Barry to take on team in top formtake onteam intop form (From Barry And District News)

Barry to take on team in top formtake onteam intop form

WITH Barry Town's Welsh League match against a struggling Ely Rangers side being a wash-out on Tuesday night, attention turns to Saturday's match against Maesteg Park Athletic at Treforest's White Tips Stadium.

It was a pity the Dragons could not have taken on Ely Rangers at a time when the young Barry side had appeared to have turned a corner in terms of results.

Barry Town's off-field problems this season ultimately led to the breaking up of a particularly successful side, and Barry Town's youth academy has been leaned on heavily in order to plug the gaps created by the exodus of players from the senior side.

Barry Town's ill-fortune off the field transferred itself on to the pitch and the pressure the team was exerting on the League leaders at Christmas was just a distant memory by the end of January.

Before long the club was in the bottom half of the table, and it appeared that only the lack of games left to play would be the saving grace that kept Barry Town in Division 1. However, two back-to-back victories were everything that the team has deserved, for the bad run of results was not, by any means, the result of want of trying.

This Saturday sees Barry take on a Maesteg Park Athletic side that has seen a startling turn around in fortune. Maesteg Park pulled off what was at the time a shock result against Barry Town back in November, and the last game for manager Dave Hughes. Maesteg have been a lower half of the table side for much of the season but since holding Ton Pentre 0-0 in January, they have won eight games on the trot.

These have included fantastic wins over Skewen and Bridgend, and a stunning 3-1 away victory to Ton Pentre again last week that made sure Ton's championship champagne remains on ice for a little while longer.

However, although Barry are due to meet a Maesteg team in a run of form any club would be proud of, it would be hugely satisfying for Barry Town to end that run of results as Maesteg did to us in November.