FORDEN United broke new ground this season with the club entering the Mid Wales League for the first time.

The promotion represented the culmination of more than a century of hard work and ambition, a process which began as far back as January 1897.

The Montgomeryshire Express reported the club's first ever match, a 1-0 win at Leighton Swifts in January 1897.

The club continued to compete under the name of Forden Unity with friendly matches against the Swifts along with Montgomery, Berriew and Marton during the closing years of the 19th century.

During the early part of the 20th century the club disappeared though in 1955 entered the Montgomeryshire League for the first time.

Forden would enjoy an unbroken membership of the league for the next half a century, winning the title in 1963 and 1965.

The club spent the next 30 years in the Montgomeryshire League before changing its name to Severn Valley in 2005.

However the rebrand proved shortlived and in 2007 the club folded to leave the village without a football club for the first time in more than 50 years.

The club was reformed in 2013 by Neil Breeze and proceeded to enjoy success in the Montgomeryshire League.

In fact the club won promotion to the Mid Wales League in 2016 only to fold in the summer and deprive them from taking their place.

It was during this time that retired local football player Jonny Roberts took on the challenge of restoring a club to the village.

In 2018 the club stormed to Montgomeryshire League Two title with an unbeaten record before ending the following season as first division runners-up and league cup winners to secure back to back promotions.

The club also took its place in the Mid Wales League, the promised land, for the first time in their history.

Roberts praised the hard work of the club committee for putting the village back on the Mid Wales footballing map and insisted their ambitions to play at the highest level possible ensured everyone at the club remained hungry.

"The club has set themselves up as an ambitious project," said Roberts. "We want to produce a local team filled with young lads from the area that can compete regularly and sustainably at the highest possible level."

The Forden DNA has ensured a real family feel at the club.

Roberts said: "We're a group of Forden lads who enjoy playing an exciting, attacking brand of football.

"In the current squad we have 13 lads from Forden, with 11 of the squad being under 25. An obvious example of the community feel we have in the team are the two groups of brothers playing currently with the Roberts' Ben, Dave and Steve and the O'Donnell's, Jake and Henry, who live in Forden.

The challenge facing the club now is to maintain their momentum as Welsh football undergoes the biggest restructure in quarter of a century.

"Currently we're looking to consolidate our position at tier four while the new pyramid structures start to take shape, with the idea of developing our ground to allow us to play a high level of football in the area all year round," said Roberts.

Roberts insisted the club was up to the challenge and underlined the importance of supporters and sponsors.

"Our committee is fantastic and all put in a lot of work and hours to make sure the club continues to develop. As a club we are indebted to our sponsors and supporters.

"This level of football wouldn't happen without the generosity of local people and businesses in supporting us in our aims and ambitions.

"We are always looking for new sponsors and new people to get involved with helping the team run on a weekly basis."

Meanwhile ground developments are well underway as the club strives to ensure a facility for the entire community can enjoy.

Roberts said: "Special mentions need to go to current players Jamie Loxam and Ben Roberts who also work tirelessly on the committee and down the pitch to make sure our games go ahead on weekends and that the pitch and facilities are in the best working order."

"Pitch work continues to be our priority, the drainage down at our facilities isn't the best but we're committed as a club to continue to strive for improvement.

"The first summer we started back up we started work down the pitch to make it larger, by taking up the old cricket strip and widening the boundaries of the pitch. Then last summer we put in two new drains along one width and along the top end of the pitch.

"This has made a difference but we're still looking to improve. Ambitious plans are taking shape to undertake a lot of development work this summer which we're excited about and looking forward to."