Football: Colwyn Bay FC still aiming for top spot

Feb 4 2010

COLWYN Bay manager Neil Young believes league leaders Lancaster City’s defeat at the weekend has blown the Unibond Division One North title race wide open.

The Seagulls benefited from City’s shock 4-1 drubbing at Woodley Sports by moving to within three points of top spot after a 2-0 victory over Harrogate Railway Athletic at Llanelian Road.

Now the Bay will aim to keep the pot boiling when they travel to Bamber Bridge this Saturday and then visit Woodley three days later.

"I haven’t given up on winning the title," insisted Young. "Lancaster getting beat has opened the league up; we’ve still got to play them twice and play Halifax and Curzon Ashton too so it’s all to play for."

Colwyn already look virtually assured of a play-off (top five) berth with 14 points between them and the sixth-placed club, but Young wants better than that.

"It’s all about what we do for the rest of the season," he added. "Be it through automatic promotion or the play-offs we have to see the job out."

Looking ahead to the trip to eighth-placed Bamber Bridge, Young commented: "They won 2-1 on Tuesday night against Chorley, but before that had lost five games in a row.

"They’ve signed a couple of players from the Conference and it will be a tough game away from home – every game is in this league – but we’ve got to believe we can go there and get a result."

Young has experienced mixed fortunes in the transfer market over the past week with the signing of Rhyl’s outstanding wing-back Greg Stones (pictured inset) offset by the last-minute collapse of midfielder Mark Connolly’s move from the Lilywhites to Llanelian Road. Winger Eddie Jebb has left the Bay and joined Bangor City for a fee.

"Greg Stones is a massive signing for us," said Young. I signed him for my first club as a manager on the Wirral and was instrumental in him going to Rhyl.

"His success over the last five years has been there for all to see. We’re getting him at the right age (27), he’s a big lad who can play in a number of positions and his form over the past 18 months especially has been outstanding.

"People have said it’s a step down for him going to Colwyn Bay, but I don’t believe it is. This club is trying to go places and it shows our ambition when we can sign a player like Greg Stones."

"Eddie Jebb was a little bit inconsistent for us. On his day he was a match-winner but unfortunately those days didn’t come often enough. Having said that his last 10 games were probably his best for me.

"His contract was up in the summer, we offered him a deal on slightly reduced terms but he’s decided to go to Bangor and I wish him the best of luck.

Meanwhile, the Bay struggled to overcome lowly Harrogate on Saturday.

In the seventh minute a header from Bay forward Tom McGill hit the angle, then at the other end keeper Chris Sanna saved bravely at the feet of Kevin Ryan.

On 15 minutes a looping header from Harrogate’s Chris Jenkinson cleared the Bay defenders but struck the crossbar.

Bay suffered a blow on 19 minutes when striker Neil Black went off injured following a two-footed tackle from David Verity which surprisingly went unpunished.

It was goal-less until in the 77th minute Ian Sheridan picked up the ball on the edge of the box, beat two defenders and drilled in a low shot.

Three minutes from time Sheridan broke down the left and found lively substitute Alex Titchiner who netted a beauty from a tight angle.

ROGER Skinner has been appointed Colwyn Bay FC’s new president, taking on the role vacated when predecessor Glynn Owens passed away in 2009.

The new president previously served the community of Colwyn Bay as a policeman for over 30 years and originally joined the club's board of directors in 2003/04. He has supported Bay for over 20 years and is prominent in many club activities.