Ceri Phillips expressed his pride in the performance of his Haverfordwest County players after the young Bluebirds bowed out of the UEFA Youth League with their heads held high following a competitive first round tie with FK Budućnost Podgorica.

The young Bluebirds came into yesterday’s second leg in Montenegro trailing 3-2 after an entertaining first leg at the Ogi Bridge Meadow on September 17, and the reigning FAW National Academi Development League champions threatened to cause an almighty upset when striker Sammie Vaughan-Harries levelled the tie with only three minutes on the clock.

Two goals in first-half stoppage time from Novak Fatić and Pavle Roćenović proved decisive on the night, however Phillips’ side had opportunities to equalise late on and, on another day, could easily have returned home with a different result.

In what was Haverfordwest County’s first-ever experience of the UEFA Youth League, the players and staff did themselves, the club, Pembrokeshire and Wales very proud indeed, and they can look forward to building on these performances for the rest of the 2025-26 season.

Here’s what Ceri had to say in full after the game:

Reaction to the game

Identical to the home leg, really. Just a massive feeling of pride. The boys gave absolutely everything that we asked them to do. We had a game plan which they executed, and they just gave absolutely everything.

Our mantra has been kind of no regrets. We ask them not to regret a thing in how they perform and how they approach the game, and they gave absolutely everything. To go one nil up early on, defend for their lives, we rode our luck a little bit, but just as you think we’re going to get through to half time at one nil, to concede two goals so close to half time was a bit of a sucker punch, but they reacted well in the second half and again, we were under the cosh, but then we did cause them some problems as well. And I think if we play these fixtures over again a few more times, I’m pretty confident that we would come out with a win in a couple of them.

So another strange feeling really just to not win, and we’ve obviously lost both legs, but I definitely think whether we deserve to go through or not against a very good side, who knows, but I definitely think we deserved to draw at least one of the games and probably today more so. We probably had a penalty shout on Will about 70 minutes in and that could have changed things, and even in the last five minutes, we’re 2-1 down, you think the game’s done and Will goes through one-on-one with the keeper, he’s unlucky, and then after that corner Lukas Davis nearly scores a header himself. It’s amazing how things can swing back and forth and change, but at the end of the day I’m just so proud of the boys’ efforts, and it was great to get a round of applause as well from the home fans, and a standing ovation as well. I think it speaks volumes of just how hard the boys worked and kind of the impact they made on the game really.

On the fantastic support

It was amazing. It was a quite hostile environment. I felt like the opposition ultras behind Corey [Mathias’] goal in the first half was a really tough experience for Corey and the boys defending from corners and set-pieces, with various noises going off. But to then have your own fans in the corner, draped in Haverfordwest bucket hats and obviously the Haverfordwest County flags which seem to be traveling well for first team fixtures at the minute. So it was just a really nice touch and that support goes a long way and I know the boys really appreciate it as well, as do we as staff. Those parents have kind of sacrificed a lot to be here, and probably have for the boys’ kind of careers so far as well, really, so it was such a nice feeling and to grab a picture with them as well, with the efforts they’ve gone to, a huge shoutout to them as well.

On building from this experience

We’ve said about enjoying the experience, but obviously where we can in the downtime or on all the journeys we’ve had to get to today’s fixture, we’ve wanted to try and use this time we’ve spent together to try and bring the boys together and try to bond a new team that’s been thrown together and try and get something out of this experience; not just the game, but things that we can take back home. It’s a closer knit group, players get to know each other, a bit of team building, and then obviously a good performance on the pitch as well.

It’s been an unbelievable experience on many levels, but as a coach as well, to get those players together and try and integrate them within each other in various ways, we can take a lot from this trip.

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