AFTER blasting their last two opponents away with eight goals, can goal machine Barry Town really fight for a European spot on offer in the lower half of the JD Cymru Premier?
Ian Johnson assesses the Town's chances as the league splits, below.
Report by Ian Johnson
The fixtures have been released for Phase Two of the Cymru Premier – with Barry Town kicking off at home against Pontypridd United on Saturday, February 3.
The match will have an early kick off at 1pm to avoid clashing with the Wales v Scotland rugby international later that day.
In Phase Two of the competition, Barry will take on the other five clubs in the lower half of the league, with a European play-off place on offer for the club who finishes top of the mini-league, or seventh overall.
Clubs in the twelve team league have already played each other twice before the split, with Barry finishing in ninth place – five points behind seventh and nine points clear of eleventh place, which would mean relegation.
After the Pontypridd game, Barry travel to Penybont for a televised match on Saturday, February 10, kicking off at 12:30pm.
They then entertain Haverfordwest County at home on Friday, February 23 and travel to Aberystwyth Town on Saturday, 2nd March.
Barry play Colwyn Bay at home on Saturday, March 9, before repeating fixtures in reverse.
Amongst other matches, Barry are at home to Penybont for an early kick off on Good Friday, while the regular season finishes with an away match at Colwyn Bay on Sunday, April 21, the other club who were promoted to the Cymru Premier last season.
Having taken points off all of the other sides in the play-off conference, Barry will be hopeful of continuing the good form at the end of Phase One which saw them thrash Newtown 4-0 at home and beat Aberystwyth Town 4-2 away in mid-Wales.
Last season, Haverfordwest County were able to reach European competition through finishing in seventh and winning the two play-off matches.
Barry, like Haverfordwest and Penybont, will be eyeing that play-off place once again, and the potential for reaching Europe next Summer.
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