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Tony Pennock took charge of the Wales Semi-Pro side despite competition for the position from Carmarthen manager Mark Jones and Porthmadog’s Osian Roberts and a few weeks following the announcement it was confirmed that he would be taking charge of Port Talbot Town for the new season following the resignation of Wayne Davies from the The RE/MAX Stadium. Terry Boyle was appointed by Pennock as his assistant for the tournament and the two experienced figures took in a number of games both in the Welsh Premier League and in the English pyramid system as Pennock recovered from injury. The announcement of the squad saw Lee John of Port Talbot Town brought in to earn his first cap at this level following an impressive season that had culminated with a five figure offer from Newport County. Former Port Talbot strikers Rhys Griffiths of Llanelli and Craig Hughes of Newport County were also brought into the squad for the first time as Pennock named a mix of youth and experience in his side and stated he would keep with the tradition of handing each player in the eighteen man squad a start during the tournament.
The players and officials of Team Wales flew to Scotland early on the day before their opening match which would be against host nation Scotland confident in retaining their title having won the tournament the previous year under the guidance of Andy Beattie. There was particular disappointment for one of the squad however on the morning that the squad left for Scotland, Chris Todd had captained Exeter City at Wembley the afternoon before as they were defeated in the Nationwide Conference play-off final and with it missed out on a place in the Football League.
The first match took place against the host nation Scotland at Ross County’s Victoria Park ground in Dingwall. Wales named their strongest side on paper with Lee John starting in midfield behind the forward pairing of Griffiths and Hughes. Chris Todd was also handed a starting place despite his efforts at Wembley just two days previously. Wales competed well against a strong Scottish side and claimed an opening victory as Rhys Griffiths scored the only goal of the game in the 80th minute from the penalty spot. The penalty was a result of a superb run from Lee John from his own half before he was brought down in the area to round off a man of the match performance from the Port Talbot winger. Wales held on to the lead despite a long period of injury time leaving manager Tony Pennock delighted with his squad. “Tonight was a perfect start to what has already been a fantastic trip”, said Pennock. ”The lads got exactly what they deserved against a rugged and determined Scottish team. In difficult circumstances our young squad showed maturity and attitude that was thoroughly professional. We now need to build on this performance against a young but technically gifted Irish side.“
With a victory already claimed an England showing their intentions with a five goal win over Ireland, Pennock decided to keep his strongest squad for Sunday’s match against the English side of players picked from the Nationwide Conference. A number of players were rested although a slight injury to Merthyr Tydfil goalkeeper Ashley Morris saw Tony Roberts keep his place and Pennock name himself on the substitutes bench. There was off the field unrest for two players in the squad also as the news that Carmarthen Town had sacked manager Mark Jones left Paul Keddle and Kris Thomas wondering which club they would be returning to. Torrential wind and rain made the conditions at Brora difficult for both sides and the game was almost postponed through the awful weather but it was the Irish side, made up of players from the Eircom Under-21 League, that played the better football against a much changed Wales side and despite some half chances for Wales it was Ireland who took a 27th minute lead. Wales made changes for the second half and created the better chances, bringing a series of saves from the young Irish keeper and grabbed an equaliser on 77 minutes through Chris Moore of Dagenham & Redbridge again Pennock was complimentary of the opposition. ”Overall we probably deserved just to nick it at the end however, Ireland tried to play attractive football in very difficult conditions. We have to take positives out of this game in that as we already anticipated, we have to beat England in the final game to win the Tournament. We now have a very short space of time to patch some of the lads up and deliver a performance that we all know we have in us. The fact that their keeper was the Man of the Match shows how many chances on goal we had.“
England cruised to another victory that night, 3-0 against host nation Scotland, to show their credentials as the tournament favourites and set up a match against Wales on the last day of the tournament that Wales would have to win following their draw against Ireland.
Tony Pennock again named his strongest side for the crucial match as he returned to the starting line-up that defeated Scotland in the opening match but the side got off to the worst possible start when England opened the scoring after 12 minutes. Controversy followed as the England keeper handled the ball outside the area but this was missed by the officials in a fiery affair that saw five Wales players booked. Wales had their chances and had a goal disallowed in another controversial moment although Wales continued to push forward and both Craig Hughes and Chris Todd saw efforts hit the crossbar. Wales continued to press for an equaliser but England doubled their lead on the counter-attack on 70 minutes. Wales were forced to push further forward as nothing but a victory would suffice and conceded a third as pushed everyone forward. In injury time Ashley Morris replaced striker Rhys Griffiths in order for the Merthyr keeper to gain a cap from the tournament. ”A 3-0 win for England looks comfortable but it was anything but“, said an extremely disappointed Pennock after the match. ”The first goal's a deflection, we've hit the bar twice and the second goalkeeper's come on, blatantly picks the ball up two or three feet outside the box and the linesman can't see it, he must have been the only person on that side of the ground who didn't see it. Then we've had a shot charged down, it's handball and again the linesman doesn't give it and the same linesman disallows a goal against us for offside. It would have put us back one-all, I know it sounds as if I'm making excuses, but little things like that go against you. We needed that equaliser before half time but it didn't come. Paul Fairclough's put his most physical side out but we tried to get the ball down and out wide to Chris Moore and Lee John. We both tried to play football but it wasn't for the faint-hearted as most games between England and Wales are. I think they knew they'd been in a game today and at 3-0 I think we've been turned over. It's a big disappointment for me that we've got nothing to show for what we did today“. In the other match Scotland moved above Ireland with a 2-1 victory at Dingwall.
Despite the defeat to England, Wales can be proud of their achievement in claiming the runners-up place while Port Talbot Town would like to congratulate Lee John and former strikers Rhys Griffiths and Craig Hughes on making the squad. The club would also like to congratulate new manager Tony Pennock on Wales overall impressive display over the three games.
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