Lee John: Llanelli Town must deal with pressure to win promotion from the JD Cymru South

Llanelli Town manager Lee John is hoping his side have finally put their slow start to the JD Cymru South season behind them and can maintain their red-hot form.

The Reds’ early form became one of the major talking points in the league when they produced just four wins from their first 10 games. Admittedly, that run included just a single defeat but five draws left them on the coattails of surprise leaders Trethomas Bluebirds.

After successive second-placed finishes, Llanelli had been fancied by some to dominate the JD Cymru South this season but John feels such claims are disrespectful to the rest of the league.

“We’ve done really well over the last two seasons but when you hear suggestions that we’re just going to storm the league this season, it’s just disrespectful to the other teams and it just isn’t the case,” he said.

“We probably overachieved slightly in my first full year, finishing behind Barry Town United and last year, we had a competitive season with Briton Ferry and they ultimately pipped us to the post. This year, we see ourselves as prime candidates to get promotion but there are plenty of good teams in this league.”  

Although victories were more elusive than John would’ve liked, Llanelli Town remained unbeaten in the JD Cymru South until Matchday 10, when Louis Phillips struck a 96th-minute winner for Newport City to wipe out the Reds’ early 2-0 lead and hand them their first defeat of the season.  

“It was a very frustrating time for us,” reflected John. “Everyone in the league can say they’ve dropped points and teams will look back and think they should’ve won here and there. But from those first 10 games, we truly believed we deserved seven or eight wins but we weren’t able to find that killer touch and put the ball into the net. As well, we only had one clean sheet in those 10 games, which for a club of our stature and the players of our quality, wasn’t good enough.”

Since suffering their first league loss, Llanelli have rallied to three straight victories with JD Cymru South wins over Caerau and Taffs Well coming either side of a JD Welsh Cup triumph over Clwb Cymric.

“There has been a bit of pressure on the players – they know the club that they’re playing for and the level we’re at and where we want to get to and although we only lost one, we have still dropped a lot of points,” said John. “Our experienced players are so important, especially when there’s a bit of pressure on us.”

“You’ve got to turn to players like Sean Cronin, Joe Hopkins and players that have played in the Cymru Premier and are now at this level to get you through those difficult times, but our performances generally have been pretty good and we need to maintain finding that killer instinct at the top end of pitch.”

John made over 200 JD Cymru Premier appearances as a player, most notably with Port Talbot Town in the early 2000s and has tipped Llanelli starlet Ethan Cann to eventually flourish in the top-flight.

Cann, 22, earned himself a place in Mark Jones’ Cymru C squad last March and continues to spearhead the Reds attack this season with six goals in 10 appearances.

“For me, he’s the best all-round player outside the Cymru Premier,” said John. “He’s got all the attributes you want in a number 9. He’s big, strong, athletic, he’s good in the air. His hold-up play is getting better.

“By his own admission, he will say he’s got to be putting the ball into the back of the net a little bit more, but he’s got all the attributes going for him and is still a young man. He’s got a lot of development to do, but he’s very much someone who has a big future at the club. I have no doubt he can play in the Cymru Premier and I hope he can do that with us.

“We’re building good foundations with Cann, Joe Lloyd and Taylor Jones, we’ve got good youngsters coming through and we’re building for the future.”

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