10. Bridge Meadow Stadium-Haverfordwest County

Haverfordwest County 2-4 Rhyl
Welsh Premier League
Saturday 10th April 2010

Ground: Bridge Meadow Stadium
League: Welsh Premier League
Admission: Adults: £6 Children: Free
Score: Haverfordwest County 2-4 Rhyl
Programme: £1.50
Attendance: 200
Capacity: 1, 600
Seated: 750
Covered: 750
Town: Haverfordwest
Opposition: Rhyl
Date: 10.4.10
Club shop: yes
Floodlights: yes
Step: 1

Haverfordwest is a large town in Pembrokeshire in South West Wales.
Not exactly an exciting place, but there is history behind it.
Where Bridge street and the High street meet there is the remains of Woolworths. To the right of it there is a small alleyway that goes up to the castle. However don't get to excited as the castle is very empty and you shouldn't need to go for more than 45 minutes. Right next door is the town museum which contains some art pieces and local history exhibits. And that's basically it for Haverfordwest. Not greatly exciting... if you're not a groundhopper that is. Pembrokeshire league division 1 side Prendergast Villa play at Sir Thomas Picton school which can be accessed by a side path on Stokes Avenue.
Haverfordwest Cricket club fc play at, guess what? The cricket club. This is accessible from Dale Road North. However there are pitches on the left and right hand side of the road, so you may have to try both.
Suprisingly the cricket club also play on the facilities and they are in fact the oldest in Wales. They currently play in the Pembrokeshire county cricket league.


Haverfordwest County's history goes back as far as 1956 when they were Welsh league division 2 west champions. The following year they were Welsh league champions.
In 1980 they were Welsh league division one champions, therefore earning promotion to the Premier Division. Next season they were Welsh league champions again. Another 7 years brought them two more Welsh league titles. In 2005 they managed to reach the Welsh cup semi finals before losing 1-0 to Carmarthen Town at Llanelli. The club has competed in Europe as well. This happened in 2004 when they met Icelandic side F H Hafnarfjordur. They lost 4-1 on aggregate, playing their home leg at Ninian Park.

The club has had an unsuccessful season so far in the Welsh Premier league. Every year they try and get in the title race, but always find it tougher than they think. Todays opposition were Rhyl from North Wales. They were still chasing a chance to get into Europe. I wrote this post a bit late so I can tell you now, by the end of the season Rhyl did not make the European place.
Lee Hudgell opened the scoring for the home side on 6 minutes. This was followed 16 minutes later by a good header by Jack Christopher to give them a 2-0 lead at the break. Tyrone Kirk was brought on not long after the restart. Mark Connolly hit one home with 35 minutes to go and Kirk got the equaliser 2 minutes later. Connolly put them in front with 21 minutes to go and Matthew Williams sealed the win with 6 minutes left.
By the end of the season TNS qualified for a Champions league 2nd qualifying round match. Llanelli AFC and Port Talbot Town got Europa League first round qualifiers. Meanwhile due to the clubs deciding the league would be reduced to 12 clubs next season, Cefn Druids, Caersws, Welshpool, Porthmadog, Connah's Quay, Newtown, Haverfordwest and Bala were all relegated to either the Cymru Alliance or Welsh league division one.

The ground is called the Bridge Meadow Stadium and is located behind Morissons in the town centre.
You enter through the turnstiles at the South end and come out into hard standing area. There is a programme stall on your left as you enter. Programme's are £1.50.
There is a tiny club shop in the South West corner of the ground.. On the West side is the main stand which contains about 325 blue plastic seats. It has Haverfordwest County painted on the back in blue and readers will be happy to know it's not a modern day kit stand. There are two brick dugouts in front of the stand. On either side there are two steps of concrete terracing holding about 150 people overall.
The North End is plain hard standing that holds about 130.
The East end is another seated stand with about 425 blue plastic seats. This however is a kit stand.
The south end has standing for 175. The ground is completed with 8 floodlight pylons.

Haverfordwest County matchday pictures