Town drawn at home to Ammanford Monday 11th September 2017 article by Ian Pearce Aberdare Town have been drawn at home to Ammanford in the 1st Round of the FA Welsh Cup. Fellow Welsh League Division Two side Ammanford beat Merthyr Saints 5-2 on Saturday and will be visiting Aberaman Park on Friday 6th October. Match and ball sponsorship are both available for these games so please get in contact with us for details. Aberdare complete double capture Thursday 6th September 2017 article by Ian Pearce Aberdare Town are delighted to announce they have completed the signing of Seb Haggett from Welsh League Division One side Afan Lido. The 27 year old former Risca United striker was being chased by numerous Clubs and we are pleased to have convinced Seb to move to Aberaman Park. If all paperwork can be completed in time we hope to be able to include him in Saturday’s cup tied against Dinas Powys. Our thanks to Afan Lido for their help in completing the transfer so swiftly. We are also pleased to confirm that Levi Jones has returned to the Club following spells with Cribbs in the Western League in England and AFC Llwydcoed. International clearance has been gained already and is available for immediate selection. We welcome Seb and Levi to the Club and hope they have a long and successful time with Aberdare Town. A Team start season with win Wednesday 6th September 2017 article by Nicky Chappell Last season Aberdare League champions, Aberdare Towns A Team started the season with a tough encounter against Penywaun. With a few players coming back from holidays and being chucked in at the deep end and a few key injuries from pre season Town began the game well with Matthew Thomas hitting the bar early on. Apart from that Town had nothing to shout about for a good 20 minutes as Penywaun threatened time and time again but Grant in goal was having a stormer and kept town in the game. Town tried hard to get a foothold and started getting corners and dangerous free kicks and from one of those Ross Williams got head to it but put it over from 6 yards. Town hit the front on 40 minutes when winger Rhys Harries left his man in the dirt to get to the byline and pull a ball back to Williams whose shot was blocked but fell kindly to Nathan Evans who slotted home expertly to start this seasons scoring off. With a slight shuffle of the pack Town flew out the blocks in the second half and within minutes of the restart found themselves 2 nil up when last seasons top goalscorer Williams slotted home. Penywaun were resilient and found themselves back at 2 each with 10 minutes to play as Town seemed to switch off and go back to pre season mode. However with 5 minutes left Williams popped up again with a header to get Aberdare’s noses back in front, Penywaun sent the big man from the back forward to try to salvage a point but Town held on to start the season with all three points. Reserves game abandoned Friday 26th August 2017 article by Ian Pearce The Reserves opening league game at Briton Ferry was abandoned due to a serious injury to Abers Mickey Edwards. The game was heading towards half-time when the accident occured and while an ambulance was being waited for it was decided to abandoned the game. Mickey is set to undergo an operation and we all wish him a speedy recovery from everybody at the Club. Club Membership Tuesday 22nd August 2017 article by Ian Pearce Aberdare Town Football Club are classed as a members club and as part of our constitution and in order to comply with the Insurance Act of 2015 we are required by our insurers to ensure that all adults affiliated to the Club including club officials, committee members, players, coaches and managers are fully paid up members by 30th September in each year. It has been agreed by the clubs committee that the annual membership fee shall be set at £10 per adult per annum and will be reviewed on a yearly basis. Members should also ensure that they carry their membership card with them while on the premises and can be asked to present it at any point. The card wlll also need to be shown to access any membership benefits. On football match days supporters and visiting clubs will be treated as guests and will be able to use the club facilities but will not receive any benefits of membership and the guest pass ceases after that day. To become a member of the Club please complete the membership application form which will be able to be downloaded from the official website or by seeing Clare Wilcox from behind the bar. . Aber given home draw in Welsh Cup Monday 21st August 2017 article by Ian Pearce Aberdare Town have been drawn at home in the 2nd qualifying round of the JD Sports Welsh Cup. Aber’s visitors will be fellow Division 2 side Dinas Powys with the game being played on Saturday 9th September - which is actually the Clubs first home game of the season! Castle Care sponsor ladies Sunday 20th August 2017 article by Ian Pearce The future female stars of Aberdare Town are going to be looking the part thanks to a kind donation by local business Castle Care who have donated brand new tracksuits to our ever expanding girls section. Castle Care are based in Aberdare and are a private mental health residential service who provide excellent facilities for many vulnerable adults in the local area and beyond. Ladies Chairman Mark Anthony and the clubs new Commercial Manager was delighted with the support: “I would like to thank John Morgan (pictured above with Club Secretary Chris Churchill after the 3-3 draw this afternoon from the under 14 girls against Port Talbot Town at Aberaman Park) and all at Castle Care for their amazing support of our girls. I know everybody in the Club wish to send our gratitude to them and hope its the start of a long partnership”. Cardiff City Allstars to visit Sunday 13th August 2017 article by Ian Pearce Aberdare Town are delighted to announce that a Cardiff City legends team will be visiting Aberaman Park in a fundraising game for MacMillan Cancer Support. The game will take place on Sunday 3rd September (ko 2.30pm) with the Bluebirds Allstars team taking on an Aberdare Allstars team. Entry is £5 for adults, concessions at £3 and under 16s just £1 and its set to be a great family day.  The proceeds from the match will be going to a charity that will, or has, touched most of us at some point in our lives. On the day there will be a raffle and an auction so please help us by spreading the word, download to display a poster by clicking HERE and make sure you keep the date  free! Risca United 2 Aberdare 1 Friday 11th August 2017 article by Ian Pearce Aberdare Town started their Welsh League Division Two season with a defeat at Risca United in the opening fixture. Risca, who had been relegated from League One at the end of last season, were on the back foot for for the opening 30 minutes with Aberdare playing some nice football and putting their hosts under pressure. Two chances fell to Elliott Morris, last seasons top scorer but both efforts unfortunately couldn’t find the back of the net.  As Risca came more into the game they looked dangerous on the counter attack and before half time they had scored twice in a matter of minutes. John Phillips pulled back the Risca forward in the box and Daniel Battle converted the spot kick before Ashley Johnson added the second to put the hosts in control at the break, Aberdare struck back in the second half with Morris seeing a shot saved by the home ‘keeper and debutant Andrew Ellis scored from close range having come on at half- time. A disappointing start to the season but we move on to AFC Porth next Saturday for our second match (Saturday 19th August) Open day a big success for girls Thursday 10th August 2017 article by Mark Anthony The girls and ladies section held an open day at Aberaman Park on Sunday which proved to be a great success with plenty of activities and fun throughout the day. All of our teams from the under 7s right up to the seniors were in attendance.  There were bouncy castles, skills sessions and mini games for the kids and several local companies also attended to support the event and promote their business. To a background of music a Foozeball tournament took place in the club house along with a FIFA tournament on the screen,  The day was rounded off watching the Euro 2017 Womens final meaning  the only female section in the Cynon Valley had a very positive  day. Aberdare sign three more Thursday 10th August 2017 article by Ian Pearce On the eve of the new Welsh League season Aberdare Town have added three more faces to their first team squad. After missing part of pre-season through injury Rob Blatchford has now signed forms having impressed last season for Aberdare after joining midway through the season.  Also signing on is full back Ben Gibbs who joins from St Blazey in Cornwall who play in the South West Peninsula League and defender Andrew Ellis who joins from AFC Llwydcoed where he played last season. Gibbs however is still in the process of awaiting international clearance and is therefore unavailable for selection until authorisation is given by the Welsh FA. We welcome both Ben and Andrew to the Club and hope they have an enjoyable and successful time at Aberaman Park. Town show good signs in final friendly Saturday 5th August 2017 article by Ian Pearce Aberdare Town’s final warm up game saw them draw with Welsh League Division One side Cwmamman. Aber impressed throughout the game and deservedly took a second half lead through Mitchell Boyce who was excellent during the game and could have been further ahead if chances had been taken. Cwmamman hit back against the run of play with their goal coming from the penalty spot with 20 minutes left. Signs are certainly positive ahead of Friday nights opening league game when Aber visit Risca (ko 7.30pm). The Reserves meanwhile suffered a 4-0 loss to Llanharry in their latest friendly encounter.