfield and as game ensued with Hakin still the oppressors the score line remained 1-0 despite half chances presented to both sides.
We went into there back yard and took the lot 🔴🏆🏆🏆⚫️ #goodbyetheslab pic.twitter.com/xvWYowuh0c
— Sully7 (@Osullivan7Sully) May 14, 2016
As the warmth of the day sloped away in the amphitheatre, the ‘blue touch paper was ignited’, with the visitor’s talisman Chris O’Sullivan dismissed for violent conduct.
“No qualms it was the right call” purred Raymond. “I remember standing in the middle of the pitch as he walked off towards the changing rooms, the Hakin supporters, many gathered on the infamous slab in full voice.” Raymond hesitated as he breathed slowly and reassuringly before continuing.
“The ground was walled with people, five or six deep in places; I could pick out faces, people who meant something to the Club and to me personally; I was initially stunned but drank that raw emotion as motivation.”
The pause from Raymond this time was for longer, his face flushed, fingers entwined discernibly confessing “My dad had passed away in mid-February a day after we had beaten Hakin in the FAW Trophy. This was the moment to stand tall; one opportunity and we would hold sway once more.”
The pendulum did swing just over quarter of an hour remaining, Raymond’s arrowing free kick met by the head of Kieran O’Brien at the far post, which put Goodwick back on top of the league.
“It went quiet; eerily noiseless in comparison to the previous fifteen minutes but then the deafening crescendo built again,” added Raymond.
“This was my time; organising; talking and just smelling where the danger came from to be in the right place at the right time” as the Alamo siege ensued.
The habitual fist pump of the arm came forth from Raymond when referee Angus Scourfield called time, the empathy between the adversaries evident as the ‘Vikings’ acknowledged their oppositions achievement.
The accomplishment was more than a title,’ and a photograph of 0’Briens dad, ‘Pob’ captures the hiraeth in the North Pembrokeshire Club succinctly.
Raymond was buoyant with his wording “The pull of Goodwick was always there, niggling that I wanted to give something back to a Club where my heart and soul belonged, even if it meant clocking up the miles along the M4.
“Delaney’s pitch came at the right time and I had little hesitation in committing to their plans which revolved around players in the local area.
“I didn’t, however, expect it to cumulate in such a spectacular fashion and my obligation was vindicated beyond even my own wildest dreams’.
The Pencaer Peninsula, where the last invasion of Britain took place in 1797 is still home for Raymond who suffered a serious leg break against AFC Porth eighteen months ago when in the blue shirt of Trethomas.
Rehabilitation was arduous, the desire to return to the trenches uppermost once the initial shock and pain were replaced with a realisation of what was important for him.
“I received great support to recover to where I am today,” said the front-man.
“There were some tough and dark times, off work and missing the endorphins which kick in on game days. It’s exciting to be involved with the Bluebirds now.”
The club has a Pembrokeshire trait in its midst as fellow assistant manager Bobby Briers hails from Kilgetty as does striker Adam Johns whilst Charlie Davies is the son of Goodwick stalwart Alun.
“The project is building; it has a feeling akin to what we experienced in Goodwick,” Raymond commended.
You can take the man out of Pembrokeshire, but you can’t take the Pembrokeshire out of the man it seems; the lingering once in a generation ‘Match of My Day’ is confined to the local football annals but recalled with empathy.
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