It’s been a busy old time down at Barry Town United since we last updated.
The split has happened, January has come and gone and now we head into the back end of the season. Where will we end up? Let’s have a look.
Time to Split
Early January saw us finish up the first stage of the league season with these two frustrating draws. Still, they secured us a spot in the top half of the table when the league split which means we’re guaranteed to finish in the top six at least.
As anticipated though, TNS have just accelerated away and Connah’s Quay are beginning to look very much like the number two side in Wales as well so we have a lot of work to do to catch them in the future.
Transfers
The January transfer window brought along a number of interesting little backstories that I’ll play out for you in this section.
First, when the window opened, I had Kayne McLaggon come to me saying that he felt that the squad was lacking in quality depth and he’d brought along Robbie Patten to help back him up. Needless to say, I told the underperforming dosser that I was looking to make changes and he was satisfied… for now.
Anyway, my first signing in the window (after the already agreed upon deal for Emlyn Lewis) saw me sign a replacement for Ellis Healing in the form of Jake Charles. He’d been without a club for a while and looked to be a decent pickup for our level so I got him in the door on the 7th. He was an unused substitute against Aberystwyth before he left the club to join Dagenham and Redbridge on the 13th.
He spent SIX DAYS with us!
That frustration behind me, I set about hunting for better quality squad players but found the going tough. I did stop to marvel at the transfer business of Young Boys when it popped up in my news feed, however.
Anyway, I went on a hunt for my fourth left winger of the season. I eventually stumbled upon Dan Jenkins who was without an actual contract at Ton Pentre but looked alright. He came in for nothing which isn’t bad at all.
I also ‘strengthened’ my midfield. That sits in quotation for now because there might be a slight tinge of regret about this move. Marcus Jones and Troy Greening were a little unhappy about the fact that I barely played them on account of them being shit so I moved them out on loan, both to Penybont.
I then replaced them with Jordan Barrow and I think you can see why I may have been a little bit hasty on that one. Let’s just say the fans and the media have not been kind to Mr Barrow and neither have his performances.
I also let young players Joseph Baker and Bradley Cotterill leave on frees because they were not good enough to be in and around the first team at all. They’ll be living it up at Gresford and Buckley respectively.
The final piece of business actually happened after January. Kayne McLaggon had not only the audacity to moan at the start of January but also at the end of the window as well. When he went on to moan about not playing, I very calmly retorted that he should probably look to actually score a goal or two to get a game. He did not take kindly to that and joined Salford on a free. Good riddance.
The Slide
Post-split football has not been kind to us at all. The solitary win over Cefn Druids was a pleasing performance but the league defeats were all equally disappointing, if for differing reasons. I’m hoping we can use that win to really kick on and finish the season on a high but I’m not going to stick my neck out and make a confident prediction on that front.
That being said, we are not massively far off third and I think that is my personal aim for the season. I’d also like to finish on more points than seventh-placed Aberystwyth but that’s more for personal pride and vanity than anything else.
Player of the Update
A difficult choice this time as nobody really stood out to me due to the state of our results. Jordan Cotterill was excellent as always while Neil Knight continues to impress me more and more. However, I decided to go with goalkeeper Mike Lewis who has been a model of consistency throughout this season and really kept us in games during this slump with some truly remarkable saves.
That’s about all I have to update on. Next time out, we’ll finish off season one and look ahead to season two, provided I don’t get furious if we continue playing badly.
Let me know how you think I should try and rectify this slump either in the comments or on Twitter. Catch up with the full Barry Boys story here.
Until next time…
THE LONG BALL FM 
One thought on “The Barry Boys: It’s The Slide”