PICTURE SHOWS DAN GREGG FURTHEST LEFT

LLANGEFNI Town Ladies manager Dan Gregg has described his decision to take charge at the club as the “best he’s ever made”.

The club are having a decent first season since re-forming earlier this year, following a few years of absence from the game.

Town Ladies currently sit in 6th place in the very competitive North Wales Women’s League, having won 3 of their opening 9 matches this season.

Dan Gregg took over as manager of the club ahead of the new season. He recently spoke to AFEFootballNews about his experience to date.

A former player of Cefni in the Anglesey League, Gregg’s nephew Casey currently plays for North Wales Coast West Premier high-fliers Bodedern Athletic.

Dan’s career started off playing Sunday League football with the Blossoms team which then became the Branch. He then moved to Holyhead Hotspur Reserves for years and says his best moment was winning the cup under Andy Batsford’s management, a time he says ‘he learnt a lot’ from.

Speaking on his decision to take up the manager role at Llangefni Town Ladies, Dan said: “I moved to Cefni before covid kicked in and just found I was getting slower than I already was and decided to call it a day and go back into coaching,

“I’d managed Cybi women’s 10 years ago at a young age and really enjoyed it. Also helped Andy Batsford coaching the reserves, so I was always going to go this route. I work and now live close to Llangefni so a chance to sponsor the team popped up and then I helped out in training one day…the manager left, and I just stepped in. It’s the best decision I’ve made!”

Llangefni Town Ladies’ latest result saw them come from 2-0 down very late on to secure a dramatic point v Holywell Town.

An Ellie Coulson goal in the 94th minute was followed up by a Tasha Jones penalty in the 96th minute!

Speaking on how the season is going for the club so far, Dan said: “It’s been a lot better than expected to be honest. We suffered a lot preseason with some big heavy defeats and having to pick ourselves up afterwards was tough.

“When the first manager left, myself and my assistant Connor Roberts (who plays for Cefni) made a few changes to formation and a few position changes and it started to click, we now have 10 points on the board. Our target now is to build on this, and a mid-table finish is the minimum we want. We have a team that when fully fit and available can cause any team problems.”

It’s no secret that women’s football has come on leaps and bounds over the last few years.

On Anglesey, our Ynys Môn Ladies took the silver medals at the Inter-Island Games Football Tournament back in the summer of 2019. This will have no doubt helped to boost the profile of women’s football, as well as interest from young girls in the game.

Commenting on how he thinks women’s football has developed over the years, Dan said: “I think due to the fact that I managed a women’s team 10 years ago I can see the change first hand. It’s incredible!

“The thing that’s really changed is the quality, it’s improved tenfold. We played Rhyl the other week and the passing and movement was mind blowing at times. We’ve also got a squad of around 30 players, ten years ago I was struggling at times for 11.

“To continue the growth in the women’s game we just need to keep up the work, keep advertising, Keep encouraging the younger girls to play football. At Llangefni we’ve started girl’s sessions and are in the process of creating our first girls team. It doesn’t sit well with me that in order to play for a competitive team a girl would have to go off the island. We also need to utilise the more experienced players on the island, Amlwch’s Carol Lewis, Llangefni’s Nia Ginnley, Treaddur Bay’s Gail Manning. These players are people that girls can look up to and be inspired by.

“Interviews like this also help massively and advertising our fixtures would get more people watching our games which would result in more young girls being inspired by the players I mentioned.“

Among the stars at Llangefni Town Ladies is Tasha Jones.

The 21-year-old midfielder is the daughter of Llangefni Town FC’s all-time top goalscorer Daron Wyn Jones and she herself has previously represented Wales.

A player with a great first touch and vision, she has shown great creativity this season by providing 6 assists in as many matches for her side. Tasha has also popped up with 2 goals so far.

Speaking on her time with Llangefni Town Ladies, Tasha said: “I’m really enjoying my time with Llangefni. We all have a great bond with each other and it’s so much fun to play football with them all. My best moment so far would be thrashing Trearddur Bay (4-0) at home in awful weather. It just showed how far we have developed in a short amount of time.

“My dad is the all time top goalscorer for Llangefni Town so my goal this season is to get more assists than anyone else as I play in midfield.”