Game One
Airbus started strongly, pressing well and taking their chances in front of goal. Lyle Tonge opened the scoring with a composed finish before Beau Darlington doubled the lead with a clinical strike. Despite the opposition pulling one back, Airbus held firm to claim a 2–1 victory.

At the back, Giorgio Halfpenny-Gambling stood strong with key interceptions, while Oakley Joinson kept the team ticking over with calm, controlled passing out from midfield. Harrison Davies also produced some excellent saves to preserve the lead.

Game Two
The second match produced even more attacking football. Beau Darlington continued his fine form with two more well-taken goals, completing a memorable brace. Harri Williams drove the team forward and was rewarded with a goal of his own, while Alfie Halley added another to seal a 4–3 win in a thrilling encounter.

Again, Giorgio Halfpenny-Gambling and Oakley Joinson played key roles defensively and in possession, while Harrison Davies pulled off several important stops to keep Airbus in front.

Player of the Match
Harri Williams

Outstanding across both games, combining work rate, skill, and leadership with a superb goal.

Airbus Makers

Game One
Airbus got off to a flying start with a 2–0 win. Oscar Williams opened the scoring with a smart finish after relentless pressing from Albert McComb, before McComb himself doubled the lead with an emphatic strike following a sharp turnover.

Defensively, Charlie Bletcher was strong and composed, while Dewi Noonan impressed with sharp saves and pinpoint long passes that set the team on the attack.

Game Two
The second game was another confident display, ending 2–0. Elliot Waters rifled a powerful shot into the bottom corner to break the deadlock. The win was sealed with a superb team goal: Charlie Foulkes picked out Oscar Williams with a brilliant pass, who unselfishly squared the ball for Jack Payne to slam home to add to his all round impressive display.

Airbus showed composure and maturity, keeping possession with calm triangles that frustrated TNS and forced them into rash fouls. Both Albert McComb and Charlie Bletcher consistently drove at their opposition and were hacked down regularly. Charlie Foulkes’ superb range of passing and Harrison Mouzakitis’s phenomenal ability to find space and progress the back was central to this control, while Dewi Noonan once again combined top-class shot-stopping with long distribution to turn defence into attack.

Player of the Match
Charlie Foulkes

Creative, composed, and a constant threat in possession.

Well done to the whole Airbus squad who bounced back superbly after a ferocious encounter against Shrewsbury the night before. Many of the boys carried knocks and kicks into today’s games, but every teammate showed fantastic resilience — a testament to their ability to grow and overcome. Their determination, teamwork, and quality shone through, producing brilliant performances across the pitch – a true credit to themselves and the club.

Under 9’s
v The New Saints

Airbus Academy Under 9s Open FAW Academy Season in Style vs The New Saints

The new FAW Academy season got off to a flying start this morning as our Airbus Academy U9s took on The New Saints in their opening round of fixtures. After a strong pre-season and a hugely promising campaign last year, there was plenty of anticipation—and the boys certainly delivered.

From the first whistle, Airbus set the tone with confidence, energy, and an eagerness to get on the ball. Despite their young age, the players showed maturity well beyond their years, combining excellent individual skill with some truly outstanding team play.

Our passing was crisp and purposeful, and the combination play across all areas of the pitch was a joy to watch. The boys consistently created chances through clever movement and well-timed passes, breaking lines and playing through the thirds with real intent. It was especially encouraging to see how well the group adapted to different phases of play, working hard off the ball and showing a strong understanding of their positional responsibilities.

The coaching staff were particularly pleased with the tempo of our play and the way the boys maintained their focus throughout all the matches. Every player contributed, whether through intelligent defending, sharp transitions, or creative attacking play, showing just how far this group has come together as a team.

We also want to give credit to The New Saints for providing a competitive and well-contested set of games. Fixtures like these are key to development at this level, and both teams showed excellent spirit and sportsmanship throughout.

While we don’t publish scores at this age group in line with FAW guidelines, the performances themselves were hugely pleasing and set a positive tone for the season ahead. The progress made by each player, both individually and as part of the group, was clear to see—and that’s exactly what academy football is all about.

A huge well done to all the boys for their effort, attitude, and quality today. This is just the beginning of what promises to be another exciting season of development and growth.

Keep working hard, boys—great things ahead!

Under 10’s
v The New Saints

Well done to the lads that played today every one of them were class.
Really good to see us looking positive and playing at a really high intensity and level the whole game suffocating TNS.

This was massively due to the desire and togetherness we shown in defensive transition to recover and put pressure on the ball.

A big improvement today was decision making when we had overloads which resulted in a lot of our 8 goals. Another improvement was that we looked to move the ball quicker on less touches and played in the right areas. Very mature and positive performance well done.

MOTM went to Harvey black, scoring the majority with clinical finishing and pure power. Showed a lot of dominance when isolated in 1v1 and was a joy to watch, well done Harvey

Under 11’s
v The New Saints

Our Under 11s played two exciting fixtures against TNS this weekend, with both games full of quality football, hard work, and drama right until the final whistle.

Game One – Airbus 2–1 TNS
Airbus started the first game a little slowly, allowing TNS to put us under early pressure. However, once the boys settled into their rhythm, they began to grow in confidence, linking passes together and creating some excellent chances. The determination and energy across the pitch really lifted the team, and two well-taken goals turned the game in our favour. Defensively, the lads stood strong under pressure, showing great resilience to hold onto the lead.

Player of the match
Ellis Hollins

Ellis was the standout player, producing a fantastic all-round display – clever with his passing, and always a threat going forward. His performance set the tone for the rest of the team.

Game Two – Airbus 1–2 TNS
The second game was an even closer contest, with both sides creating chances and battling hard in midfield. Airbus showed real character, working tirelessly off the ball and looking dangerous in attack. With the score locked at 1–1 heading into the final moments, it looked set to finish all square. But in dramatic fashion, TNS scored from a free kick with the very last kick of the game to snatch a narrow 2–1 win.

Player of the Match
Arthur Irwin

Arthur earned player of the match for his tireless work rate, intelligent positioning, and composure under pressure. He gave everything for the team and was a key figure throughout the game.

Overall
Across the two fixtures, the boys recorded a 3–3 aggregate scoreline, which felt like a fair reflection of two evenly matched teams. More importantly, the effort, attitude, and togetherness on show were outstanding. Every single player contributed, and the progress this group continues to make is brilliant to see.

Well done lads – two games full of learning, development, and plenty of positives to take forward.

Under 12’s

Caernarfon Under 12s 4-4 Airbus Under 12s

We knew beforehand this would always be one of the toughest fixtures of the season, especially playing away to Caernarfon. What made it more challenging was the absence of our regular keeper, meaning our outfield players had to share time in goal, and the early injury to our centre-back Ollie. Despite these setbacks, the boys showed huge courage and gave Caernarfon a very hard time.

First Half

We started brightly, moving the ball well and controlling the game. Against the run of play, Caernarfon scored first, but the boys responded brilliantly. An excellent creative assist from Kian set up a stunning goal from Mason Rimmer to level things. Soon after, Archie demonstrated the power in his shooting, finding the net twice with long-range efforts that left the keeper no chance.

At this stage Caernarfon looked clueless, struggling to deal with our physicality and quality. Their players were falling under pressure, and we could easily have widened the lead further but just couldn’t slot away more goals. We went into the break deservedly 3–1 up.

Second Half

We again started on the front foot, but a simple mistake allowed Caernarfon back into the game at 3–2. The lads reacted with a superb team goal finished off by Mason Davey to restore a two-goal cushion at 4–2.

However, the wind played a big part in the second half, helping the home team and putting us under spells of heavy pressure. A couple of misplaced passes cost us, and Caernarfon managed to claw it back to 4–4.

The final 10 minutes were end-to-end and full of drama. Will, stepping up in goal, pulled off some outstanding saves to keep us in it, and in the dying moments we came inches away from finding the winner.

Summary

Overall, this was an excellent performance from the boys. They showed quality, character, and togetherness against a strong side in difficult circumstances.

Player of the Match
Will Houghton

A big thank you to all the boys who shared goalkeeper duties today.

William Houghton – a standout performance throughout the game, showing composure in defence and bravery in goal with some brilliant saves.

Under 13’s

Caernarfon Under 13s 1-2 Airbus Under 13s

Our first Academy Cup game was a tough away trip to Caernarfon.

With the strong winds we won the toss and decided to play against for half. Our opposition came out attacking and shooting from all areas as we struggled to play our passing game.

After a battling 20 mins pressure we started to grow in confidence playing out from the back.
From a six pass move we found Ted wide left who provided the perfect in swinging cross for Freddie Rawson to hit home to take 0-1 lead.

Freddie was causing the Caernarfon strong back 3 problems with his pace and a perfect through ball from Zach split them for Freddie to slot home again going into the break with a 0-2 lead.

We knew Caernarfon would come out in the 2nd period attacking and we defended deep but effectively. It became a battle and a poor ref decision gifted them a goal with 10 mins of match remaining. With the long ball being sent onto our pen area at every opportunity Airbus fought till the end and deserved the 2-1 win.

It was pleasing to see the last 20 mins lads encouraging each other and cheering every tackle/ press fighting as a team throughout.

Player of the Match
Freddie Rawson

Difficult decision as such a team performance but Freddie worked effortlessly up front throughout and took his two goals with class.

Under 14’s

Caernarfon Under 14s 3-3 Airbus Under 14s

Our first fixture of the season saw us travel away to Caernarfon. We made the tactical decision to play into the wind during the first half.

Caernarfon kicked off and applied immediate pressure. We started sluggishly and, within just two minutes, they exploited a gap in our defence to take a 1-0 lead.

We struggled to settle into the game, and in the 18th minute, a misjudged throw from Sonny was intercepted, leading to their second goal. We found ourselves 2-0 down and still second-best to every ball.

Then, in the 27th minute, Sonny held onto the ball for over 8 seconds, conceding an indirect free kick which led to a corner. Caernarfon capitalised again, scoring at the back post to make it 3-0. A couple of changes were made five minutes before half-time in an attempt to shift momentum.

Half-time: Caernarfon 3 - 0 Airbus

At the break, we spoke honestly with the boys and told them they had shown no desire in the first half. With the wind now in our favour, we came out a different side. We pressed higher and were more aggressive from the front. Seven minutes into the second half Mauro won the ball back and played in Seb, who slotted it home to make it 3-1.
That goal lifted the team. We began to dominate possession, stringing passes together with confidence. Arthur was pushed higher up the pitch, and with the wind behind us, Caernarfon were pinned back. In the 70th minute, Macsen lined up a free kick on the right. Henry Carter stepped up and curled it into the top corner at the near post. 3-2 — game on.

The momentum shift, we switched to a back three and pushed Fletcher forward to cause problems in the final third. Mauro came back on for the final five minutes, and in the dying moments, he assisted Jacob, who calmly finished to level the score at 3-3.

Straight after the restart, the referee blew for full-time.

A fantastic comeback and a well-deserved point. Much improved performance in the second half — the boys showed real character and belief. Well done, lads! And a special mention to Sonny Rose stepping up in goal from the 13s.

Player of the Match
Henry Carter

A solid performance from Henry at the back today. Broke up play and always on the front foot. Positive display and to round it off with a well taken free kick to change the game.

Well done, Henry.

Under 16s

Airbus Academy Under 16s v Caernarfon Town Under 16s

We started brightly and took the game to our opponents. Callum Reynolds opened the scoring for the young wingmakers on 12' and we were comfortable in the game.

We gave away a soft equaliser when we lost possession from our own throw deep in our half - the lads must learn to be better in this moment of the game. We had further chances throughout the remainder of the half but unfortunately didn't take any of them. 1-1 @ the break.

We started brightly in the 2nd half and went 2-1 up when good defensive play on the right from Will Hewitt and Sam ibbitson saw Callum Reynolds get in behind, play a lovely ball into Jake Pendlebury who's shot was saved and Nataniel Rakowiecki scored the rebound.

We had 3 further chances to score in the 2nd half to put the game to bed, knowing that if we didn't then we could get caught out....and that's just what happened in the 4th minute of injury time.

2-2 the game ended but the lads will have to be better in both boxes if they are to achieve positive results this season.

Player of the week
Fin Hayes

A very solid performance from Fin, tough in the tackle, used the ball well and had a good game overall.

Under 19’s

Airbus Under 19s 6-1 Caernarfon Under 19s

Airbus hosted Caernarfon on a wet Sunday afternoon at the Hollingsworth Group Stadium

Airbus started the better of the two teams dominating much of the ball and having an early goal chalked off for offside. This did not stop the 19’s as they went on to score on the 12’ through Ieuan Jones Wellstead assisted by Leighton Brewer

Some good phases of play from Airbus but couldn’t make it stick in the opposition end. Caernarfon played their way in to the game a little and finished the half the stronger team. HT 1-1

After a few tweaks Airbus kicked off the second half and dominated completely. Changing the shape slightly create multiple spaces for Airbus to exploit and get in behind time and time again. Goals from Cam Meredith, James Allen x2 and Leighton Brewer x2 saw Airbus cruise to victory 6-1 FT

Player of the week

Louis Brimfield

Louis made his debut in the 19’s and whilst he wasn’t called upon much when he was more than equal to the challenge and kept us playing when we needed. He made one very important save mid way through the second half to keep the visitors out. Well done Louis