Llandudno manager Alan Morgan has been confirmed as the JD Welsh Premier League manager for August after his team won all three of their league games in the opening month of the season.
Whilst Wayne Allison at Cardiff Met would also have been in contention, Morgan’s 100% record made him the outstanding candidate for the first monthly award of the new season.
‘Dudno’s winning run has since been ended after plucky Prestatyn forced a 2-2 draw in front of a bumper crowd at the Giant Hospitality Stadium last Thursday but are confident heading into their first ever meeting with Barry Town this weekend.
“Barry have got massive history and they’ve done really well to get back to where they are today. Gavin Chesterfield has played a big part in Barry’s resurgence, and it’s going to be a very difficult game for us, you can see so far they don’t give much away so we’re going to have to be at our best to get all three points,” Morgan told the club’s official site.
Llandudno’s revised attacking options can be attributed to their up-turn in form.
After an outstanding debut season in the Welsh Premier saw Llandudno finish third, the side’s form deteriorated last term as the goals dried up and despite being a well organised side off the ball, they increasingly lacked spark and penetration in the latter half of the season, eventually finishing the season mid-table.
Without wishing to over exaggerate, this summer was something of a fork in the road for Llandudno. A lack of reinforcements would have left Alan Morgan clutching at straws to inject freshness into the side going forward and it would’ve been hard to foresee them making any progress on last season’s seventh-place finish, but already this season the side look a far more effective proposition and results have picked up accordingly.
Morgan’s recruitment this summer has been excellent and somewhat overlooked. Hard-working Toby Jones arrives from Rhyl bringing versatility, playing centrally or wide, and WPL experience, Sam Ilesanmi was a long sought-after signing by Morgan, whose judgement and persistence to bring the 19-year-old striker to the club is already looking to be well-placed. Winger Ryan Edwards is another possessing bags of Welsh Premier experience looking to his mark his mark and young Sean Cavanagh should be hungry and determined to establish himself after warming the bench at Bangor City.
It’s been something of a mini-rebuilding drop, make no bones about it, but Alan Morgan looks to have pulled it off and Llandudno are back heading in the right direction.