Wales assistant manager Osian Roberts has claimed the Dafabet Welsh Premier is getting stronger.
Roberts – whose tactical input played such a significant part in Wales’ Euro 2016 campaign this summer – also believes the domestic league is now providing a development route for young players with ambitions of international football.
Roberts was at Bangor City’s 3-2 victory over Rhyl last weekend as a guest on S4C’s Sgorio coverage.
“I’ve seen the games live on Sgorio this season and I’ve seen highlights of quite a few games, and I’m very pleased to see so many young Welsh players getting an opportunity in the league,” said Roberts.
“It gives them the opportunity and experience required to put them in a good place to develop and push on again, which is very important for Welsh football.
“The standard is certainly very good, we’ve seen that with the improvement of results and performances in the European ties of this summer just gone, so I think the league is in a good place.
“If games are as entertaining and as open as this one was then it bodes well for the rest of the season, and I can understand why so many of the games are high-scoring when teams are approaching their fixtures in such an open manner.”
Champions The New Saints may currently be 12 points clear at the top of the table, but Roberts says standards are rising throughout as clubs jostle for places ahead of the mid-season split into two groups of six.
“We’re probably halfway to the cut, but so far – remember, it is still early days – Cardiff Met and Cefn Druids have done extremely well in the top flight this season,” continued Roberts.
“They had tough starts, but you’ve only got to look at Rhyl who didn’t start particularly well themselves before going on a great run of games and finding themselves right up there to see how quickly things can turn around.
“I don’t think anyone would have predicted at the start of the season that the bottom two teams in the league before this weekend would have been Airbus and Newtown, but that’s the reality.
“Of course, you’d expect those two teams to climb up the table in the weeks to come, but to do that they’ve got to win games and beat the teams around them, but so far other teams have shown what they can do and it’s making for a very interesting season.”
After 12 games, this season’s league standings are still close, as just three points separate Bala Town in fourth place from the team in 11th, Airbus.