It could be a pivotal night in the JD Cymru South title race this evening as Llanelli Town and Trethomas Bluebirds go head-to-head at Stebonheath (KO 19:30).
Anticipation for the mouthwatering top-of-the-table clash heightened after Llanelli’s victory over Newport City last weekend saw them edge in front of Trethomas on goal difference after the Bluebirds were held at home by Ammanford.
Having each played 21 games, the two sides are level on 46 points but Llanelli’s superior plus 14 goal differential gives Lee John’s Reds a slender advantage.
“We’re not looking too much at what Trethomas are doing, they’ve been on a fantastic run but we’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves. Going top was a positive step, but there’s also nine big games left of the season,” said John.
“If we do come out with a victory it gives us an advantage, but if we don’t get the result we want, we have to rely on other teams to do us a favour and there’s no room for error, so it’s a big game for both teams.”
While Llanelli were favoured by many to lead the charge for the 2024/25 JD Cymru South title at the start of season, Trethomas entered the new campaign in new surroundings as Ardal South East champions. A remarkable sequence that has seen the Bluebirds beaten just three times this season saw the Caerphilly club evolve from surprise early pacesetters into bonafide title contenders.
The first of those three defeats came at the hands of Llanelli Town with the Reds running out 4-1 winners, but reflecting back on that meeting in early September, John says he recognised Trethomas’ ability to challenge back then.
“When any team comes up from the league below, you assume if they stay up or be competitive and finish mid-table that they’d be happy, but when we played them in September, the scoreline flattered us,” he admits.
“There was a red card and up until that point, I felt it had been very even. Coming away from there, we knew they had all the right pieces in place and knew they’d be up there.”
Having finished second in the JD Cymru South the last two seasons, the Llanelli manager accepts there is now pressure on his team to go one better this year, but having witnessed his side lose just once in the league to date and remain unbeaten in 90 minutes in all three cup competitions, John has every faith in his side’s ability to meet expectations.
“The club want us to go up and the players believe we should be too. We’ve been chasing Trethomas all season and it’s been a long journey to get to where we are and it’s going to be a difficult task to stay where we are,” he said.
“Trethomas have been brilliant this year and I’m sure they’ll be fancying themselves as well, they’ve been top for 20 games because they’ve been consistently the best team in the league, but let’s see what we can do from here. We know the challenge ahead, it’s a case of keeping going and we want to go that one step further.”
Relentless Trethomas travel to West Wales in good spirits having lost just one of their last 11 in the JD Cymru South. Bluebirds boss Mark Dunford says his team are relishing the visit to Stebonheath and are looking to give a truer account of themselves than the previous meeting between the two sides earlier this season.
“There’s still plenty of games to be played and I don’t see it as a two-horse race as yet, but the table would suggest there’s a slight gap that’s developed and I think that’s why the game is starting to build up a little bit.
“It feels like a big game, but from our point of view, even if we were mid-table, going down to Llanelli would be a big game anyway. When you come up, these are the sort of fixtures, as a club, you look massively forward to.
“There’s two, possibly three, games this season where we’ve just not delivered on what we can do. Llanelli was one and we just didn’t execute what we wanted and we had too many players under par, so the product doesn’t deliver – we do have a bit to prove from that game and we’ll be looking to reverse that result.”
Victory for Trethomas and the opportunity to pull three points clear at the top of the table would be the biggest moment of what has already been a memorable campaign for the club, who have stubbornly refused to loosen their grip at the top.
“I think the general consensus was that we’d fall away at some point, but we’ve proved that wrong now. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the next nine games but what we’re doing is some really effective work as a club and we’ve proven we’re a big force in this division,” said Dunford.
“The club are ambitious behind the scenes with the Tier 1 application and we won’t shy away from where we are. We had a slight setback on Friday night, but it’s mad when we’re talking about a setback against a team the quality of Ammanford, a well established Cymru South club.
“The boys were disappointed last Friday but there’s no time to be disappointed, we look forward to the game and we understand it might have some bearing on the outcome of the season but there’s still eight games after that for us and Llanelli.”
