PURE SWANSEA: Home at last for the derby as Sketty Lane work finishes early

Pure Swansea will play their first home game of the season at Swansea Bay Sports Park after all, with work on the Sketty Lane pitch finished ahead of schedule in time for Saturday’s derby with Llanelli Town.

The fixture had been set for Bryntirion Park, the home of Penybont FC in Bridgend, with the university ground unavailable while improvements were carried out.

A few phone calls changed that.

“We were expected to be playing at Penybont for the first home game, which wouldn’t have been nice, but it was the pitch that was available,” manager Jack Midwinter told Swansea Bay News.

“Luckily, Jonathan Hughes, the chairman here, made a few phone calls [with Swansea Bay Sports Contractors] earlier this week and managed to move a few things around and bring the work ahead of schedule.

“We announced the news to the boys on Tuesday night and they’re excited. They can’t wait to play.

“The pitch is fantastic, it’s been relaid, luscious and green, which you wouldn’t expect with the weather we’ve had. That shows the maintenance that the guys at the university have put in.”

Pure arrive home unbeaten and top of the Novira Cymru South, having won at Llantwit Major and then 3-0 at Baglan Dragons on Sunday, where Casey Coughlin scored a hat-trick.

“You can’t disregard what Casey did last year as a centre forward. There are not many strikers like him around anymore,” Midwinter said.

“He’s built six foot plus and he gets around the pitch, but also he is in the box as well and takes all the chances he gets. For him to get a hat-trick is great for his confidence.

“Even though he’s untested at this level, we’re really confident that he’ll be successful.”

The manager is wary of reading too much into two games.

“It’s early days, but we’re chuffed to have won the first two games. Our fixtures don’t get any easier, this league is tough,” he said. “It’s a great start, but that’s all it is. We can’t get carried away.”

With the game back in Swansea, Midwinter wants a crowd behind his players.

“We would love, as a club, if we could get 400, 500 people from Swansea coming to watch us every home game, cheering us on, celebrating the goals, celebrating the tackles. It does give the lads energy,” he said.

“A lot of people in the city are talking about the club.”

Saturday’s visitors are finding their feet. Beaten 4-1 at home by Newport City on the opening night, Llanelli picked up their first point in a 1-1 draw with Trethomas Bluebirds last Friday.

“They are a massive club in Wales. They’re probably one of the biggest in the south and there’s a lot of history there in terms of what they have done in Welsh football,” Midwinter said.

“They have had a lot of exits in the summer and a lot of new players come in. So I think they’re still gelling at the moment, but they’ll come into the game with confidence, and equally so will we.”

There is a familiarity between the sides that goes beyond geography.

“We’ve had a change of first team staff where we have three ex-staff from Llanelli, and we have two or three players that were at Llanelli as well previously,” he said.

“So there’s a little bit of a connection there which will always make that game a little bit more niche and a little bit grittier.”

Midwinter also comes up against Terry Boyle, the Llanelli manager who signed him as a teenager at Neath.

“Terry signed me when I was 15 or 16 at Neath and helped me, put an arm around my shoulder, and gave me some advice at the time as a young player,” he said.

“Every time I bump into Boyle he’s always keen to share some advice or help me out with certain things. It’ll be nice to see him and maybe have a chat afterwards.

“But when the game starts, there’ll only be one thing on my mind, which will ultimately be to try and get a positive result for Pure Swansea.”

The schedule hardens from here. “Six of the next games are against four or five who would probably fancy themselves to be at the top end of the table come the end of the season,” Midwinter said.

“We’ll go out on Saturday to win. It’s our first home game. We’re hoping to get a good crowd behind us, and we want to reward the people that come to watch us with a good performance and put three points on the board.”