Town win 6-3 in friendly Tuesday 25th July 2017 article by Ian Pearce A trip to Pontlottyn was next on the cards for the first team squad as they edge towards the start of the new season and it was in this game they found their scoring boots notching six times with five different scorers. The Aber performance was excellent which again bodes well for the start of the league action and goals came from Elliott Morris, Richard Ingram, Matthew Flynn, Stephen Chappell and a double from Josh Powell. The second half saw a number of changes and formations for Town using the friendlies as they are meant in order to experiment. Meanwhile the Club are delighted to announce that goalkeeper Clint Forbes has signed again while another new face is Shay Friel who joins from AFC Llwydcoed  and has previously been with the Club as well as being a youth player at Merthyr. There was also a pre-season win this evening for last years all conquering under 12’s side who are now competing at Under 13 level and beat a strong Whitchurch side 3-1 as the future of the Club looks promising. Firsts lose but Reserves win Saturday 22nd July 2017 article by Ian Pearce On Thursday evening Aberdare’s first team squad put up a strong fight against Welsh League Division One side Britton Ferry but eventually ended up losing 3-1. A fantastic performance from Aber saw them lead 1-0 at the break with a goal from new signing Rhys Jones but as so often in friendlies a host of changes during the second half saw the hosts come back into the game and went on to score three of their own but there are plenty of positives shining through. On Saturday the Reserves played their second friendly in a quickly arranged game against Bargoed winning 2-0 thanks to goals from Cory Thomas and Liam Lewis. Ingram back as squad takes shape Friday 21st July 2017 article by Ian Pearce Aberare Towns squad has been boosted by the addition of three new players headed by the return of former Club skipper Richard Ingram. Ingram is joined by other signings Rhys Tandy & Rhys Jones as Matt Driscoll continues to develop his squad ahead of the new season. Tandy signs from Treharris and can play either in midfield or as a winger while Jones has played for several Welsh League and League of Wales sides including Newtown.  Ingram was with Aber the season before last but after taking a break from the game is back to help the Clubs quest for promotion. Also resigning for the season from the last campaign is Ross Daniels, Elliott Morris, Josh Powell, Matthew Flynn and Tom Neville. Double off field signing for Town Thursday 20th July 2017 article by Bob Price At Aberdare Town’s recent Annual General Meeting the clubs off field team were boosted with two new recruits to the Clubs Committee. Joining up is Mark Anthony and Ian Pearce who have both got experience and a background in football both local and further afield. The Clubs vice-chairman Robert Price was pleased to have secured the two new committee members: “I’d like to welcome both Mark and Ian to the Club and both men will prove invaluable to us with their experience and hard work which will help our Club progress and achieve our aims”. Mark will be looking at the commercial and partnerships side of the Club in a bid to grow our reputation within the local area while Ian will focus on improving and focusing on media work. Reserves constitution announced Tuesday 11th July 2017 article by Ian Pearce The Welsh Football League have now announced the league line-ups for the Reserve section of the competition with Aberdare playing in the West division. During the course of the season, which starts on the 26th August, Simon Jones side will play against fellow reserve sides of: Afan Lido, AFC Llwydcoed, Briton Ferry Llansawel, Cambrian & Clydach, Garden Village, Goytre United, Penybont, Pontardawe Town, Pontyclun, Port Talbot Town, Ton Pentre, Treflin BGC, Swansea University and West End. Meanwhile in the build-up to the new season several friendlies have been announced with the first being this Saturday at Penrhwceiber Con Athletic followed by an away trip to Hills Plymouth on the 22nd July and then Neuadd Wen on the 29th July.  The last current scheduled friendly is on 5th August away to Llanharry FC. Town sign three as friendlies start Saturday 8th July 2017 article by Ian Pearce Aberdare Town started their pre-season friendlies with a tough trip away to Welsh League Division One side Cambrian & Clydach and with several players away on holiday it gave Aber manager Matt Driscoll the chance to look at various players. Aberdare were only trailing 2-1 with 65 minutes gone but with the sapping heat the hosts would go on to score three further goals but there was enough to show that when the full squad is available ahead of the start of the season there is cause for optmism in the Aber ranks - especially with the welcome return to fitness of last years leading goalscorer Elliot Morris who was on target in the game. Meanwhile the side has been strengthened with new faces already committing for the new campaign.  First up is a return of striker Ricky Evans who was previously with the Club before taking a break from the game while Mitchell Boyce has stepped up from last seasons reserve team squad.  The third new player to arrive is central defender Lee Hartshorn who was previously with Cinderford Town in the Southern Premier Division - he has also had experience at Merthyr Town and Llanelli. So far from last seasons first team squad Lewis Holder, Luke Jones, John Phillips, Kristian Collins and Shaun Chappel have all agreed to remain and signed forms while others are set to follow soon. We welcome all the new faces to the squad and hope they have an enjoyable and succssful spell with Aberdare. Annual General Meeting Wednesday 28th June 2017 article by Chris Churchill Aberdare Town Football Club hereby give notice that the Annual General Meeting will take place at the Aberdare Town Football Club  clubhouse at Aberaman Park CF44 6AA on Wednesday July 12th 2017. The meeting will commence at 7.00 p.m. Any nominations for committee positions or any proposals to alter a club rule or the clubs constitution, must be received via email to sec@aberdaretownfc.co.uk by Wednesday 5th July 2017. MD: “We want to be challenging” Tuesday 26th June 2017 article by Ian Pearce With pre-season training due to get underway this week, Aberdare Town boss Matt Driscoll is looking forward to putting the lessons learnt from last season into practice and make a challenge at the top. Matt said of the previous campaign: “We started the season slowly and only picked up midway through before falling away again at the very end but our results and performances against the sides at the top were good but we have to work on the consistency in our game”. Work has been ongoing during the summer on building a squad capable of putting that consistency into place and the boss has been pleased with things so far: “Pre-season is always a difficult time as players are looking at their options but we are happy with the talks we have had and we are looking at around 90% of the players we wanted to retain from last year agreeing to stay with us.  We are also looking to bring in four or five new faces as well to provide good competition and a strong squad.  The backroom team will be remaining the same as well so we have some continuity”. With a settled squad Matt is looking optomistic for the season ahead: “If we can learn the lessons from last year, get the squad hitting the ground running hopefully the results on the pitch will help increase the attendances and will allow us to push on and challenge at the top of the table”. Pre-season training starts on Thursday 29th June and all players both existing and new are welcome to attend.