Following press speculation at the beginning of the New Year, the two players were watched at Barry's away match at Conwy by Wales assistant manager, Graham Williams.
Williams was clearly pleased by the progress of the players, Williams having previously gained two Welsh under-21 caps and Lloyd having a Welsh 'B' cap in addition to being a named substitute against Belgium in October, 1997.
The Conwy game itself saw Barry win 3-1, with Williams scoring twice. Both goals came as a result of good work by Lloyd.
Also in the side is former Barry loan player, Jonathan Coates, who is now at Swansea, in addition to former Carmarthen Town player, Mark Delaney (now with Cardiff City) and former Porthmadog and Bangor striker, Marc Lloyd-Williams (now with Halifax).
The remainder of the squad is: Ward (Notts County), Coyne (Tranmere), Page (Watford),Mardon (WBA), D Hughes (Aston Villa), Edwards (Nottingham Forest), Delaney (Cardiff), C Robinson (Wolves), Jenkins (Huddersfield, capt), Trollope (Fulham), Lloyd(Barry Town), Maxwell (Liverpool), Oster (Everton), Coates (Swansea City),I Roberts (Norwich), Nogan (Preston), E Williams (Barry Town),M Lloyd-Williams (Halifax).
Stand-by players: L Jones (Bristol), S Roberts (Swansea City), D Williams (Liverpool), Searle (Carlisle), Haworth (Wigan), N Roberts (Wrexham),
The 'B' international will be played at the Racecourse, Wrexham on Wednesday, 9th February.
Gareth Shone scored his first goal for Barry, when hit the opener after only eight minutes. A partial clearance from the Caernarfon defence saw him shoot from 15 yards.
Former Cofi, Eifion Williams, scored Barry's second goal after 25 minutes, when a clever move from Richard Jones and Mark Dempsey allowed him to score at the far post.
In the second half, Richard Jones added a goal after 52 minutes, when his shot went in after hitting both posts.
Eifion Williams scored the final goal of the match after 59 minutes, when he volleyed home after a cross from Gary Lloyd. That was his sixth goal of the season against his former club.
The victory keeps Barry nine points ahead of Inter Cabletel, but with two games in hand on the Cardiff club.
There were fewer shocks on Saturday, though. Connah's Quay played at Rhyl's Belle Vue ground, but were sunk 2-0 by Carmarthen Town. Carmarthen manager, Tomi Morgan, scored one of the goals. Total Network Solutions also won 2-0, with ex-Barry forward, Darren Ryan, scoring the sealing goal.
At the Weirglodd, Rhyl stole all three points. They scored after only four minutes, but the home side, Rhayader, pulled back to 1-1. It looked to be a draw until the final minutes, when Leighton Sumner headed home to give Rhyl all three points in a 2-1 win.
Elsewhere, Conwy and Aberystwyth drew at the Morfa. Aber took the lead through Kevin Morrison, but Conwy scored with 15 minutes to play to draw 1-1.
Newtown and Bangor had already met twice this season, while Caersws, who visit Jenner Park next week, didn't play.
Cardiff City, the club currently in second, have a match still to play, at home to Rhyl, and they will be favourites to win that game and top the group, leaving Barry to face old rivals, Merthyr Tydfil.
Barry met Merthyr in last year's quarter-final, and were defeated 1-0 after extra-time, when former Barry striker, Chris Summers, scored against his old club. Barry keeper, Mark Ovendale, was sent off in the match.
There is no set date for the match, whoever Barry meet.
Morgan will replace the unfortunate Andy Dibble as stand-by keeper, to fill-in for David Wells, when he is called up to the Northern Ireland u-21 side.
However, disagreements over when he plays seem likely, with former Barry manager, Ian Love, now in charge at the Corries, and asking for first choice on the player, in order to save his club's status in the Welsh second division.
Williams had been recommended to Portsmouth boss, Alan Ball, and will spend some time at the Southern England club.
Holders, Barry will face Inter Cabletel in the cup, with last year's finalists, Bangor City, meeting Caernarfon. The draw for home advantage in the one-legged match will take place later this week.
Cardiff have already qualified, but have yet to secure pole position in their group and home advantage in the quarter-final.
Group C of the competition was completed on Monday night, when Connah's Quay lost 2-1 to Newtown. The match was played at Rhyl's Belle Vue ground, due to continued difficulties at the Deeside Stadium. Newtown finish second in the group, and qualify for home advantage in the quarter-finals.
It is unsure whether the draw will be held over until the conclusion of Group A and the positions are determined.
Eifion Williams' 21st League of Wales goal of the season was enough to take Barry nine points clear at the top, with Cwmbran Town not playing, and Inter Cabletel moving up to second spot.
After a run by Mark Dempsey, Richard Jones's cross found Eifion Williams who headed home from close range with only two minutes left in the first half.
Barry had wasted earlier chances from Williams and Justin Perry, and Nomads nearly snatched a point late in the second half, but Jamie Hughes's shot went over the bar.
Two players were sent off at Farrar Road as Bangor defeated Total Network Solutions 2-1, while the other League of Wales matches ended as draws. John Lewis's first match in charge of Rhayader saw them draw 2-2 at Holywell, coming back from 2-0 down, while both Newtown v Haverfordwest and Rhyl v Caersws ended as 1-1 draws.
Carmarthen Town v Conwy United was also postponed.
League of Wales results and table
Barry Town results 1998-99
The deal is thought to include participation for Tango in the club's 'Football in the Community' scheme, where players visit local schools and teach basic skills.
The deal will begin at the start of the new season, following the conclusion of the current sponsorship deal with the Vale of Glamorgan Council. That was worth £45,000 over three years.
It is not expected that Barry will be changing their club name or taking on Tango's traditional colour of orange. Presumably, the club will be highlighting other brands of Tango, such as lemon, which would fit in nicely with the club's yellow strip.
Tango will feature across the centre of next year's strip, with the club releasing new kits, both home and away.
Inter could well be described as Barry's bogey team, having beaten them three times in the competition, in addition to regularly taking League of Wales points off the Dragons.
Tuesday's quarter-final replay came after a goalless draw at Cwmbran, with the visitors' Pattimore giving them the lead after 13 minutes. However, Paul Evans quickly struck back, with a goal in the 15th minute and Gavin Smith won the game for Inter in the second half.
This will be Inter's second appearance in a League of Wales Cup semi-final. Their previous appearance saw them defeated by Ton Pentre after extra-time in what was then a two-legged competition. Barry are holders and have reached the semi-final three times in the past.
This year's semi-final will be the first to be played over one leg, and, thus far, no venue or date has been decided. It is likely that the game will be played at one of the club's grounds during March, dependant upon other cup fixtures.
The eight clubs involved are: Barry Town, Cardiff City, Cwmbran Town, Inter Cabletel, Merthyr Tydfil, Newtown, Swansea City and Wrexham.
The matches will be played midweek in February, with several likely to be screened live on BBC Wales television. Barry are guaranteed a home draw following their pole position in Group B of the competition.
Conwy were unbeaten for seven matches prior to Barry's visit, but it took only five minutes for the South Walians to take the lead. A cross from Gary Lloyd on the left hand side saw Eifion Williams duck down to beat the home defence to a header.
Both players were involved in Barry's second goal, a little over five minutes before half-time. A throw-in from Lloyd was picked up by Mark Dempsey, whose chip into the middle was met by Williams, who easily headed past Conwy 'keeper, Bamford.
There was no score for much of the second half, with Barry's best chance falling to Richard Jones, whose header beat the depairing keeper and Eifion Williams and bounced off the post.
Conwy took more part in the game, with Barry adding all three substitutes. As the game went into injury time, Conwy did hit back, when one of the LoW's top goalscorers, John Toner, beat David Wells at the third attempt, the Irish keeper having thwarted the Conwy striker on several occasions.
However, as Conwy pushed up to find an equaliser, David Wells' pinpoint kick found Eifion Williams on the right hand side. His cross went over the few defenders and was met by Richard Jones. He turned and chipped a cross into the middle where an unmarked Chris Pridham scored his first League of Wales goal for the club with a looping header over Bamford.
That final goal made it 3-1, the same scoreline as the previous meeting at the Morfa, and in similar circumstances, with Barry earning the points late in the match.
On Friday night, third played fourth in Cardiff, where Inter Cabletel stepped above Aberystwyth after hammering the mid-Wales club 6-1. It could have been different, as an Aber shot was stuck in the mud in the third minute, but, as against Barry, the Aber defence collapsed under pressure, and Inter looked like scoring on every occasion. The pick of the goals included an individual run from Steve Mardenborough for the second goal, a similar effort from Paul Evans for Inter's fourth and a thumped home penalty for the fifth. Aber replied in injury time through ex-Barry player, Gareth Knott.
In North Wales, Caernarfon comfortably beat Rhyl 3-0 at the Oval, despite both sides having a player sent off. In West Wales, Haverfordwest drew 1-1 with Afan Lido, while the mid-Wales derby saw a 1-1 draw between Total Network Solutions and Newtown, despite TNS' Ken McKenna being sent off later in the first half.
There was also a sending off at Caersws, where visitors Holywell Town had Kenny Woods sent off in the 65th minute for attempted handball, raising his arm on the goaline to prevent the ball going in. Sean Jehu converted the penalty for Caersws. Hugh Clarke made it 2-0 soon after, but the Wellmen, under new manager, Vernon Keep, hit back. Former Bangor striker, Craig Dulson, scored after 83 minutes, and with two minutes left, Gareth Crofts found the equaliser. It was in vain, though, as Sean Jehu scored again to make it 3-2 to the mid-Wales village side.
Elsewhere, the match at Rhayader against Bangor City was postponed due to frost, although the home side did announce that their new manager was to be former Barry, Ebbw Vale and Merthyr boss, John Lewis.
Connah's Quay, who visit Barry next Saturday, didn't play today.
League of Wales results (Spring 1999)
The Western Mail newspaper of Thursday, 7th January, gave the impression that the players' selection was a mere formality, also citing two other players, Mark Delaney (formerly of Carmarthen, but now with English league side Cardiff City) and Marc Lloyd-Williams (former Porthmadog and Bangor striker, now with English League Halifax Town), as to be 'expected to appear in the side'.
Yesterday's Barry Town match at Conwy was watched by Wales assistant-manager, Graham Williams, and Williams can have done his selection no harm with two goals, taking him to 20 LoW goals and 32 in total this season. Gary Lloyd was involved with both of Williams's strikes.
Meanwhile, Wales manager, Bobby Gould, was present at Friday's Inter Cabletel v Aberystwyth match.
A full announcement will be made to the media on Thursday.
The programme from the original game will be reissued.
Discussing today's squad announcement, the Western Mail described Gary Lloyd, who recently turned down an 18-month contract with English side Crewe Alexandra, as a 'classy defender', while Eifion Williams, three times in the European top ten goalscoring charts was charitably labelled a 'prolific striker'. Williams is currently being trailed by struggling English Premiership side, Nottingham Forest.
Lloyd played for Wales 'B' against Scotland 'B' recently, while Williams played for the Wales u-21 side when at Caernarfon Town in 1996.
In an ironic twist, the pair could find themselves up against Barry Town goalkeeper, David Wells, himself a current Northern Ireland under-21 international.
Bass, whose central offices are in North Audley Street, Mayfair, are the brewers in the Football Club, which is part of the Jenner Park complex.
A full announcement on the sponsorship deal is expected next week.
The previous two and a half-year contract with Thomas Coaches of Porth recently came to an end with Thomas taking on a lucrative European run.
Prices and service will remain as normal, although the drop-off points will change in order, reflecting the final destination of the coach.
Inter had to wait until the third minute of injury time before sealing their victory at Carmarthen Town. Former Barry player Paul Evans kept possession well before hitting it across the face of the goal. Inter substitute, Samir Misbah, put the ball into an open net from six yards. That was the first defeat for Carmarthen manager, Tomi Morgan, since his arrival at Richmond Park last month.
Newtown also won 1-0, with Nicky Ward's 15th minute strike sealing victory over bottom of the table Rhayader Town.
At Farrar Road, Caersws did the double over Bangor City, when former Hereford and Cardiff City player, Kevin Lloyd, stabbed the ball home in the 36th minute. Again, that was the only goal of the game.
At the Treflan, however, Total Network Solutions beat Haverfordwest County 4-2. The home side scored two first half penalties through Ricky Evans, with former Conwy and Bangor favourite, Ken McKenna, also scoring twice, taking himself to sixth in the LoW goalscorer's chart. The West Walians were actually 2-1 ahead, after early strikes from Richard Gay with his 13th LoW goal of the season and Andy Jones.
League of Wales results (Spring 1999)
On Saturday, Barry travel to Conwy's Morfa ground, while Caersws meet Holywell and Carmarthen entertain Cwmbran. In mid-Wales, Newtown travel to Total Network Solutions for a game between 5th and 6th while Haverfordwest play Afan Lido and Bangor travel to meet the side who knocked them out of the Welsh Cup - Rhayader.
The match between Holywell and Caernarfon has also bitten the dust.
The Dragons had only nine fit players for last Saturday's 1-1 draw with Inter Cabletel, with Andrew York and Mark Dempsey making up the numbers despite their illness. This week the situation has worsened, and having met the League of Wales requirement of signed medical papers, tomorrow's match has been called off.
Tomorrow's match would have been crucial to the outcome of this season's championship, as victory for Barry would have taken the Dragons eight points clear of the second placed Cwmbran, while a victory for the visitors would take them two points behind Barry, and hot on their heels.
The postponement of that game means that Barry's first match of the New Year will be the visit to Conwy United's Morfa ground next Saturday, while Cwmbran will have an extra few days to prepare themselves for their Gilbert League of Wales Cup quarter-final replay with Inter Cabletel. The winner meets Barry in the semi-final.
Many Barry supporters will be heading west to watch struggling Afan Lido, who entertain LoW third placed club Aberystwyth Town.
Links to other sites on the Web
Barry Town homepage
Barry Town results 1998-99
League of Wales results 1998-99
Barry Town news - December 1998
This page edited by the Yellow Dragon, 1999.
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