A smile widens across Jordan Davies’ face when he is reminded of his scoring statistics in the JD Cymru Premier so far this season. 11 games. 10 goals. No one else has more.
The Connah’s Quay Nomads forward has only drawn a blank in three league matches so far and is on track for his best ever campaign in front of goal. He scored his first hat-trick of the season against Caernarfon Town in the JD Welsh Cup at the weekend.
“I think it is just confidence,” Davies says when asked about his impressive form. “Everyone in the team is flying, there is confidence all around and we all believe in each other. The training sessions are spot on and we always do our due diligence on our opponents.
“I would always rather win games than score goals, but luckily both are happening at the moment. I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing without the rest of the boys, I just seem to be in the right place at the right time.
“The defence are keeping clean sheets which gives us something to build on. Jack Kenny is having a great season, John Disney too and I have got to give a mention to Harry Franklin who isn’t necessarily scoring many but he is creating a lot for me!”
This is Davies’ third spell at the Nomads after he joined from Haverfordwest County in the summer. He enjoyed a prolific spell in Pembrokeshire, netting 20 goals in 45 league games, and helped the club qualify for Europe for the first time in 19 years.
“I’ve got to thank Haverfordwest County,” Davies says. “I had a phenomenal year there last year and it gave me a lot of confidence going into this season. They believed in me and put a lot of time and effort into me, so I definitely developed as a player during that time.
“I had to move back closer to home to be with family and it wasn’t an easy decision, but it is looking to be the right one.”
Davies is back playing under Neil Gibson, the man who handed him a JD Cymru Premier debut as a teenager at Prestatyn Town nine years ago.
The pair would both leave the Seasiders before returning to the club, with Davies scoring 14 goals under Gibson in the JD Cymru North in 2019/20, and now they are working together for the third time.
“I have always said that I like playing under Gibbo,” Davies says. “He plays a nice style of play that suits the way I play, so he did have an influence in me coming back and I knew a few of the boys as well from my time here before.”
Davies’ impressive start to the season saw him nominated for the JD Cymru Premier Player of the Month award for August, before he went one better and claimed the accolade in September.
“It is a proud achievement for me but it all goes back to the team,” Davies admits. “If the team perform then I am going to perform. The manager believes in me and my team-mates believe in me, which is a great feeling.”
More individual accolades could well follow if Davies keeps up his hot streak, as he currently sits joint-top of the JD Cymru Premier scoring chart along with Newtown frontman Aaron Williams.
With over a third of the season gone, is the golden boot in his sights?
“I would be stupid to say no!” Davies replies with a wry smile. ‘I just take each game as it comes. There are some phenomenal players in the league like Aaron, Declan [McManus] and Ryan Brobbel. Of course every striker wants to win the golden boot but we’ll see at the end of the season.”
Davies may also have an international call-up in his sights. The forward was the top scoring Welshman in the JD Cymru Premier last season and could perhaps consider himself unlucky not to have made the Cymru C squad to face England C in Altrincham back in March.
“Every player who is Welsh in the Cymru Premier wants to be in that Cymru C squad,” he says. “He [Mark Jones] didn’t pick me last season and that was his decision, but I thought I had done enough to get in. We’ll have to see when the team comes around again.”
It is not just individual accolades that Davies will be targeting though. Connah’s Quay Nomads are currently second in the JD Cymru Premier table, picking up 22 points from the last 24 available.
The Flintshire side are four points behind leaders and reigning champions The New Saints, but will have the chance to close that gap when they host Bala Town on Wednesday night.
“TNS are a phenomenal team and we obviously want to be in and around them, but there are five or six teams who have that same goal,” Davies says.
“We will just take each game as it comes. Each win brings more momentum and more togetherness, so we are always growing as a team.”
