Newtown off on a Euro adventure
Newtown captain Craig Williams has hailed the job done by manager Chris Hughes – who has guided the club to their second European appearance in six years.
The Robins overcame Caernarfon in a 5-3 thriller in the play off final after being nine points from safety earlier in the season. Prior to reaching Europe in 2015, the club hadn’t competed at that level since the late 1990s, and Williams, who is one of the club’s all time appearance holders paid tribute to the job his manager has done. “This means the world to all of us and the manager,” said the captain. “He came to this club when we were struggling at the time, and we got into Europe the season after and have been there or there abouts every season with not the biggest budget in the world.
“He has done such a good job with his staff. It means a lot to me as a local player and the other local lads, but the lads from away know what it means. We’ll be celebrating this now and looking forward to a couple of games in Europe.” The Robins twice came from behind to win the game, with Williams playing a hand in the equaliser, with his free kick being headed home by Jamie Davies.
Williams added: “What a game it was. We were in at half time feeling confident and knew if we kept a clean sheet in the second half then we would win the game.
“We conceded two but the character of the lads to come back was great, to find the equaliser and then to go and win. It just left me lost for words.
“We’ve shown character all season to come from where we were, from being in the bottom two.
“We’ve beaten two top six sides to get to this point and we are delighted to get over the line.”
