Crusaders are off on another European quest and they travel over the Irish Sea to Wales to play Caernarfon Town in the Europa Conference League 1st Qualifying Round 1st Leg. It is a game that Stephen Baxter, his management team and of course players are looking to take a positive result back to Seaview from for the 2nd Leg next Wednesday so nothing has been left to chance.
Old and new players have come and gone over the summer break but the squad can still achieve what has gone before and indeed surpass it. We can all recall some great times from the past but the guard will be out to write their own chapter. The squad travelled to Wales on Wednesday by coach and boat and with the journey completed in six and half hours they completed a training session at the Nantporth Stadium in Bangor before travelling to their hotel for dinner and a planning meeting.
The new players will be keen to get onto the starting XI but Stephen will assess the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition before he and his management team put names on the sheet. There has been several good pre season performanaces that merit a start for quite a few of the squad so we all wait too see who has made it on this occasion and those who will get a chance from the bench if called on.
In Caernarfon Towns' own words this game is “the biggest game in their history” having qualified for Europe for the first time in their existence and they will not want to let the sell out crowd down. They will be aware that Crusaders had them watched at close quarters at the recent friendly against Cliftonville in Belfast when they won 2-1 but this is competitive football at a different level. Manager Richard Davies has made big changes in his squad with three out and six in including goalkeeper Steohen McMullan who has played for Warrenpoint Town in the past. Caernarfon Town are unbeaten in pre season and will go into the game looking to keep that form going.
The game is a sell out and that includes 116 travelling Crusaders supporters who have arrived in planes. trains and automobiles on Wednesday and Thursday for the game. The game will be broadcast with Welsh and English-language commentary on S4C, which is available on channels 4 and 104 in Wales, as well as Sky 134, Freesat 120 and Virgin TV 164 in the rest of the UK. English commentary can be selected by pressing the red button or using the audio selection option.
The game will be streamed with commentary in both languages on YouTube – we can share the page with you on Monday, if you’d like to share the link with your supporters.
It will also be possible to stream on S4C Clic with English commentary – https://www.s4c.cymru/clic or the S4C Clic app (sign up required) – as well as on BBC iPlayer https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/s4c (Welsh commentary only).
This link has useful information on how to sign up for S4C Clic: https://www.s4c.cymru/en/how-to-watch-s4c/
Finally all that is left to say is C'mon The Crues