By James Dow

Ahead of this evening’s encounter at LHP Stadium, we’ve taken a closer look at Cardiff Metropolitan with Meet the Opposition!

The history

The Club formed in 1964 under the name of Cardiff College of Education, before joining the second division of the Welsh Football League during the 1972-73 season where they finished seventh in their first campaign, three years later completing a league and FAW Intermediate Cup double. The Club spent the the next 35 years moving up and down the divisions, renaming themselves three times in this period (South Glamorgan Institute FC in 1979, Cardiff Institute of Higher Education FC. in 1990, UWIC Inter Cardiff in 2000 before rebranding themselves to Cardiff Metropolitan University in 2012.) The Archers achieved two back-to-back promotions in this time, and returned to the top division of Welsh football at the end of the 2015-16 season for the first time as Cardiff Met FC. Since then, they have remained in the top division, with their biggest achievement seeing them beat Bala Town in a penalty shoot-out to qualify for the preliminary round of the 2019-2020 Europa League qualifying rounds, where they were defeated by Progres Niederkorn of Luxembourg on away goals. Their most recent league finish in the Cymru Premier was sixth, losing 2-0 to Caernarfon Town in the European play-offs.

The manager

Ryan Jenkins replaced former Wales international Christian Edwards at the end of the 2021-22 season, with the latter spending 13 years in charge before stepping down at the end of the season. Jenkins has worked within the club for the last nine years, previously working as an assistant manager and managing their British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) team. The 40-year-old is a Nottingham Forest scholar, while also playing for Ton Pentre, Barry Town United and the Archers. Since becoming head coach, Jenkins has won 41 of his 80 matches in charge with a points per match of 1.7. The former midfielder has led the Archers to a fourth and sixtth place finish in the past two seasons, with his side currently sitting 2nd in the table, level on points with leaders Penybont who are ahead of Met on goal difference.

Key player

While also being part of the coaching staff at the Archers, Eliot Evans has had a great start to the season with three goals and one assist to his name in eight matches in the league. The 32-year-old joined the club in 2015, and since then has gone onto make over 290 appearances for the Archers whilst scoring 97 goals. Met fans will also remember his winning penalty in the shootout against Bala Town to confirm their place in the Europa League qualifying rounds for the 2019-2020 season. The midfielder also provided the assist for their first goal against Progres Niederkorn in a 2-1 victory in the second leg.

Evans has also made two appearances for Cymru C, making his debut in a 3-2 defeat to England C in 2019, with his second appearance coming a year later in a 2-2 draw against the same opposition.

They wore both shirts

Bluebirds captain and local boy, Dylan Rees, had a very positive spell at the Archers, where he played for four years between 2017 and 2021. During his time in Cardiff, he managed to play and score during their Europa League qualifying campaign, while also winning the Nathaniel MG cup and making his national team debut in 2019 in a 2-2 draw between Cymru C and England C. Dylan made 113 appearances for the Archers in all competitions, scoring five goals and registering eight assists in his time there. He also had a short spell at Aberystwyth Town, which is where he met ex-Bluebirds manager Wayne Jones, who brought Dylan to Pembrokeshire. A former member of the Cardiff City academy setup, the defender has also played some of his football in Sweden for Karlstad BK. Dylan has made two appearances so far for the Bluebirds this season, after spending over 15 months out with a knee injury.