This week Bill Carne chatted to Ben Aldred about his footballing experiences with Hakin United, Swansea City and some other local clubs as a talented young midfield player who is building back towards success after some injuries kept him out for a while . . .

At 20 years of age Ben Aldred has already experienced the highs and lows of local football after starting out with Hakin United as a real nipper of five years old.

Last season saw him score the opening goal of The Vikings’ Senior Cup semi-final against Merlins Bridge but they eventually lost 6-2 – and poor old Ben sustained a nasty knee injury which kept him out for the rest of the campaign.

Thankfully, Ben is now back in action and playing regularly in his central midfield role for The Vikings’ second team coached by Scott Davies, Anthony Mayhew and Leigh Broome, enjoying his football and enjoying it.

“It’s just nice to be able to play again,” admitted Ben, “and I’m pleased that I have managed 12 goals in eight games as we aim to win the second division but sadly for us we lost to Prendergast Villa in the section’s cup semi-final. We were all gutted but in one way I felt worse because I wasn’t able to play because I was cup tied.”

Ben started out at The Obs because he was taken up there by his dad Anthony Aldred, who then coached the under sevens’ team with Colin Fawcett.

“My father played for Hakin for a long time and I took to it straight away because I was always kicking a ball around at home ever since I can remember – and I have also had great support from my mother, Zoe Jenkins, like my younger brothers Aidan (13) and Lucas (11), who also play for The Vikings.”

From there Ben played for Camrose, who had good players like Laurie Haworth but was then invited to go for trials with Swansea City, did well and was picked for the squad right through to under 15 level.

“I played mostly in midfield and we had different coaches every season as we trained three times a week and played matches on Sundays.

“Of course it meant a huge amount of travel and time spent away from home but my family was brilliant in taking me everywhere; and it was a help that we could share lifts with Scott Jones (Neyland), Luke Raymond (Narberth), and Liam Cullen (still at Swansea).

“Most of our home matches were played at Llandarcy because the academy hadn’t been built then and we played the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham and Spurs – and for away games our parents weren’t allowed to travel on the team bus and often shared lifts again to watch us play.

“During training sessions we started off with some strength and conditioning work but the rest of the two hours were spent on developing skills and tactical awareness in readiness for matches."

Ask Ben about highlights and the top of the list would undoubtedly be a trip to Austria to take part in an under 15 tournament in Austria where we flew out and stayed in a hotel for over a week and played against Bayern Munich as one of the teams there.

“We lost 2-0 but played really well and our coaches were very pleased as we also took on Salzburg, Werder Bremen, and New York Rebels as part of the trip and I will never forget our games in front of far bigger crowds than we were ever used to at home.

But by then Ben had suffered a few niggling injuries and at the end of the season, after discussing it with his parents, decided he didn’t want all the travel any more since the fun had gone out of being with Swansea and he fancied being able to play alongside his old school pals again.

His coaches did offer him the chance to return if he realised it was a mistake but his mind was already made up and he made a gentle return to local senior football with Herbrandston Seconds in Division Five of the Manderwood Pembrokeshire League.

“I really enjoyed being involved with some great older characters under a good manager in Dai Davies and we won the section and the division cup at Marble Hall.

“But I was starting to feel stronger and my mates Louis Thompson, Dan Evans and Ben Howells asked me to re-join them at The Obs and the pull was too great; although I really enjoyed myself at Herbie.”

“I was made really welcome by all the boys back at Hakin and I had a few games in the firsts but mainly as part of the strong second side coached by Wayne Morgans.

“I found it a lot faster than Division Five, especially with the first team, but to be honest I was just glad to be getting some game time at this level.

“I thought it would be good to try and play as much in the first division as possible and so I joined Milford United for a season with Adrian ‘Boo-Boo’ Hutchings, who I think is one of the best managers I have played for.

“We had a good season as we came a creditable eighth place in the league and reached the semi-final of the Senior Cup.

“We took on Goodwick United as rank underdogs at the Conygar Bridge Meadow Stadium and although we were disappointed to lose 2-0 we knew that we had pushed them all the way and they knew they had been in a tough match!”

Playing at the Conygar Bridge Meadow Stadium continued for Ben because he had a good season with Haverfordwest County’s Academy Under 19s Squad with Steve Batty as manager of a strong team.

“It meant a fair bit of travel but it was a good experience to play against some very good teams and Steve did a good job because he always wanted to play good attacking football and we had some good results against teams from all over South Wales.”

But now Ben Aldred is back where he started and is young enough, now that he is back to full fitness, to move onwards in football and we wish him every success because he is good enough to play consistently well in the top echelon of local football if he can steer clear of any more injuries!