2013–14 Welsh Premier League

The 2013–14 Welsh Premier League (known as the Corbett Sports Welsh Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd season of the Welsh Premier League, the highest football league within Wales since its establishment in 1992. The season began on 23 August 2013 and ended on 17 May 2014 with the Europa League play-off final.^[1]

Welsh Premier League

Season	2013–14
Champions	The New Saints
Relegated	Afan Lido
Champions League	The New Saints
Europa League	Airbus UK Broughton Aberystwyth Town Bangor City
Matches played	192
Goals scored	620 (3.23 per match)
← 2012–13 2014–15 →

The New Saints won the league after 29 games.

The league's rules are contained as a section of the Handbook of the Football Association of Wales.^[2]

Teams

Aberystwyth

Afan Lido

Airbus

Bala

Bangor

Carmarthen

Connah's Quay

The New Saints

Newtown

Port Talbot

Prestatyn

Rhyl

Location of teams in the 2013–14 Welsh Premier League

Llanelli were relegated out of the Welsh Premier League the previous season, while Rhyl were promoted as winners of the Cymru Alliance.

Stadia and locations

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Aberystwyth Town	Aberystwyth	Park Avenue	5,000
Afan Lido	Aberavon	Lido Ground	4,200
Airbus UK Broughton	Broughton	The Airfield	1,600
Bala Town	Bala	Maes Tegid	3,000
Bangor City	Bangor	Nantporth	3,000
Carmarthen Town	Carmarthen	Richmond Park	3,000
Gap Connah's Quay	Connah's Quay	Deeside Stadium	1,500
Newtown	Newtown	Latham Park	5,000
Port Talbot Town	Port Talbot	Victoria Road	6,000
Prestatyn Town	Prestatyn	Bastion Road	2,300
Rhyl	Rhyl	Belle Vue	3,000
The New Saints	Oswestry	Park Hall	2,000

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	The New Saints (C)	32	22	7	3	86	20	+66	73	Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2	Airbus UK Broughton	32	17	9	6	56	34	+22	59[a]	Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round
3	Carmarthen Town	32	14	6	12	54	51	+3	48	Qualification for Europa League play-offs
4	Bangor City (O)	32	14	6	12	47	50	−3	48
5	Newtown	32	12	6	14	46	58	−12	42
6	Rhyl	32	11	5	16	43	49	−6	38
7	Aberystwyth Town	32	15	9	8	72	48	+24	51[b]	Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round[c]
8	Bala Town	32	13	6	13	61	45	+16	45
9	Port Talbot Town	32	10	8	14	45	53	−8	38
10	Connah's Quay Nomads	32	10	8	14	47	65	−18	38
11	Prestatyn Town	32	9	8	15	42	47	−5	35[d]
12	Afan Lido (R)	32	3	6	23	21	100	−79	15	Relegation to Welsh Division One

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Airbus UK Broughton were deducted one point over a registration of a player.
2. Aberystwyth Town were deducted three points for fielding a player under a yellow card suspension.
3. The 2013–14 Welsh Cup final was won by The New Saints. As The New Saints qualified for 2014–15 UEFA Champions League First qualifying round, Aberystwyth Town qualify automatically for the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round.
4. Prestatyn Town were spared from relegation as Haverfordwest County, the only Welsh Football League Division 1 team to have been awarded a FAW Domestic Licence, failed to finish in the top two of the mentioned 2nd-tier league.

Points deductions

Before the league season split into two, both Airbus UK Broughton and Aberystwyth Town both had a points deduction and fines given to them, with Airbus UK Broughton receiving a one-point deduction over a player registration,^[3] with Aberystwyth Town's ruling at a Disciplinary Panel meant they were deducted three points over playing a suspended player in a match against gap Connah's Quay.^[4]

Results

Teams played each other twice on a home and away basis, before the league was split into two groups at the end of January 2014 - the top six and the bottom six.

Matches 1–22

Home \ Away	ABE	AFA	AIR	BAL	BAN	CMR	CQN	NEW	PTA	PRE	RHL	TNS
Aberystwyth Town		3–0	2–1	1–1	3–3	3–2	3–3	3–3	1–2	1–0	3–2	2–2
Afan Lido	2–1		1–3	1–6	0–3	2–2	2–1	2–2	0–3	0–1	0–3	1–2
Airbus UK Broughton	4–1	2–0		2–1	0–1	1–0	1–2	6–1	3–0	2–0	2–2	1–1
Bala Town	0–0	0–0	1–2		1–0	2–4	7–0	1–0	0–0	2–1	0–1	1–3
Bangor City	3–2	1–0	0–1	4–2		0–1	4–1	2–1	1–1	0–1	2–3	1–2
Carmarthen Town	0–3	3–0	0–1	2–0	4–4		3–3	0–2	3–1	2–1	1–0	0–0
Connah's Quay Nomads	0–4	0–0	1–2	2–1	2–1	1–3		0–4	0–2	2–2	1–3	0–4
Newtown	0–0	3–3	2–2	2–1	0–1	0–4	2–3		2–0	2–1	2–0	1–0
Port Talbot Town	3–0	5–1	1–1	0–2	1–2	1–1	0–0	0–1		1–2	1–0	1–3
Prestatyn Town	2–2	1–2	2–3	4–1	0–0	1–1	1–2	5–2	0–0		0–0	1–0
Rhyl	0–3	3–0	2–2	2–4	0–0	2–0	2–1	0–1	5–2	2–1		0–2
The New Saints	4–0	3–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	6–0	5–0	5–1	6–0	3–0	3–0

Source: Welsh Premier League^[usurped]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 23–32

Top six Home \ Away AIR BAN CMR NEW RHL TNS Airbus UK Broughton 0–1 1–2 1–0 2–1 1–1 Bangor City 2–4 3–1 1–0 2–0 1–9 Carmarthen Town 1–2 0–1 6–1 2–1 1–0 Newtown 1–1 3–1 0–3 2–1 1–2 Rhyl 2–0 1–1 4–2 0–3 0–2 The New Saints 1–1 4–1 4–0 3–1 2–1 Source: Welsh Premier League[usurped] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Bottom six Home \ Away ABE AFA BAL CQN PTA PRE Aberystwyth Town 7–1 2–3 2–1 6–1 4–0 Afan Lido 0–6 0–5 1–8 2–8 0–2 Bala Town 1–2 6–0 2–0 3–1 2–4 Connah's Quay Nomads 3–0 3–0 1–1 2–0 1–1 Port Talbot Town 1–1 0–0 2–1 1–2 2–0 Prestatyn Town 0–1 4–0 1–2 1–1 2–4 Source: Welsh Premier League[usurped] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

UEFA Europa League play-offs

Teams who finished in positions third through sixth at the end of the regular season took part in play-offs to determine the second participant for the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League.

Semi-finals

Bangor City	1–0	Newtown
Chris Jones 57'	Report[usurped]

10 May 2014

15:00 BST

Book People Stadium, Bangor

Attendance: 1572

Referee: Huw Jones

---

Carmarthen Town	1–6	Rhyl
Bassett 45+3'	Report	Forbes 42', 90' McManus 51' (pen.) Cadwallader 53' Lewis 59', 68' (pen.)

10 May 2014

15:00 BST

GenQuip Stadium, Port Talbot^[A]

Attendance: 311

Referee: Lee Evans

Notes

1. ^
   Carmarthen Town played their home match at GenQuip Stadium, Port Talbot instead of their regular stadium, Richmond Park, Carmarthen.

Final

Bangor City	2–0	Rhyl
Davies 64' Chris Jones 74' (pen.)	Report

17 May 2014

15:00 BST

Book People Stadium, Bangor

Attendance: 3,442

Referee: Mark Whitby