HIGHADMIT SOUTH WALES ALLIANCE PREMIER DIVISION

LLANGYNWYD Rangers must dig themselves out of a massive rut or face a battle to remain in the top tier, writes Tony Poole.

Though it seemed as if the Llan Siro boys were on the up before Christmas, successive defeats to Penydarren Boys Clun, Ton & Gelli and now Grange Albion have changed that sentiment.

They arrived at Sloper Road without goalie Rhys Fisher and Will Gregory was dragged away from studies in the capital.

The transfer back of Kieran Miller (Port Talbot Town), and Dan Chapman (Caerau) was also delayed by FAW paper work.

Chapman is an interesting newcomer on the Llan scene, as he’s a former Commonwealth Games flyweight boxing champion.

The hope in the Llan Siro camp is that Chapman, who hails from Blaengwynfi, will punch his weight out wide.

During a goal-less opening half, Llan won a higher percentage of possession without working the goalkeeper.

But once Grange took the lead early in the second half, the writing was on the wall for the Llynfi Valley side.

Three more goals made it another miserable January afternoon for the Llan Siro boys before Nathan Watkins got a fourth goal of the season that acted as a consolation token.

A ninth league defeat of the season left them anchored in 11th spot, but only two points above a three-strong relegation zone.

And while bottomplaced Betws looked doomed, two other teams currently below the dotted line – Ton & Gelli Boys Club and Brecon Corries – have games in hand over teams like Llan.

On Saturday, Llan Rangers move on to the Evans Bevans to take on Baglan Dragons, who last week completed the signing of ex-Goytre Utd star Chris Parfitt from Trefelin Boys Club.

The next home league game for Llan Rangers is on February 4 against Canton Liberal – and a week later they host Pontlottyn.

Meanwhile, Llan are delighted midfield ace Evan Thomas has made it into the Boys Club of Wales U16 squad.