Haverfordwest County AFC’s Development team captain Dan John says it’s important that the team make the most of the experience of playing in a FAW Youth Cup final, as the Bluebirds gear up to face Caernarfon Town on Sunday.
The Bluebirds earned their place in the final after a penalty shoot-out victory over Newtown last month, and will be bidding to lift the trophy for the first time in the club’s history.
The striker has been in fine form in front of goal this season, netting 39 times in all competitions while also taking the armband for the first time.
Here’s what the captain had to say in full ahead of the final:
On the final
I know everyone here is completely looking forward to it. It’s a huge occasion for all of us and I mean, with five days to go, we’re all getting ready. Now it’s the first training session and then we’ve got a training session Thursday to prepare for it. So hopefully we’ll be ready, and I know all the boys are excited.
On taking over as captain this season
For me, it’s a huge honour to be captain here and especially for such a big game. It means a lot to me and I know I’m going to do all I can to kind of lead by example, but for me it’s just an honour to be going into that game, and every game that I play as captain. I try and bring just leadership and stuff like that into it, but for me it’s a good standard we expect from all the lads, and I know with this game coming, we’re all going to try our hardest, and it’s an honour for me to be there as a captain, let alone as a player.
On his goalscoring form
I’ve been lucky to have such good service from our midfielders and our defenders this season, and I’ve had the confidence from learning from a lot of the first team boys. Being around that kind of environment has helped me to push my standards to be the best I can. I’m lucky enough to have worked with Owain [Jones] and stuff like that in pre-season as well, and for me, going off last year, I was kind of in a spot where I wasn’t scoring as many goals. But working with him as well has really helped me kind of bring out the best of my ability, and once you get one [goal], you get a shot of confidence. For me it’s huge. And at the minute, going into the final being in some sort of consistency of scoring is a really good position to be in.
On hoping to complete the set of both trophies
For me it’s definitely a huge thing. Winning the league last year was huge for everyone here and I know it’s the first time Haverfordwest County have been in a Youth Cup final. So going into that, we’re all going to be looking forward to it. But adding that to the trophy cabinet here would be huge.
I’d love to have anything, I love winning. So especially this tournament with such a meaningful club, it’d be amazing to bring something home.
On the challenge of new opposition
I know that we’ve got a strong team and that’s the most important thing is, how we prepare and how we kind of get ready for this game. Tony [Pennock] always says that it’s about what’s in your dressing room, and for me that’s the most important thing as well, we’re surrounded by a lot of players who have a lot of quality, but Caernarfon from what I’ve seen are a team that really works hard. So it’s going to be a battle on the day and hopefully we’re the team that’s kind of more up for it. So I’m sure that we’ll do all we can now in the next few days to get ready for this game, and then hopefully on the day we can show how good we are.
On his final message to the team
For me, it’s just about how playing under these kind of circumstances is something that not all of us will get to experience again, and it’s a huge honour to be representing Haverfordwest and Pembrokeshire at such a high level. So for us, it’s just about how we’ve worked hard enough to get here and kind of how we deserve to be in this position, and we need to just show how much it means to us. That’s the most important thing. We just need to show how important this game is to us, and I’m sure we can get the result we want.
