# 2008–09 Welsh Premier League

The 2008–09 Welsh Premier League was the 17th season of the Welsh Premier League since its establishment in 1992 as the League of Wales. It began on 15 August 2008 and ended on 25 April 2009. Llanelli were the defending champions.

## Team changes from 2007–08

Prestatyn Town were promoted from the Cymru Alliance and played in the top division for the first time in their history. Caersws survived relegation after none of the top two teams in the divisions below could meet ground regulations.

## Overview

| Team | Ground | Capacity |
| Aberystwyth Town | Park Avenue | 5,500 |
| Airbus UK Broughton | The Airfield | 2,100 |
| Bangor City | Farrar Road Stadium | 1,500 |
| Caernarfon Town | The Oval | 3,000 |
| Caersws F.C. | Recreation Ground | 3,500 |
| Carmarthen Town A.F.C. | Richmond Park | 3,000 |
| Gap Connah's Quay F.C. | Deeside Stadium | 5,500 |
| Haverfordwest County A.F.C. | Bridge Meadow Stadium | 2,000 |
| Llanelli A.F.C. | Stebonheath Park | 3,700 |
| Neath Athletic A.F.C. | The Gnoll | 7,000 |
| NEWI Cefn Druids A.F.C. | Plaskynaston Lane | 2,000 |
| Newtown A.F.C. | Latham Park | 5,000 |
| Port Talbot Town F.C. | Victoria Road | 2,500 |
| Porthmadog F.C. | Y Traeth | 2,000 |
| Prestatyn Town F.C. | Bastion Road | 1,000 |
| Rhyl F.C. | Belle Vue | 3,800 |
| The New Saints F.C. | Park Hall | 2,000 |
| Welshpool Town F.C. | Maes y Dre Recreation Ground | 3,000 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Rhyl (C) | 34 | 29 | 3 | 2 | 95 | 29 | +66 | 90 | Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Llanelli | 34 | 26 | 5 | 3 | 98 | 38 | +60 | 83 | Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round |
| 3 | The New Saints | 34 | 20 | 11 | 3 | 79 | 27 | +52 | 71 | Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round |
| 4 | Carmarthen Town | 34 | 19 | 5 | 10 | 52 | 47 | +5 | 62 | |
| 5 | Port Talbot Town | 34 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 57 | 48 | +9 | 56 | |
| 6 | Bangor City | 34 | 16 | 7 | 11 | 58 | 40 | +18 | 55 | Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round |
| 7 | Haverfordwest County | 34 | 16 | 7 | 11 | 53 | 39 | +14 | 55 | |
| 8 | Aberystwyth Town | 34 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 51 | 50 | +1 | 46 | |
| 9 | Connah's Quay Nomads | 34 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 49 | 65 | −16 | 41 | |
| 10 | Newtown | 34 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 46 | 54 | −8 | 40 | |
| 11 | Welshpool Town | 34 | 11 | 7 | 16 | 48 | 70 | −22 | 40 | |
| 12 | Airbus UK Broughton | 34 | 12 | 3 | 19 | 47 | 57 | −10 | 39 | |
| 13 | Cefn Druids | 34 | 9 | 7 | 18 | 57 | 74 | −17 | 34 | |
| 14 | Neath Athletic | 34 | 10 | 4 | 20 | 43 | 65 | −22 | 34 | |
| 15 | Prestatyn Town | 34 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 48 | 70 | −22 | 33 | |
| 16 | CPD Porthmadog | 34 | 10 | 2 | 22 | 57 | 91 | −34 | 32 | |
| 17 | Caersws FC | 34 | 6 | 7 | 21 | 28 | 61 | −33 | 25 | |
| 18 | Caernarfon Town (R) | 34 | 5 | 8 | 21 | 32 | 73 | −41 | 20 | Relegation to Cymru Alliance |
* ↑ Bangor City won the 2008–09 Welsh Cup and thereby qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
* ↑ Caernarfon Town were docked 3 points for fielding an ineligible player on 16 August 2008.

## Results

| Home \ Away | ABE | AIR | BAN | CNR | CAE | CMR | CQN | POR | HAV | LLA | NEA | CDR | NEW | PTA | PRE | RHL | TNS | WEL |
| Aberystwyth Town | | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 5–2 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 6–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 |
| Airbus UK Broughton | 1–2 | | 2–3 | 4–3 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 2–4 | 0–4 | 4–3 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 5–0 |
| Bangor City | 0–0 | 1–0 | | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 6–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 4–2 | 1–2 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Caernarfon Town | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | | 2–2 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–5 | 1–0 | 4–2 | 0–0 | 2–4 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–5 | 2–3 |
| Caersws FC | 1–3 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–0 | | 0–2 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 2–6 | 0–1 |
| Carmarthen Town | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–4 | 5–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 0–1 |
| Connah's Quay Nomads | 1–2 | 2–3 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | | 3–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 5–0 | 2–3 | 3–3 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 2–3 | 0–2 | 1–0 |
| CPD Porthmadog | 4–1 | 3–4 | 0–6 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 6–5 | | 2–1 | 3–3 | 1–4 | 2–3 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 2–1 |
| Haverfordwest County | 5–1 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 4–2 | | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 3–1 |
| Llanelli | 3–0 | 3–2 | 4–3 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 5–2 | 4–1 | 5–0 | 2–1 | | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 6–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 4–1 |
| Neath Athletic | 0–4 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–3 | | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–4 | 3–2 |
| Cefn Druids | 2–5 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 6–0 | 2–4 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 3–1 | | 2–3 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 2–4 | 0–1 | 3–3 |
| Newtown | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 4–2 | 2–6 | 2–0 | 4–0 | | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 4–1 |
| Port Talbot Town | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 4–6 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 1–2 | | 3–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 4–0 |
| Prestatyn Town | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 5–0 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 5–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 1–0 | 0–3 | | 1–4 | 1–4 | 2–2 |
| Rhyl | 0–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 5–1 | 4–2 | 3–4 | 3–0 | 2–3 | 7–2 | | 2–1 | 7–1 |
| The New Saints | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 6–0 | 4–0 | 8–0 | 2–1 | 6–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–3 | | 3–1 |
| Welshpool Town | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–2 | |

## Top goalscorers

Source: welsh-premier.com

### 31 goals

* Rhys Griffiths (Llanelli AFC)

### 25 goals

* Martin Rose (Port Talbot Town)

### 24 goals

* Marc Lloyd-Williams(Porthmadog FC)

### 20 goals

* Chris Sharp (Bangor City)
* Neil Roberts (Rhyl FC)
* Jack Christopher (Haverfordwest County)

### 18 goals

* John Toner (The New Saints)

### 15 goals

* Steve Rogers (Welshpool Town)
* Paul Roberts (Welshpool Town)

### 14 goals

* Nick Woodrow (Haverfordwest County)

## Awards
### Monthly awards

| Month | Manager of the Month | Manager of the Month | Player of the Month | Player of the Month |
| Month | Manager | Club | Player | Club |
| September | Andy Cale | The New Saints | Josh Johnson | Rhyl |
| October | Peter Nicholas | Llanelli | Christian Edwards | Aberystwyth Town |
| November | Darren Ryan | Newtown | Neil Thomas | Haverfordwest County |
| December | Derek Brazil | Haverfordwest County | Neil Roberts | Rhyl |
| January | Mark Jones | Port Talbot Town | Chris Sharp | Bangor City |
| February | Allan Bickerstaff | Rhyl | Tommy Holmes | The New Saints |
| March | Peter Nicholas | Llanelli | Steve Rogers | Welshpool Town |
| April | Mark Jones | Port Talbot Town | Greg Strong | Rhyl |