Barry Town United willl be looking to have a bumper crowd coming through the turnstiles at Jenner Park as they look to clip the wings of Haverfordwest County as the two sides face off against each other in the second of the JD Cymru Premier Play-Off semi-finals, with the winners set to pit their wits against Rhys Griffiths' Penybont who defeated high-flying and well-supported Colwyn Bay on penalties following a goalless draw in the first semi-final played on Saturday lunchtime.
Andy Legg and Steve Jenkins' squad will be quietly confident, having defeated the 'Bluebirds' in all three meetings between both teams this season.
At the end of September, both teams fought put a closely contested match, with Barry edging out as 3-2 winners at County's Bridge Meadow ground. Barry went ahead through midfielder Ryan Kavanagh, before County hit back through former Town defender Rhys Abbruzzesse, before Barry again held the advantage through the very talented Ieuan Owen (who has stood out as one of the outstanding young talents in the Cymru Premier), County then levelled again thanks to a Corey Shepherd strike, but Barry claimed all three points thanks to a Ben Margetson goal.
At the beginning of November, the Town once again travelled to West Wales, having been drawn away to Haverfordwest in the quarter-final of the Nathaniel MG League Cup. A penalty from on-loan Cardiff City youngster Morgan Wigley early in the second half gave Barry the lead, before the win was secured thanks to an impressive move between defence and attack resulting in Owen netting the crucial second goal as Barry continud on their way to ultimately capturing the MG Cup on the last day of February with an impressive 2-0 triumph over The New Saints at Penybont's DragonBet Stadium.
Barry in action against Haverfordwest, November 2025, courtesy of @PerryDobbinsPhotography
The two sides met for the final time during the Cymru Premier season at the end of November, with Barry again coming out on top at Jenner Park. An own goal from ex-Barry stopper Luc Rees set the Town on their way, before Ben Margetson grabbed a second, Ieuan Owen added a third with fifteen minutes left, before Ollie Hulbert completed the scoring two minutes later.
Callum Sainty has been inspirational as Barry captain this season, courtesy of @PerryDobbinsPhotography
Haverfordwest's rather 'patchy' form, which at one point saw them drop to the foot of the Cymru Premier table, meant that they missed out on a place in the top six at the mid-season split, which was something of a surprise considering that the 'Bluebirds' had finished the 2024-25 season in third place. However, in the second half of the season, the 'Bluebirds' were by far the form team in the 'Play-Off Conference' and have won four out of their last five matches, so neither Legg, Jenkins, or the Barry players will be underestimating the threat that Tony Pennock's side undoubtedly posess.
Among the 'Bluebirds' squad include two players who played their part at Jenner Park during Gavin Chesterfield's time as manager - Abbruzzesse and Elliott Scotcher, who was part of the Barry squad when they made their original return to the Cymru Premier in the 2016-17 season. Chesterfield, now in charge of overseeing the development of young talent at Cardiff City, himself had a brief spell in charge at Haverfordwest, when, after having endured quite a lot (and that is putting it mildly) under Barry's then-chairman, he stepped into the managerial hot-seat at Bridge Meadow in November 2010 before making a return to Jenner Park at the start of the 2011-2012 season.
No-one could argue that, aside from a particularly difficult Phase One, former Swansea and Hull coach Tony Pennock hasn't done an excellent job. In his first season (2022-2023), the 'Bluebirds' achieved European football for the first time since 2004, having first overcoming Cardiff Met in the semi-final on penalties, it was precisely the same outcome against Newtown in the play-off final.
For Barry, success in these two matches would earn the club their first taste of European football since 2020 when, in a one-legged tie (two-legged ties having been dismissed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic), the Town suffered a heavy loss against NSI Runavik in a heavily misty Faroe Islands, with now-Academy supremo Kayne McLaggon scoring Barry's first European goal since Lee Jarman agains Vardar Skopje in July 2003. To do so, Barry will have to improve upon their record in the play-offs, qualfying for Europe in both 2019 and 2020 having been assured by their league position. In 2018, after having gone through the play-off conference unbeaten, the Town fell at the semi-final hurdle, losing 4-1 at Cyncoed Campus to Christian Edwards' strong Cardiff Met; in 2021, the Town were defeated 3-1 in the semi-final at Jenner Park by Caernarfon Town in a match which was played behind closed doors because of the aforementioned pandemic; and last season it was the Canaries who again thwarted Barry's European ambitions by securing a 5-2 win at the Oval.
Both teams will go into the game backed by tremendous support, with a large number of 'Bluebirds' fans set to make the 2 and a half hour journey from West to South Wales. Meanwhile, Barry's Michael George, who made his 200th appearance against The New Saints last Saturday, was on Bro Radio calling on the Town's faithful to continue the tremendous support that they have already given the club and to ensure they get them through to the play-off final.
It promises to be a rather exciting and, no-doubt, nerve-wracking match. Bring it on! Up the Town!
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