Cwmbran Celtic had to win in their last game against Llantwit Major to ensure that they stayed in the Cymru South League for a 6th season and they duly achieved this objective with the 1-0 win. New manager Simon Berry endured a horrendous season of player disruption. By the end of September his defence had been decimated by the departure of Josh Rippon and Jordan Meaney and the long-term injuries to Kian Bodenham and Tyler Broom. Worse still ace striker Alex Bonthron had gone to Cinderford. As if that wasn’t enough the transfer window saw two players go to Taffs Well and four to Goytre. How ironic it was when Taffs Well were relegated and high-spending Goytre yet again failed to get themselves out of the Adran League. Poetic justice? Going into the New Year Celtic had lost their 3 leading strikers from last season who between them scored 52 goals. Simon demonstrated his deep knowledge of the South Wales football scene in his shrewd New Year recruitment. Dylan Dinham, Joe Bowen, Arthur Furness. Thomas Dean, Tommy Challenger and Robert Jones all rose to the challenge of filling the massive void alongside the Celtic stalwarts, Andrew Larcombe, Alex McDowell, Callum Hodges, Sam and Isaac Powell, Lewis Watkins, Dominic Connor and newcomer Oliver Berry. Marco van Dieren and Cole Doolan stepped up from last year’s Reserves to claim regular places. Louis Cochrane, Josh Winstone and Giles Basson and some very talented youth players, in particular Gabriel Howells, Oscar Balkwill and Jack Prosser, all played their part in keeping Celtic in the Cymru league. Simon’s support team Stephen Muir, Sam Lewis, Martin Ingram, Conor James was the strongest bench Celtic have had.
This was the 7th season that Celtic had been in a relegation battle in their 12 seasons in the Welsh League 1st Division or Cymru South. They have done a Houdini act in 6 of those seasons. The one exception was in 2013-14 when, although finishing 4th from bottom, they were relegated because 4 teams had to go down. This season was the 2nd time Celtic went into the last day facing the possibility of being relegated. The previous occasion was in 2021/22 when we stayed up despite losing 5-0 to Llantwit Major because Simon Berry’s Risca did not win at Afan Lido, not helped by a number of his team attending the wedding, ironically, of an ex-Celtic player!! Simon will remember that Celtic would have gone down that day had they not sneaked a last gasp equaliser in the penultimate match against Risca in a 3-3 draw at Celtic Park. Celtic had an equally dramatic escape in their very first season in the Welsh League 3rd division in 2005/06 when a goal in the 9th minute of time added on by skipper Micky Copeman snatched a win at Chepstow.
Some brief stats: Detailed records are in the final match programme on the website.
Most appearances: 28 Oliver Berry, Cole Doolan, Andrew Larcombe; 25 Alex McDowell.
Most goals: 9 Tom Meechan; 6 Andrew Larcombe; 5 Alex Bonthron; 4 Gabriel Howells.
Most Assists: 6 Tom Meechan; 5 Andrew Larcombe
Most man of the match awards: 5 Callum Hodges; 4 Marco van Dieren
Celtic 100 club current members: Larcombe 294, Connor 292, Watkins 209, McDowell 163, Isaac Powell 114.