Guilsfield women target higher leagues after flying start

Guilsfield’s new women’s side is looking beyond a strong first season towards a route into higher-level football, after bringing together a group whose previous academy team had ended. The club leads the third-tier Central Wales Women’s League with four wins from four, 34 goals scored and one conceded, according to the Football Association of Wales. Its next Bute Energy Welsh Cup tie is away to Caernarfon Town on Sunday 18 October.

Keeping a group together

Nine of the 11 starters in Guilsfield’s 8–5 cup win at Felinheli were in The New Saints’ academy set-up last season. They moved in the summer after the Saints’ under-19 side ceased to exist. Matt Burton, a former player and manager of Guilsfield’s men’s team who helped establish the women’s side, told FAW the players wanted to carry on together. Finding room for a large group inside an existing squad would have been difficult. Guilsfield offered that group a team, with the committee welcoming the new side. Burton also points to the contribution of experienced recruits alongside the younger players.

A development plan, with a cup test next

The win over Felinheli, who play in the second-tier Genero Adran North, gave Guilsfield an early test against opposition from the level it hopes to reach. The five goals conceded also give context to the scale of that cup result, alongside the team’s much tighter league record. Burton wants the side to challenge for the league title, become consistent at tier two and help players progress towards the Adran Premier. Those are the club’s ambitions as it builds its first season. “We want girls to develop with us and play as high as they can,” he told FAW. Caernarfon are also a third-tier side. The second qualifying-round tie is scheduled for 2pm at Treborth Playing Fields on Sunday, with Guilsfield’s progress offering another measure of its new team’s development.