In this blog, we decided to interview the fourth-tier club Connah’s Quay Town, one of the newer Flintshire-based clubs that compete within the Welsh football pyramid, to see how the club is performing during the first few months of their 2023-24 season.
Club Information
- Town: Connah’s Quay, Flintshire / Cei Connah, Sir y Fflint
- Founded: 2020
- Ground: The Jamie Wynne Memorial Ground, Connah’s Quay
- Nicknames: Town
- Colours: Tangerine and black vertically striped shirts, black shorts with tangerine trim, and black socks.
- 2023-24 League: North East Wales League Premier Division
- Club Website: https://www.cqtownfc.com/
- Club Twitter: @TownfcCq
- Club Facebook: Facebook Page
- Club Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/connahsquaytownfc/
- Club YouTube: n/a
Introduction
Connah’s Quay Town Football Club is a North Welsh club situated in Flintshire’s largest town of Connah’s Quay / Cei Connah. The coastal and former dock town is located on the banks of the River Dee / Afon Dyfrdwy in the east of the county, and is part of the Deeside conurbation, with a population of approximately 16,8k inhabitants. For more information on the town’s history, you can find our more in-depth article on Connah’s Quay HERE.
Initially, Connah’s Quay Town played their games at Dock Road (home of junior side Connah’s Quay Tigers), positioned in the industrial estate in the north of the town, sandwiched between the river and the North Wales Coast rail line. However, for the start of the 2023-24 season, Town has moved its home games to a pitch within the Wepre Park Country Park (which was initially used by the club’s reserve side) to play at the former ground of the defunct FC Nomads of Connah’s Quay. The ground has been subsequently christened The Jamie Wynne Memorial Ground in memory of a well-loved former Town player who tragically passed away in 2022.
For more information on Connah’s Quay Town, check out our Flintshire club profile page on them HERE.
Connah’s Quay Town currently plays in the North East Wales Football League Premier Division, a fourth-tier league in the Welsh football pyramid which covers the northeastern region of Wales: Flintshire, Wrexham Borough County, and eastern Denbighshire. Having been founded as recently as 2020, the club gained promotion to the Premier Division in the 2021-22 season when they won the NEWFL Championship title in their debut season. This was part of a memorable treble-winning campaign alongside the NEWFL Two Counties Cup and the North East Wales FA Mike Beech Memorial Trophy. Last season, the Town missed out on a second consecutive league title when they finished as runners-up to FC Queens Park in the NEWFL Premier Division.
Recent Form
| Date | Competition | Opposition (h/a) | Result |
| 28th Oct | FAW Trophy | Hawarden Rangers (h) | 2-1 |
| 14th Oct | NEWFL Premier | FC Queens Park (a) | 1-0 |
| 7th Oct | NEWFL Premier | Lex XI (a) | 4-2 |
| 30th Sept | FAW Trophy | Rhydymwyn (h) | 4-1 |
| 23rd Sept | NEWFL Premier | Caerwys (a) | 2-1 |
At the time of writing, Connah’s Quay Town were situated in 2nd position in the twelve-team North East Wales Football League Premier Division. From their first six league games played, they had achieved four wins, one draw, and one defeat to accumulate thirteen points in their second season in the league.
Last season’s runners-up started their league campaign surprisingly slowly with a narrow 0-1 away defeat to Mynydd Isa in their opening game in mid-August, before earning their first point of the season the following weekend with a battling 2-2 away draw at Rhostyllen, that saw the Town initially take the lead but leveled the tie in injury time through a Ben Howarth equaliser. However, since the fightback at Rhostyllen, CQ Town have been imperious in the league by racking up four straight victories to swiftly rise up the table. Their first league victory was an impressive 4-1 win over Penyffordd, before achieving three consecutive away triumphs, beating Caerwys 2-1, Lex XI 4-2, and defeating last season’s NEWFL Premier Division champions FC Queens Park by a Lee Jones thunderbolt in the 93rd minute at Wrexham.
Connah’s Quay Town have also been progressing nicely in the FAW Trophy (the national cup competition available for all clubs from Tier 3 and below). They started their cup run with a penalty shootout victory over Caerwys after a 3-3 draw in the first round, before overcoming Rhydymwyn 4-1 in the second round tie. In their most recent match (at the time of writing), CQ Town achieved a ‘cupset’ by defeating fellow Flintshire side Hawarden Rangers 2-1 at Wepre. Despite conceding first, Freddy Watts and Pascal Gomez scored for the home side either side of halftime to give Town an important victory over the Ardal NW side and progress into the fourth round of the FAW Trophy. There they are scheduled to play away at another third-tier side in the form of Penrhyncoch who play in the Ardal NE after being relegated from the Cymru North last season.
[IMAGE: Non-League Matters]
Questions to Connah’s Quay Town
Q. Firstly, how do you think this season has gone for Connah’s Quay Town in the North East Wales League Premier Division?
[IMAGE: Vince Froggatt – CQT Facebook Page]
It was a tough start to the season, with two away games against teams that we expect will be challenging for the league at the end of the season. We felt we deserved more from a narrow defeat at Mynydd Isa and then a point at Rhostyllen, but thankfully those results didn’t harm our resolve and we’ve now gone 4 unbeaten, with 1 home and 3 away wins (at the time of the interview).
Q. What has been the best performance from the club so far this season?
The dramatic last-minute goal away to last season’s champions Queens Park [winning 1-0], in the league was obviously a high point. Saturday’s [28th October] home win against Tier 3 side Hawarden Rangers [winning 2-1 in the third round of the FAW Trophy] being another highlight for us. To be honest, I don’t think we’ve seen the best of us yet. We’re certainly making good progress but there’s still more to come.
#MatchDay
— Connahs Quay Town Football Club (@TownfcCq) October 28, 2023
And the Town go marching on.@TownfcCq 2-1 @HawadenRangers#UpTheTown #keeptalking pic.twitter.com/q2CaDGMVAb
Q. Who do you think have been the standout players so far, and is there anyone who you think the readers should keep an eye on this season?
The club has some very good lads coming through, new acquisition Freddie Watts has settled in very well, Andy Speed, Kyle Harte, and Andy Jones have made the step up from the Reserves from last season, and the babies of the team in Pascal Gomez, Lewis Hodson, Jord Hensal, and the returning Owen Edwards continue to learn their trade under the guidance of our brilliant manager Gav Parry and his experienced and excellent coaching staff.
Q. What are the club’s aims for this season, and likewise, what are the long-term aims for the club?
[IMAGE: Vince Froggatt – CQ Town Facebook Page]
We’re still a relatively new club, this is just our third season and the success we’ve had on the pitch has certainly fast-forwarded plans to our business plan. Although we finished as runners-up last season, it was too soon financially to contemplate applying for promotion to Tier 3 for a variety of reasons. The club is certainly in a better position this time around to apply for promotion, however, there are still hurdles to clear both on and off the pitch.
Q. The club has moved grounds from Dock Road to Wepre Park this season – how and why did the move come about?
The Dock Road pitch is leased by the junior club Connah’s Quay Tigers. Although we did the vast majority of the maintenance there and were trying to improve the facility and be involved even more, their Chairperson indicated, in the close season, that Tigers had up to four junior clubs who were going to play on the main pitch, many of those games would’ve been prior to our own afternoon games. As a result, the playing surface was going to need a lot of TLC which Tigers were going to undertake and let us know! Luckily for Town, we had been approached to look after the Wepre Park pitch, where our reserves played from, so it was a saving grace and we have had to make it our new home. We would like to develop Wepre to a tier 3 ground criteria in the not-to-distant future, but talks are yet to commence. So again, to help with any potential tier 3 promotion aspirations, another move (be it on a temporary basis) is being considered.
Q. With Connah’s Quay Nomads leaving for Flint this season, you are the sole CQ-based side in the pyramid. Do you think this will be beneficial to the club in the long-term as you’ll be able to attract more home-based supporters or does Connah’s Quay need more clubs representing the town?
Yes, the Nomads moving to Flint, alongside our move to Wepre Park, has certainly seen our attendances improve. We don’t charge an admission fee, which also helps. Connah’s Quay Town FC are a local club, with over 90% of the players from our Firsts and Reserve Team living in Connah’s Quay. We look at supporting local community fundraisers and have a healthy relationship with the town’s Cricket Club, who helps us often through their groundsman Dave. Does CQ need another senior team? No! Aston Park Rangers are progressing well with their senior setup, and I believe another local club, Deeside Dragons, is planning to join the league next season.
Q. Finally, if someone was thinking of coming to Wepre Park to watch or follow the team for the first time, what do you think is the club’s greatest asset to encourage them to return?
The last two seasons have seen us lift four trophies, finish runners-up in the league, and beat higher-tier teams, so I’d say our football will do the talking for us. Everyone, from our committee members, team management, players, and fans are all enjoying the ride, and there’s room for more to hop on… so, all aboard!
[IMAGE: CQ Town Website]
A massive thank you to the North East Wales League Premier Division side Connah’s Quay Town for answering our questions on their 2023-24 season so far and their future goals. We wish them all the very best of luck for the rest of the season and for the seasons ahead! Remember you can find their social media accounts in the links towards the top of the blogpage.
If you have any comments, suggestions, reactions, or even your own answers to the above questions, please write them in the comments box below. Likewise, you can either email us at the94thmin@gmail.com or send a message at @The94thMin on Twitter/X.
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