THE Colwyn Bay FC Academy Players of the Month awards for February feature Elis McLoughlin, who stepped up as acting captain and led the Under-19s to an excellent victory over third-in-the-table Caernarfon Town in the cymru Development League North, as well as a ‘derby’ draw against Llandudno, before  unfortunately suffering a season-ending injury.

 We wish Elis a speedy recovery.

 Efan Bowden Williams has been fantastic for the Under-15s after switching from centre-forward to fill in at centre-back due to injuries, while in the lower age groups Reggie Roberts and George Mason both recorded excellent hat-tricks against Burnley and Bala Town for the Under-9s and Under-8s respectively.

 The full list of February awards is:

ELIS McLOUGHLIN (Under-19s):  Elis has really stepped up over the last few months, which has seen him achieve high levels of performance, particularly in February, against the top three teams in the table.

 Elis also assumed the captaincy role when Keiran Jones picked up an injury and led the group to a win over Caernarfon and a draw in our ‘derby’ against Llandudno. 

 It was a really good month for him, but unfortunately, he picked up an injury himself against Llandudno that will likely rule him out for the remaining five  under-19s matches. 

Well done to Elis and we wish you a speedy recovery. Steve Giblin (Under-19s coach).

ANTHONY POOLE (Under-16s): Ants work rate over the last month has been exceptional. Pressing high has caused panic in defence resulting in an assist or a goal for Ant.

Well done keep up the hard work. Russ Flint (Under-16s coach).

EFAN BOWDEN WILLIAMS (Under-15s): Efan, with the loss of three centre-backs, has swicthed from centre-forward to fill in and shown fantastic adaptability. 

 Reading the game well, he is strong in 1v1s and fitted into his new role brilliantly. To add to this, he has been fantastic at stepping in to create overloads centrally and provided provision passes breaking lines and at times removed the midfield and turned the defence in one pass. Something we can look to develop and exploit moving forward. 

 A superb effort from Efan since moving positions. Well done. Kev Jones (Under-15s coach).

RYAN OWEN (Under-14s): Ryan has been outstanding this month.

 Having tried his hand up front, he has dropped back into his preferred defensive roll and it is clear it was the right decision.

 His desire to not give the ball away and win his personal battles has been inspirational to the team.

 He has played up with the 15s twice and the feedback from their coach has been really positive and goes to show the huge steps he is making development wise.

Well done, Ryan, your attitude has and is fantastic. Keep up the hard work. It is clearly paying off. Lee Bubb (Under-14s head coach).

MAX REECE (Under-13s): Max has had a really solid month and has shown his great versatility to play either in midfield or defence.

 He has great ability and intelligence to adapt so quickly between the two roles and his performance levels never drop.

  He is always aware of positions he should take up in the roles and then is so confident and assured in possession and is able to play off either foot, switching play or breaking lines and playing forward quickly.

 Out of possession Max is rarely caught out of position as he reads the game so well and his timing and anticipation of when to intercept and make the tackle is brilliant. He very rarely, if at all, goes to ground and this is always a great sign of a top player, and always helps us being able to try and make quick transitions and look to build a counter attack.

 Well done Max keep up the hard work. Matthew Roberts (Under-13s coach).


BEN HARMS (Under-12s): 
Ben has been exceptional this month having found his confidence commanding the centre of the park. Ben always trains and plays at 100%. Ben is a key member of the U12’s, encouraging his teammates which has landed him the Vice Captain role.

Well done! Keep up the good work! DavidAlgieri (Under-12s head coach).

ALFIE JONES (Under-11s): Alfie  always gives 100% in training and matches, he’s always confident on the ball and his ability to just move past players is great to watch.

Well done Alfie.  Mike Walters Under-11s coach).

HARRI DAVIES (Under-10s): Harri is a pleasure to coach, he’s always giving 100% in training and In matches. He’s so confident on the ball and in his 1v1s, he’s happy to play in any position you put him in and will always give 100%.

Well done Harri. Mike Walters (Under-10s coach).

REGGIE ROBERTS (Under-9s): Reggie has had a superb month in both training and matches. During the last few weeks Reggie’s confidence has definitely grown and he has scored some great goals including a hat-trick at Bala last weekend. At training he has been great to coach, answering questions and working on the key skills we look at as an academy. Well done Reggie keep up the good work. Joe (head of development phase)

GEORGE MASON (under-8s): George has been brilliant all season. He works really hard in training every week and his commitment is top draw.

 George has scored loads of goals this month including a very well taken hat-trick against Burnley. Well done George, keep up the great work! Tom Clarkey (Under-8s coach)