WITH THE GAFFERIAN ANDREWS CEFN ALBION

Cefn Albion manager, Ian Andrews caught up with Ardal Northern Media Officer, Chris Parry to reflect on what what has been a positive season for the Cefners

Finishing 2nd in the Ardal North East is no easy task and in doing so, you've already bettered last seasons league position. Would you have taken that if it was offered to you at the start of the season?

Our main aim at the start of the season was to finish top 2 and get a chance to win promotion. After a good start we were looking to have a serious challenge for the league, we had a bit of a blip and dropped vital points to keep that challenge going.

I've got to give credit to Caersws though as they went on a great run of something like 11 wins on the bounce, and that put them in a great position. They continued to get results and were worthy champions in the end.

We then qualified in 2nd place and now have a one off game to get promotion.

Cefn Albion is well known for being a fantastic community club and has been the focal point in the village of Cefn Mawr in recent years due to the success of the club. Has it been difficult this season, playing your home matches at Brickfield, away from your community?

Playing at Brickfield has been difficult at times, as it feels like playing away every week, but I've got to give credit to the players who have just got on with the job and performed week in week out.

The club and committee are working tirelessly behind the scenes to get the club back playing in Cefn, and fingers crossed it won't be too long.

Play Off finals are a great way to gain promotion, if you win! But, they can also be so cruel if you don't win and fall at the final hurdle. As manager, how do you approach this type of fixture?

We are looking forward to the play off final after a long season, we have kept things the same, trained on Saturday and in the week to go over final preparations for the game. The squad is at full strength and the lads and coaches know this is the biggest game Cefn have had for a while and the reward is promotion to tier 2. We will do our best to relax the players and get them ready come Sat.

You could become the first Ardal North East club to be promoted to the Cymru North via the Play Off. Do you feel there is more pressure on Bangor 1876 to gain promotion or on Cefn Albion, given how close you've come in past two seasons?

Bangor are a great side and have been a very successful side over the years, some people might see us as underdogs and that might suit us. But this group of players will be ready for the final and we know if we play to our best then we will have a great chance of winning the game.

Let's hope it's a good game of football and come 3pm on Saturday, let's hope the village of Cefn will be celebrating and proud of the players.