CAERNARFON BLUNT THE FLINT

Sunday 12th April.....Caernarfon Town have won the JD Welsh Cup 2025-26 for the first time in their history with a dominant win over Flint Town United. A UEFA Conference League qualifying campaign awaits Richard Davies' side next season!!!

Sun 12 Apr 2026

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Welsh Cup -

Final

Caernarfon Town 3 , Flint Town United 0 at Full time

Caernarfon TownCaernarfon Town

3

0

Flint Town UnitedFlint Town United

Full time

FT

Half Time Caernarfon Town 3 , Flint Town United 0

HT 3-0

Key Events

Caernarfon Town

• S. Bradley (7')Goal 7 minutes
• M. Jones (12')Goal 12 minutes
• A. Cieślewicz (17')Goal 17 minutes

Flint Town United

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Venue:Rodney Parade

Caernarfon Town secured their first Welsh Cup with a devastating opening 18 minutes proving decisive in a 3-0 win over Flint Town United in the final at Newport's Rodney Parade.

The Cofis took full control against their Cymru Premier rivals through goals from Sion Bradley, Matty Jones' free-kick and an Adrian Cieślewicz header. Richard Davies' side have sealed their place in next season's Europa Conference League qualifiers, their second European appearance in three seasons.

Flint, who were looking to win the Welsh Cup for the first time in 72 years, will now turn their focus to securing JD Cymru Premier survival with one game of the season remaining!!!

Image source,FAW

Image caption,

Sion Bradley, an unused substitute for TNS in last year's final, scored Caernarfon's opening goal against Flint this time!! 

Caernarfon showed their intent from the start and a cross from captain Danny Gossett was headed on by Zack Clarke, but Bradley fluffed his effort wide inside the opening two minutes. Flint began to settle into the game, but Caernarfon went ahead after seven minutes Good work by Josh Lock and Paulo Mendes set up Bradley, who wrong-footed the Flint defence and slotted past keeper Jack Flint for the opening goal. Bradley continued to cause problems for Flint and was brought down by Elliott Reeves on the edge of the penalty area and from the resulting free-kick Jones scored with a curling effort which gave the goalkeeper no chance. 

At the other end Mikey Burke's effort was blocked by Phil Mooney, but Caernarfon extended their lead when from a Jones corner, Cieslewicz's header crashed in off the crossbar and over the line to make it 3-0. Stunned by the events of the opening 20 minutes, Flint responded and enjoyed a good spell of their own with Burke denied by Connor Roberts while Darren Stephenson's header struck the post. For Caernarfon, Jones lined up another free-kick in a dangerous position, but his effort on this occasion was pushed onto the crossbar by keeper Flint. Flint made another crucial save just before the interval to deny Caernarfon midfielder Lock, who was through on goal.

Owen himself created an opportunity for himself a few minutes later only to blast his effort over the crossbar. Caernarfon, seeing out the game, made a number of substitutions with the most significant being the introduction of veteran Darren Thomas. It was fitting that Thomas, alongside captain and man of the match Gosset, lifted the Cup and mark a historic day for Caernarfon Town.

A tremendous performance by the Cofis who deserved their win but credit too to Flint who kept going to the end despite the early goals. And a very special mention to both sets of supporters who made the long and difficult journey to Newport on a Sunday and created a great atmosphere. FAW need to learn - hold the final in a location convenient for both clubs in future.

Image source,FAW

Image caption,

Matty Jones celebrates after scoring Caernarfon's second goal.

Teams: 

Caernarfon Town: Connor Roberts, Matty Jones, Phil Mooney, Paulo Mendes, Danny Gosset (Captain), Zack Clarke (Brad Young 83'), Sion Bradley (Darren Thomas 88'), Adrian Cieslewicz (Rio Owen 85'), Josh Lock (Iwan Lewis 85'), Kyle Harrison, Ryan Sears (Morgan Owen 85') Substitutes: Hari Thomas, Adam Davies

Flint Town United: Jack Flint, Ben Woollam, Mikey Burke (Josh Jones 76'), Sidi Fofana, Harry Owen (Captain), Jack Thorn (Jake Phillips 45'), Ben Hughes (Ben Wynne 90'), Elliott Reeves, Lee Jonas (Max Purvis 81'), Jake Canavan, Darren Stephenson Substitutes: Dawid Szczepaniak, Evan Smith, Alec Mudimu

Referee: Iwan Griffith        Attendance: 2,224

Surprisngly Caernarfon have spent much of their history in the English game. They were a pretty strong Northern Premier League side by the mid 1980s, had a great FA Cup run too. They were very reluctant to make the move to Welsh football; for a few years they were one of the 'exiles' and played 'home' games at Curzon Ashton as a consequence.

BLOG ENDS HERE!!

• PublishedCieślewicz capitalised on a mistake by substitute Jake Phillips but the six-time Welsh Cup winner just failed to connect with the balFlint forced a series of corners, but failed to make them count while Flint gathered Mooney's shot at the second attempt. A cross from Caernarfon substitute Rio Owen, on loan from Wrexham, set up Lock who had his shot smothered by keeper Flint before the danger was cleared.Owen himself created an opportunity for himself a few minutes later only to blast his effort over the crossbar. Caernarfon, seeing out the game, made a number of substitutions with the most significant being the introduction of veteran Darren Thomas. It was fitting that Thomas, alongside captain and man of the match Gosset, lifted the Cup and mark a historic day for Caernarfon

AT WEMBLEY "TODAY" IN THE PAST and... more

12th April 1924 In the first ever international match at Wembley England drew 1-1 with Scotland in front of a disappointingly low crowd of 37,250. 

Today Luton play Stockport atWembley in the Vertu Trophy Final. The Vertu Trophy is a midweek knockout cup competition which includes Clubs from EFL League One and League Two, plus an additional 16 invited sides from Premier League and EFL Championship clubs with Category One Academies. Vertu (stylised VERTU) is a Hong Kong based manufacturer and retailer of luxury mobile phones. The company was originally established in London in 1998 as a subsidiary of the Finnish telecommunications company Nokia. LUTON 2-1 up @ 16.50!!

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	1998; 28 years ago
Founder	Nokia
Defunct	July 13, 2017; 8 years ago
Fate	Bankruptcy (Hong Kong-based unit acquired and relaunched by Baferton Co, Ltd. in 2017)
Headquarters	Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Luxury mobile phones
Number of employees	200
Parent	Vertu International Corporation Limited

and on the12th April 1987 Hillsborough hosted the FA Cup semi-final between Coventry City and Leeds United. For Coventry it was the first time they had reached the last 4 of the FA Cup while in the Leeds camp defender Neil Aspin was forced to postpone his wedding which had been arranged for that day. Leeds didn't have a match on that Sunday when the wedding date had been set! Well Coventry won the match - and went on to defeat Spurs in the final!!!-  and Aspin got married a couple of weeks later. I guess he was forced to do the washing-up for weeks as his penance!

ACTUALLY!!! Aspin has stated that he wants his players to be "honest" by not feigning injury or otherwise attempting to cheat and that he tries to be respectful towards officials. He also has a reputation for honesty in dealing with the media, giving fair assessments of his team's performances. He does not allow his players to wear gloves during first-team matches. He tends to prefer to play defensive football.

Senior career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1982–1989	Leeds United	207	(5)
1989–1999	Port Vale	348	(3)
1999–2001	Darlington	50	(0)
2001	Hartlepool United	10	(0)
2001–2004	Harrogate Town (brief!)
2009–2014	FC Halifax Town	0	(0)
Total		615	(8)

LACK OF DISCIPLINE!!

ACTUALLY THIS IS REALLY ABOUT MY ISSUES BECAUSE HAVE BEEN DISTRACTED BY GRANDCHILDREN THIS LAST FEW DAYS AND SO HAVE NEGLECTED MY "DUTY"......producing this!!

 Football's discipline in 1915 was brought to the 'fore when, on Easter Saturday (April 3rd), referee, Mr H Smith of Nottingham, was forced to abandon his 1st Division fixture between Middlesbrough and Oldham Athletic, after 46 minutes, when the Oldham full back refused to leave the field, having been sent off. Fourth placed Oldham were playing middle of the table Middlesbrough at Ayresome Park. Oldham really needed points to keep up with division leaders, Manchester City.  Oldham fell behind after a few minutes and were 3-0 down in twenty. One goal was disputed and then Oldham were denied a penalty. In the second half at 3-1, Oldham's William Cook, fouled in the penalty area and it was 4-1. The game had been "robust" but not unruly.

A protest ensued, the 7,000 crowd became very vocal, the referee then took his watch out of his pocket, waited, sent off Cook and walked off the pitch. Apparently Cook had refused to leave the pitch, so the ref gave him a minute to change his mind, he didn't and the ref abandoned the game, a first of this kind, at this level. I have to admit I have done this in a youth match at my local club.....

With a World War going on elsewhere, most papers agreed that the culprit should be punished further. Oldham however, selected Cook for the next game away against Manchester City on the 5th. The Oldham "board" had decided that Cook shouldn't play until the FL had taken action. When Oldham arrived at the City Ground (Hyde Road), the two directors in charge of the game had no idea about this (apparently) and chose Cook at left back and the game was drawn 0-0.

The FL was furious, Cook was suspended for a year (although the season was soon to be postponed by the war!) and the Oldham club was fined £350, quite a bit in those days.

Oldham, on the brink of the Division title, had to live with the FL decision that there would be no replay of the Middlesbrough game and the scoreline was to stand. Two points lost!! Cook, back left!

They had the chance to catch up with 5 games left and they beat Man U 1-0 in the next game on the 6th, beat Sheffield Utd 3-0 on the 10th and drew 0-0 on the 17th away at Aston Villa. They lost their final two games to Burnley 1-2 and Liverpool 0-2.

Oldham finished runners up, one point behind champions, Everton. Doh!
Cook appeared for the club the following season.
After the War, Oldham came 17th in 1919-20, 19th in 1920-1, 19th in 1921-2, 22nd (bottom) in 1922-3 and relegated to Div 2! Consistent eh?

6th April

Football On This Day - 6th April 1991
In the old First Division Chelsea went 0-3 down to Luton Town at Stamford Bridge after just 23 minutes but pulled back to draw 3-3 despite having Graeme Le Saux sent off when the score was 1-3.

 

 

 

PORT VALE FC away at Chelsea 17.15

 4th April 1959

On, this day in 1959, for the first time, a club scored double figures in a Division 4 match – Hartlepools United (they had that s in their name in those days!) also setting a club record League victory when defeating Barrow 10-1 at the Victoria Ground.

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  On this day (today!) Chelsea (top??) host League One, Port Vale in the FA Cup Quarter-final. Ko 17.00
  
  
  

• Vale are the lowest-ranked team left in competition. 
• The last time a third-tier team reached the last four was 2014 and Chelsea have won the FA Cup eight times. So a bit of a historic difference.

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• The FA Cup Semi-final draw takes place this Sunday.

• The official story reported on the club website is that Port Vale F.C. was formed in 1876, following a meeting at Port Vale House, from where the club was supposed to have taken its name. However, documented evidence of football from that era is exceptionally scarce and research by historian Jeff Kent indicated that it was probably formed in 1879 as an offshoot of Porthill Victoria F.C. and took its name from the valley of canal ports where the team played. In the club's early days the team played their football at Limekiln Lane, Longport and from 1880 at Westport. The club moved to Moorland Road in Burslem in 1884, changing its name to Burslem Port Vale in the process, though stayed in Burslem for just one year before both turning professional and moving to Cobridge to play at the Athletic Ground. In 1892, the club were invited to become founder members of the Football League Second Division after proving themselves a strong club in the Midland League. They spent 13 seasons in the Second Division, either side of a two-season return to the Midland League (1896–97 and 1897–98).

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• Other PVFC FA Cup Results 2025/26: 
• 2nd November: 1st Rd v Malden and Tiptree 5-1.
• 2nd Dec: 2nd Rd v Bristol Rovers 1-0       
• 9th Jan: 3rd Rd v Fleetwood 1-0  
• 3rd March 4th Rd v Bristol City 1-0    
• 8th March 5th Rd  v Sunderland 1-0   
• 4th April 6th Rd v  Chelsea  0-3 so far!!           
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PUSKAS-HERO

Puskas, pictured, born, 1 April 1927, died, 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian footballer and manager, widely regarded as:

 one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. 

A forward and an attacking midfielder, he scored 84 goals in 85 international matches for Hungary and later played four international matches for Spain as well. He is the European all-time top assist provider in international football (53). He became an Olympic champion in 1952 and led his nation to the final of the 1954 World Cup. He won three European Cups (as it was known then) (1959, 1960, 1966), ten national championships (five Hungarian and five Spanish Premier Division) and eight top individual scoring honors. Known as the "Galloping Major", in 1995, he was recognized as the greatest top division scorer of the 20th century by the IFFHS. Scoring 802 goals in 792 official games during his career, he is the seventh top goal scorer of all time by the RSSSF.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yUiVxG-pWE

He was the son of former footballer Ferenc Puskás Senior. Puskás started his career in Hungary playing for Kispest and Budapest Honvéd. He was the top scorer in the Hungarian League on four occasions, and in 1948, he was the top goal scorer in Europe. During the 1950s, he was both a prominent member and captain of Hungary, known as the Mighty Magyars. After the Hungarian Revolution, Puskás served a two year ban from UEFA. Despite failing to sign for Ethnikos Piraeus in 1957 under pressure from rival clubs, in 1958, he emigrated to Spain where he successfully signed for Real Madrid at the age of 31. While playing with the club, Puskás won four Pichishis and scored seven goals in two European Cup finals, winning the competition three times with the club and claiming five consecutive La Liga titles. He scored 619 goals in 618 matches in the Hungarian and Spanish Leagues and National Cups.

After retiring as a player, he became a coach. The highlight of his coaching career came in 1971 when he guided Panathinaikos to the Eurovision Cup FInal, where they lost 2–0 to Ajax. He also led the club to the Cghampionship in 1972, becoming an icon in the country. Afterward he'd have spells at various countries and clubs, including Spain, Paraguay and the Saudi Arabia national team, with varying success. He returned again to Greece to manage an exceptionally strong AEK Athens team for the 1978-9 season. In 1993, he returned to Hungary and took temporary charge of the Hungary national team. In 1998, he became one of the first ever FIFA/SOS Charity ambassadors. In 2002, the Népstadion in Budapest was renamed the Puskas Ferenc Stadion in his honor. He was also declared the best Hungarian player of the last 50 years by the Hungarian FF in the UEFA Jubilee Awards in November 2003.In October 2009, FIFA announced the introduction of the FIFA Puskas Award, awarded to the player who has scored the "most beautiful goal" over the past year. He was also listed in Pele's FIFA 100.

Personal information
Full name	Ferenc Puskás
Birth name	Ferenc Purczeld
Date of birth	1 April 1927
Place of birth	Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary
Date of death	17 November 2006 (aged 79)
Place of death	Budapest, Hungary
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s)	Forward attacking midfielder
Youth career
1940–1943	Kispest Honvéd
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1943–1956	Budapest Honvéd[i]	397	(428)
1958–1966	Real Madrid	262	(242)
Total		659	(670)
International career
1945–1956	Hungary	85	(84)
1961–1962	Spain	4	(0)
1963	Castile	1	(2)
Managerial career
1966–1967	Hércules
1967	San Francisco Golden Gate Gales
1968	Vancouver Royals
1968–1969	Alavés
1970–1974	Panathinaikos
1974–1975	Real Murcia
1975–1976	Colo-Colo
1975–1976	Saudi Arabia
1978–1979	AEK Athens
1979–1982	Al Masry
1985–1986	Sol de América
1986–1989	Cerro Porteño
1989–1992	South Melbourne
1993	Hungary
Medal record
* Club domestic league appearances and goals