Penybont travel to Holywell Town on Friday night in the Cymru Premier in a first ever league meeting between the two clubs.
The Wellmen are yet to pick up their first win in the top flight this season, following a third placed finish in the Cymru North last season. They will be hoping to change that when they welcome Bont to the Barton’s North Wales Stadium.
The Man in Charge
In charge at Holywell Town; with only a brief interruption, since 2012, Johnny Haseldin has won over 300 games in charge of the Wellmen.
He is a one club man in managerial terms, having initially taken over as player-manager in 2012.
He is also the only manager to guide a Tier three team to the semi-finals of the Welsh Cup, having done so with Holywell in 2014.
While they earned promotion last season, Haseldin has guided Holywell to a league title before in the Cymru North. They won the 23/24 title but were unable to secure a Tier 1 licence to allow them to compete in the top flight.
Last time out
Holywell’s last game in the Cymru Premier pitted them against current league leaders TNS.
TNS took the lead after half an hour through a Brad Young penalty, before home side Holywell equalised seven minutes later. Long serving veteran defender Danny Sullivan was the man who got the goal to make it level.
However, TNS showed their quality, eventually emerging 6-1 winners at the Barton’s North Wales Stadium.
Since then, they have faced Llay Miners Welfare FC in Round 2 of the Welsh Cup. The match finished 3-3 after 90 minutes, but the Cymru Premier outfit overcame their Ardal North West opponents 5-4 on penalties, to avoid a cup upset.
Our last meeting
Penybont and Holywell have only met once previously, in the Quarter-Finals of the 22/23 Welsh Cup.
Holywell took the lead that day, with Captain Danny Andrews giving the visitors the lead. A side famous for a cup run after their 2014 exploits, they looked as if they could be heading to the semi-finals of the competition again.
Bont equalised 15 minutes into the second half, when Mael Davies’ volleyed cross was met by Lewis Harling.
In the last minute of injury time, Penybont sub Kai Whitmore was tripped, allowing Nathan Wood to score from the spot, sending the DragonBet Stadium into raptures.
Key Players
Florian Yonsian- Top scorer for Holywell in the league this season, Yonsian has been the club’s main attacking threat.
The 25-year-old has scored six goals and managed a further two assists in 13 appearances so far this season.
Not just a good goalscorer, Yonsian is also an effective dribbler, completing 2.2 per match at a success rate of 65%.
Alex Swindell- Goalkeeper Alex Swindell has been busy in the Holywell goal throughout the season, but has made key saves in almost every fixture.
He is averaging over 4 saves per game, as his heroics have kept Holywell in games at times.
He is also effective when it comes to long balls, managing 40 accurate passes into the final third already this season.
Ryan Edwards- An experienced operator in the Cymru Premier, Ryan Edwards has previously turned out for several sides in the division including Bala, TNS, Airbus, Newtown and Aberystwyth.
Having joined Holywell in 2023, he is now back in the division that he has won previously, and has proved to be a steady operator at the base of midfield.
He has won 62% of ground duels so far this season and 57% of aerial duels, showing himself to be a formidable competitor in both aspects. He has also been Holywell’s joint best creative threat alongside the aforementioned Florian Yonsian, with two assists.
The Stadium
Holywell play their games at the Barton’s North Wales Stadium, which is located a short walk away from the town centre.
The town is not served by a train station, with the nearest option for rail travel being Flint. The journey from Flint to Holywell is around 10-15 minutes by road, with local taxis and buses available to make the trip.
Trains run regularly, with either one or two changes required depending on your journey. The latest train you can catch which will allow you to make kick off is the 14:54 service from Bridgend. This train arrives in Flint at 18:38.
Supporters should be advised that the Met Office has put weather warnings in place for tomorrow, and this may cause some disruption on public transport. There are also no services tomorrow evening after the match from Flint back to Bridgend.
By road, the journey takes around 3 hours and 50 minutes, with a distance of 179 miles between the DragonBet Stadium and the Barton’s North Wales Stadium.
Have a safe journey if you are travelling up, and see you in North Wales Bont fans.