Andrew Hopper-Davies

I’m delighted to share that I will be continuing at Pontardawe Town AFC as Head Coach of the Under 19s for the upcoming season.

After a challenging but rewarding season with the Under 16s, I had informed the club that I would be moving on. However, after taking some time to reflect, I decided that Pontardawe was still the best place for me. The club have given me some excellent opportunities over the last few years and I felt it was only right to stay and continue the work we’ve started.

It’s an exciting time to be involved with the club following the first team’s promotion to the Cymru South. I’m looking forward to continuing the work done by John Meacock in developing Under 19 players and helping them earn opportunities with the first team.

I can’t wait for pre-season to begin and get to work with the squad. Exciting times ahead for everyone connected with the club.

Very proud day for Pontardawe’s Fraser Hopkins.

Absolutely over the moon to see him get his first start for the first team, make his second appearance, and score in the 10th minute of a 2-1 win.

This season I’ve had the pleasure of coaching Fraser with the under 16s. He’s been at the club a long time coming through the academy system and fully deserved winning the coaches’ player of the season award.

I’m really looking forward to continuing to work with him as I take up the lead coach role with the under 19s development team next season, although I fear/hope it won’t be too long before he’s playing first team football regularly.

A massive part of why I love Pontardawe and why I’m excited for next season is this proven track record of pushing young players through into the first team. I’m very much looking forward to continuing that production line next season.

All being well in the play-off, we’ll hopefully be doing so in the Cymru South League.

Make sure to get behind the first team in the Ardal Southern League play-off against Cwmbran Town FC on Friday 29th May 2026.

Sean Dyche said it better than most of us could.

"You don't scream at your child when they are learning how to read and write, so why do it when they are learning how to play football?"

We need to talk about the sideline ⤵︎

And as the sun sets on another brilliant season for myself as a Cymru academy coach, it feels like a fitting way to end.

A good 2–1 win today against Carmarthen to finish, and a great way to sign off my time with Pontardawe.

On the game itself, we were probably worth more than the two goals, but there was a spell early in the second half where it felt like an equaliser was coming with the number of free kicks we were giving away, and it did. Credit to the boys though, we stayed composed, didn’t get carried away and found a way to get the result.

More than anything, today summed up the journey this group has been on.

We started the summer with very little in terms of quantity and quality, and a really difficult Phase 1 where at times we simply couldn’t compete. Fast forward to now and we’ve built a strong squad, improved the players we had, added quality through recruitment, and become a very competitive team in Phase 2. In truth, we know we should have had more points, but that’s a good place to be. It’s far better than where we were at the start of the season, where we couldn’t compete and were finding our feet.

This group has grown into one of the best squads I’ve worked with. The players that have been here from the start have improved massively, and the players that have come in later have added quality and bought into everything straight away. It’s been a really enjoyable group to work with.

That’s why it’s bittersweet to be leaving. I’ve made the decision to step away from Pontardawe, despite the opportunity to continue with this group and the development team, simply because the time and travel next season isn’t something I can commit to.

I want to thank everyone I’ve worked with over the last two seasons. Coming to Ponty really helped me complete my UEFA A Licence, which was fully supported by Ángel Rangel, and I’m grateful for that. A big thank you as well to Kev and Andy, who brought me to the club and supported me right the way through, from coming in as an assistant to stepping back into a lead role again.

From working with Ángel Rangel and Gary and having the experience of becoming national champions as an assistant, to this season working alongside Johnny and Tom. Johnny’s experience speaks for itself and I’ve learned a lot from him, and the same goes for Tom, Ángel, Gary and Luke with the younger age groups. Also Meakes and Smithy, who were a big reason I wanted to come to the club in the first place after coaching against them and seeing how they worked.

Today being against Carmarthen made it a bit more special for me as well, getting to see some familiar faces on the other side that I’m still close with.

The next chapter for me is that I’ll be returning to Haverfordwest as the under 12s coach next season. It’s my local club and I’m really excited to get started, build on the work already done there and pass on what I’ve learned. The club is moving in a really positive direction and it feels like the right time for me to come back and continue my own development while helping the next group of players.

Finally, thank you to all the players and parents. Your support has been brilliant, and I’m proud to have played a part in the development of this group.

Uppaponty.

Tough away trip to Newtown ended in a 4–1 loss.

First half wasn’t good enough, but the response in the second half was much more like us. We pulled it back to 2–1 and at that point it really felt like we were going to go on and get something from the game.

A lot of frustration in the game and at times it got the better of us. That frustration led to me receiving my first red card in 14 years of coaching. We all have to be better at controlling that and staying focused on what we need to do.

In reality, they were better in the first half and again towards the end, so best to draw a line under it and move on.

We feel we should have 5 more points from Phase 2 so far, which shows how far we’ve come compared to earlier in the season when we were on the end of some heavy results. We’re now in games, competing properly and pushing teams all the way.

The positives are still there in what we’ve built and how we’ve competed as a group.