Goytre left in the dark over replay (From Free Press Series)

Goytre left in the dark over replay

Goytre will gear up for the new Welsh League Season with a number of high profile friendly matches.

The village side will begin preparations for the 2005/2006 campaign with a home friendly against Welsh Premier Division outfit Llanelli on Saturday, July 16.

They follow that with a fixture against Pontypridd the following week before entertaining their Port Talbot-based namesakes, Goytre United on July 28. On July 30, Goytre will play regular pre-season opponents Ely Rangers before meeting Cwmffrwdoer on August 3.

Three days later, they will play last year's Shamrock Cup opponents UWIC and on August 10 they will hold a trial match involving the first and second teams, before the league campaign gets underway on Saturday, August 13.

Anyone who wants to see if they can make the grade at Welsh League level is welcome to play in the match and can contact Chairman Paul Greenhalgh on 01873 880806.

Meanwhile Goytre claim they have received no official notification of the Gwent County FA's decision to replay the semi-final of the P&P Pest Control Open Cup semi-final between Goytre seconds and Usk Town on Saturday, August 20.

Goytre won the original fixture last year but Usk Town contested the result stating that Goytre had fielded an ineligible player.

The Gwent Central League rejected that claim but a further appeal to the Gwent County FC led to a decision to replay the match.

Goytre Chairman Paul Greenhalgh said: "No one has told us when the match is to be replayed and the first thing I knew about it was when it appeared in the paper last week.

"There's no way we can play on August 20 as we'll have a home game in the Welsh League that day.

"When we receive official confirmation of the date of the match we will put forward our application to play the game midweek.

"And we hope because we are the innocent party our application will be looked on sympathetically."

In other news Goytre veteran Ian Rosser has been named second team coach for the coming season, following the departure of Alan Burkitt.