By James Dow
Rhys Abbruzzese praised the defensive work from his Haverfordwest County AFC teammates so far this season, as the defender reflected on his first 90 minutes of the campaign following his return from surgery.
The Bluebirds were held to a 0-0 draw against Connah’s Quay Nomads on Saturday afternoon, with both sides having chances to win the game but ultimately having to settle for a share of the spoils.
Abbruzzese was forced to miss the opening stages of the 2024-25 campaign after undergoing surgery on the wrist injury he sustained early on in the 2022-23 European play-off final victory at Newtown, and having watched on from the sidelines he is delighted to be back amongst it for the Town.
It’s fair to say that the injury didn’t affect the 26-year-old as much as it could have done, as he went on to be named in the 2023-24 JD Cymru Premier Team of the Season, however he can now look forward to getting back to playing without pain as he strives to play a big part in the remainder of County’s campaign.
“I don’t think there was much in the game,” he began. “It was one of those games where a set-piece may have won it, or something like that, but the main thing is we kept another clean sheet. I think that’s eight in 12. So the boys have been fantastic, and to come back into it, you can see that we’ve got a tight group.”
A return of four points from a trip to Bala and a typically tough encounter with last season’s runners-up and JD Welsh Cup winners suggests the Bluebirds are in a good place, something the former Wales age-grade international agrees with. “Bala on a Friday night was always going to be tough, and to come away with three points there was massive, and another clean sheet there, so two clean sheets from these two games I’d say is a positive.”
The draw against the Nomads was Abbruzzese’s first start of the season, and while he admitted to feeling tiredness in his legs during the second half, he believes that it will only stand him in good stead going forward. “I feel like I came into the game and I was happy, I was getting forward, maybe not so much in the second half, you could probably tell that I’d been out for a little bit, but it’s all minutes in the end and I feel a lot better for it now.”
The defender also emphasised how important the squad depth is going to be during a busy month where the Bluebirds play three matches over a seven-day period. “I think Tony said in the changing rooms after that we’re going to need everyone, and that’s what it is. We’ve got a great squad, even the boys that didn’t get on today, everyone’s going to play a part, and I think that shows that when everyone does, we’re all doing the same job for each other.”
The Bluebirds travel to the Old Road on Tuesday night to face newly-promoted Briton Ferry Llansawel, and Abbruzzese believes that even though Ferry might not have accumulated the points they’d have liked at this stage, it’s important to stay focused if we want to try and increase the gap between the teams around us in the table during the second half of Phase One. “We know Briton Ferry are going to be tough, especially at their place,” he said. “I think they probably deserve more points than what they’ve got at the minute, so we’re not going there thinking any differently, we know how tough it’s going to be and hopefully we can get a result.
“I know we’re sitting in second, but I think there’s a lot of teams up there, it’s quite tight at the minute. We’ve got to keep going. The points that we’ve got now are behind us, and we’ve got to accumulate more. So on to the next 10 games.”
