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Tuesday 20th September
The reserves suffered their first reverse of the season, going down 1-0 at Airbus whose only goal came in the 19th minute.

[i]24/9/05 home to Porthmadog (VM Premier)

15th placed Porthmadog were no match for TNS and it was a sorry day for their defender Rhys Roberts. He started the rout with a 15th minute own goal and also picked up two yellow cards in the final five minutes. The home side rained shots on the Porthmadog goal and the visitors were lucky to get away as lightly as they did thanks to the wayward finishing.
TNS 5-0 Porthmadog (att: 375)
(Roberts (OG) 15, Wilde 38, Ruscoe 44, Ward 52, Beaumont 90)

A 3-0 loss at Caernarfon dropped Rhyl from third to ninth. Aberystwyth won 2-0 to remain a point behind TNS, Welshpool's 1-0 win over Cwmbran moved them into third place.

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27/9/05 away at Welshpool Town (Loosemores of Cardiff Challenge Cup Q/F 1st leg)

Mathieson made his first appearance after his sprained ankle but it was poor defending by both sides that lead to a lot of the game's goals. Briggs walked through the defense to put the home side up in the 13th minute but two quick fire goals by Lloyd-Williams looked to have given TNS the edge at half time. Nicky Ward's blunder in the last minute before the break stopped that though, his dreadful backpass from the halfway line left Mathieson in no-man's land and Davies whipped in to level the scores.
The comedy defending continued in the second half when a Wilding OG handed the lead back to TNS, Lloyd-Williams wrapped up his hat-trick and the game two minutes from time.
Welshpool 2-4 TNS (att: 297)
(Lloyd-Williams 18,22,88 Wilding OG 52)

Rhyl (1-0 at Caernarfon) and Port Talbot (1-0 home to Bangor) also took quarter final 1st leg leads while Carmathen and Llanelli drew.

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Saturday 1st October
The club recorded it's first monthly loss in September - £34,130, not much but we don't want to make a habit of it.
Six of the squad - Holmes, Ruscoe, Brooks, Evans, Beck and Beaumont got into the Welsh Premier League team of the month but David Burrows of Aberystwyth beat me to the manager's award. Scott Ruscoe came runner-up in the Player of the month award.

home to UWIC Inter Cardiff (Welsh Cup 2nd Rd)
The bookies have made us 1-6 on to beat the non-league side from South Wales, I am determined to live up to that. Beck opened the scoring on 16 minutes when he drifted in front of the defense to head home Holme's free kick and Wilde headed in his tenth of the season ten minutes later. Beaumont rounded out the first half with a delightful pass to Lloyd-Williams to tuck home number three. The hard work was done and although UWIC tried to rally in the second TNS sat back and took the comfortable win.
TNS 3-0 UWIC Inter Cardiff (att: 209)
(Beck 17, Wilde 26, Lloyd-Williams 45)

Tuesday 4th October
The third round draw for the Welsh Cup gives TNS another home draw, this time against non-league Ton Pentre.

home to Welshpool Town (Loosemores of Cardiff Challenge Cup Q/F 2nd leg)
A very poor match this, TNS looked very aware that the hard work had been done in the away leg. Brooks won the game with a 12th minute goal, Welshpool picked up 7 yellow cards including two to right-back Stevenson who walked in the 37th minute. Despite the win the players earned a full-time bollocking from me for their lack of effort.
TNS 1-0 Welshpool (att: 287)
(Brook 12)
TNS win 5-2 on aggregate

The press though were quite complementry about my start as manager, of course 10 wins in fifteen games helps that. With Port Talbot, Carmarthen and Caernarfon making up the Challenge Cup semi final line-up I fancy our chances of adding that to our trophy cabinet.

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Wednesday 5th October
We'll face Caernarfon Town, 11th in the VM Premier, in the Loosemores of Cardiff Challenge Cup semi final with the first leg at home in Llansantffraid. The other semi pits holders Carmarthen against Port Talbot.

Thomas Roux was the star of the reserves 2-1 win over Ruthin. O'Sullivan opened the scoring and Roux sealed the win with an 80th minute penalty.

Wednesday 12th October
John Toner led the way with two goals in the Reserves 4-1 win at UWIC. Wood and Baker also netted as TNS were two up within the opening three minutes and the home side were reduced to ten men on 41 minutes.

15/10/05 away at Port Talbot (VM Premier)

Port Talbot were no match for TNS, Brooks scored with a curling shot early on and thought he'd laid on Wilde's 50th goal for TNS but the linesman's flag was up. Wilde wasn't to be denied though and seven minutes before the break he buried Beck's cross for his 50th goal. TNS shut it down in the second half, my disapointment was the three yellow cards picked up late on.
Port Talbot 0-2 TNS (att: 378)
(Brooks 24, Wilde 38)

TNS remain top with 17 points from seven games (+17 g.d.) while Carmarthen's 1-0 win at Cefn Druids moved them second on goal difference with 14 points from eight games (+4 g.d.) just ahead of Welshpool (+3). Caersws are five points adrift at the bottom with just one draw from seven outings and a goal difference of -20.

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Ahead of Wednesday's clash at Rhyl the Rhyl manager John Hulse has been writing of how confident he is of beating us, I replied to the local radio questions about it by saying that his team would have to beat the big boys if they were going to de-throne us as Vauxhall Masterfit Champions.

19/10/05 away at Rhyl (VM Premier)

TNS came out fired up and once again Brooks led the way with two first half goals as well as setting up one for Michael Wilde who was celebrating his 100th appearance for TNS. The second half was another disappointment for TNS though as once they failed to build on an excellent first half, failing to score and letting Rhyl in for an 85th minute consolation.
Rhyl 1-3 TNS (att: 469)
(Brooks 13, 36, Wilde 35)

Newtown jumped into second place thanks to a 2-1 win at Cefn Druids, four points behind TNS. Us (6-2-0), Newtown (4-4-0) and Llanelli (3-4-0) are the only unbeaten sides left.

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22/10/05 home vs Caernarfon (VM Premier)

Lowly Caernarfon made it difficult by packing 11 men behind the ball but TNS were able to breach the defense after 15 minutes when Naylor floated a ball into the area and Wilde lost his marker and headed home. The visitors continued their rearguard action and the score was unchanged at the break. Both Wilde & Ruscoe had to go off at H/T with knocks to be replaced with Lloyd-Williams and Ahmed. TNS made the game safe just after the hour mark when Lloyd-Williams and then Brooks both scored within minutes of each other. Caernarfon then came out of their shell and caused a few problems but were only able to claw one back nine minutes from time.
TNS 3-1 Caernarfon (att: 390)
(Wilde 15, Lloyd-Williams 63, Brooks 65)

Newtown beat Haverfordwest 2-1 to retain second place and Aberystwyth's 1-0 win over previously unbeaten Llanelli proved them into third.

Wednesday 26th October
John Toner grabbed a hat-trick and Chris King added another as the Reserves beat Holywell 4-1

Llanelli moved into third place in the VM Premier after a 1-0 over Welshpool.

Although Ken McKenna is now back in training I have called him into the office and told him his contract would not be renewed when it expired at the end of the season, I offered him the chance of an early termination but he stormed out of the office.

31/10/05 home vs Cefn Druids (VM Premier)

I made two changes for the visit of 16th placed Druids, Mathieson went in goal for his league debut and Wilde was rested in favour of Marc Lloyd-Williams. It was Lloyd-Williams that opened the scoring on 15 minutes but once again TNS idled along after that Ken Otalor rocked us when he slipped his marker to equalise 10 minutes into the second half with the visitors only shot. TNS stepped up and bombarded the Druid goal and were rewarded when substitute John Toner and Lloyd-Williams both scored inside the last ten minutes.
TNS 3-1 Cefn Druids (att: 382)
(Lloyd-Williams 15, 86, Toner 85)

TNS are now the only unbeaten side as Newtown lost 3-2 at Grange Quinns allowing Llanelli to take second place, seven points behind after their 2-1 win at Connah's Quay. Caersws remain winless at the bottom.

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The board are still pleased although we made a loss of over £42K last month. Seven of the squad made the Welsh Premier team of the month while I finally picked up the manager of the month award. Nicky Ward came third in the player of the month award.

[i01/11/05 ]away at Haverfordwest County (VM Premier)[/i]

Michael Collister was handed his debut in place of Ward while Doherty and Wilde returned to the side, Ahmed started in place of Ruscoe. Haverfordwest started the brighter of the two sides but on twenty minutes Brooks caught the defense playing too high up and put Wilde through to break clear and hammer home. Four minutes later Beaumont set Wilde away to score his 15th of the season. The home side was close to jacking it in and it was no surprise when Brooks added the third seconds before the break.
Wayne Jones picked up his second yellow card just three minutes into the second half to reduce the home side to 10 men. Beaumont (from the spot) and substitute Lloyd-Williams finished off the rout. Michael Wilde for his two goals and two assists deservedly won the MoM award.
Haverfordwest 0-5 TNS (att: 386)
(Wilde 22, 26, Brooks 45, Beaumont 57(pen), Lloyd-Williams 77)

TNS stride on at the top of the table, seven points clear of second placed Llanelli who won 2-0 against Cwmbran while third placed Welshpool drew 1-1 at Port Talbot. A 3-0 hammering by Rhyl kept Caersws bottom.

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Wednesday 2nd November

A Jamie Wood hat-trick kept up the reserves winning run as they beat Caerleon Reserves 3-1.

5/12/05 home vs Ton Petre (Welsh Cup 3rd Round)

Wilfried Aloy was given another run out in goal, Pozzo replaced Holmes in defense and Brooks got the bench in favour of Lloyd-Williams who might only have started six games so far but has hit the net 10 times. Indeed it was Lloyd-Williams who got the only goal of the first half after 15 minutes although he did have a second ruled out for offside.. TNS strolled through the second half, rarely troubled and Brooks came off the bench to wrap uo the victory in the 77th minute.
TNS 2-0 Ton Petre (att: 231)
(Lloyd-Williams 15, Brooks 78th)

In the only VM Premier match played, Llanelli cemented second place with a 1-1 draw at Airbus UK.

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Tuesday 8th November
The Welsh Cup 4th round draw brings TNS another home tie, this time against non-league Conwy United.
Newtown's boss Roger Preece is the latest manager to get himself splashed across the papers saying how I wasn't up to the challenge of defending TNS's title. For once I keep my counsel but tell myself that the lads will show Newtown what winning a title is all about and thinking about that I just can't resist ringing Roger up and telling him how much I'll enjoy the victory over them.

Wednesday 9th November
The Q/F draw for the FAW Premier Cup gives us an away game at Merthyr Tydfil. Also entering at this stage are Swansea (away at Rhyl) and Cardiff who travel to Aberystwyth.

Home vs Newtown AFC (VM Premier)
Beck is suffering from some sort of a virus so Ahmed replaces him and O'Sullivan comes in for a seat on the bench. Steve Evans whom I almost rested opened the scoring after 20 minutes with his first ofthe season, a bullet header from a corner. There was no further scoring before the break but we were in complete control having not allowed the visitors a single shot. As we were waiting to replace Beaumont in the 64th minute he managed to dive onto a cross of Wilde's and double our lead. It got a bit sloppy then as we allowed Newtown a few sights of goal but there was no further scoring with TNS outshooting Newtown by 12-4
TNS 2-0 Newtown (att: 374)
(Evans 21, Beaumont 65)

TNS extend their lead at the top to nine points with their 18th game unbeaten in all competitions. That win was our seventh consecutive league win and our 12th league game without defeat, both Vauxhall Masterfit Premier League records. Third placed Welshpool's 0-0 draw with Cefn Druids leaves them 12 points adrift.

The reserves could only draw 1-1 at Ton Petre despite playing against 10 men for 83 minutes. James Wood's 64th minute strike equalised the home side's first minute goal.

Wednesday 16th November
In the World Cup play-offs Turkey eliminated Scotland, Sweden beat Czech Republic while Serbia & Montenegro overcame Russia.

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19/11/05 away at Grange Quins (VM Premier)

Ahmed continued to deputise for Beck while Wood replaced Lloyd-Williams on the bench. TNS made the breakthrough in the seventh minute when Brook outstriped the defense down the wing before cutting into the box, his cross found Ruscoe ghosting in late and he converted his fifth of the season. Ahmed's fifteenth minute shot was parried straight to Wilde who calmly made it two and it was three before the half hour, Beaumont netting from the spot after Wilde had been brought down.
Just after the hour Brooks got the reward for the effort he'd put in when he seized on a ball played over the top of the defense and rounded the keeper to slot home. Another walkover for TNS
Grange Quins 0-4 TNS (att: 364)
(Ruscoe 6, Wilde 16, Beaumont 30 pen, Brooks 65)

Twelve straight wins in all competitions for us, four clean sheets on the trot, it's a real challenge for me to keep the players motivated and happy. Llanelli stay second, nine points behind with a 3-1 win at Porthmadog, Newtown are a further four points adrift in third.

Tuesday 22nd November
Jamie Wood picked up the MoM award and a goal in the reserves 3-1 win at Glantraeth.

Wednesday 23rd November
Six VM premier games were played today, Caersws finally got their first win of the season although it wasn't to move them off the bottom and Carmarthen's 1-0 win over Grange Quinns lifted them into third.