Sunday 29th August 2010
Rhosgoch Rangers 10 Talgarth Town 0
Spar Mid Wales League Division 2
At: Crow Lane
Kick-off: 11-30 am
Admission: £38 hop ticket including 8 page £1 programme
Attendance: 229
Weather: rain
Duration: first-half: 47:44; second-half: 44:52
Day three of the inaugural Mid-Wales Hop involved three games in the south of the league’s patch – Rhosgoch, followed first by Newbridge-on-Wye and then Llandrindrod Wells.
The journey down to Rhosgoch started with a familiar 70-odd mile stretch, retracing the exact route I’d taken to Knighton eight days ago. 5 Live provided good company on the way and an interview with legendary travel writer Bill Bryson made me smile.
From Knighton, the plan was to take the B4355 in the direction of Presteine, but somehow I missed the left turn approaching the town centre. Instead I took the A488 down to Monaughty and a left turn on to the B4356, passing near the site of the 15th Century Battle of Bryn Glas, before getting back on my chosen route at Whitton.
The places names started to interest me – Beggar’s Bush, Evenjobb, Burlingjobb. What were the origins? That question can wait for another time.
It was nice to see ‘Paincastle 10’ because I knew, with plenty of time in hand, that Rhosgoch was less than 10 miles from the sign. But something started to puzzle me. Why wasn’t ‘Rhosgoch’ appearing on direction signs? Was I heading for the wrong Rhosgoch? Eventually I past the ‘RHOSGOCH’ sign at the start of the village and into the 40 mph zone but still wasn’t sure, especially when countryside returned after passing a few white bungalows on the left-hand side. A feeling of ‘bad planning’ came over me and an annoyance with myself for not putting the post code into Google Maps beforehand to confirm where I was supposed to be heading. Suddenly houses appeared along with a red phone box, small church and a 20 mph zone. And, finally, the presence of parked cars and a sense of a something big taking place, calmed my nerves, which finally eased with a board proudly displaying the words ‘RHOSGOCH v TALGARTH SUNDAY 11:30 AM KICK OFF’. I had indeed arrived at the correct Rhosgoch!
Hopefully, the only panic of the day was over, or so I thought.
A small gazebo marked the entrance and provided much needed shelter from the elements for Andy Sneddon to display his badge collection. The pitch ran lengthways away from the road, with dugouts down the left-hand side and trees down the right-hand side separating it from the primary school next door. For a big game like this, some of the school’s facilities were put to good use.
The game kick-off in wind and rain and I stood opposite the dugouts with a couple of other travellers. Barely 110 seconds had elapsed before the referee was forced to make his first decision, admittedly an easy one, to award a penalty. It was converted and the same team scored again in the 8th minute.
But some of us were confused, including me.
I thought home side were in yellow, away team in stripes. Why would the away team be wearing colours that matched the corner flags? I made my way around to the dugouts – goal celebrations confirmed it was indeed the home side banging in the early goals.
So to put the record straight. Rhosgoch got the game underway attacking the road end in the first half. Trefor Lloyd was brought down by Talgarth keeper Brian Kirkham in the second minute and Liam Jones converted the resulting penalty. The in the 8th minute, Trefor Lloyd was put clear and coolly slotted home with just Kirkham to beat.
The third goal came 10 minutes later when Josh Watson smashed home a right-foot shot from fully 30-yards out. Watson made it four in the 28th minute, scrambling the ball home from Jones’s cross.
And the goals kept on coming for Rhosgoch. Trefor Lloyd (32nd minute) fired home the fifth at close range after his initial shot was fumbled by the luckless Kirkham. The sixth goal (40th minute) came from Jones’s cross which Andrew Lloyd headed home at the near post. And there was time before the interval for Jones to convert Trefor Lloyd’s pass as heavy rain fell again.
Half-time 7-0 to Rhosgoch.
Rhosgoch carried on where they had left off and added their eighth goal six minutes after the restart. Kirkham parried Jones’s free-kick and Andrew Lloyd slotted home the rebound. And, amazingly, it was 9-0 in the 55th minute. Sam Lloyd did well on the left to get into the area and Geraint Lloyd fired home from 8 yards out.
How long would it be before the tenth goal came? Well, Talgarth mounted a rally and Andrew Latham forced keeper Adndrew Latham to produce a diving save. Austin Mellor saw also saw a shot blocked on the line amid appeals for handball. The visitors actually had 10 corners during the second half and failed to convert one of them.
Apparently there was someone in the crowd who had never seen a team win precisely 9-0 but he ended up being ‘disappointed’ when Rhosgoch scored their tenth goal with the last kick of the game. Kirkham, still wearing his Petr Cech style skull cap, rushed off his line out to the right, failed to claim the ball which Andrew Lloyd slotted into an empty net.
Final score 10-0 and the first time a team had reached double figures during a hop game.
Rhosgoch Rangers (red and black stripes / black / black): 1. Andrew Kettle, 2. Chris Price, 3. Paul Morgan, 4. Sam Lloyd (capt), 5. Phil Davies, 6. Matthew Lloyd, 7. Liam Jones, 8. Andrew Lloyd, 9. Trefor Lloyd, 17. Geraint Lloyd, 11. Josh Watson. Subs: 12. Paul Williams (for Matthew Lloyd, 20), 14. Adam Jones (for Watson, 59), 15. Simon Guinane (not used), 16. Bradley Coles-Perkins (for Jones, 59).
Talgarth Town (yellow/black/black): 1. Brian Kirkham, 2. Paul Julian, 3. Ben Rees, 4. Jamie Smith, 5. Andrew Latham (capt), 6. Hal Fraser, 7. Scott Pavey, 8. Kevin Lloyd, 9. Rob McNamara, 17. Gavin Perry, 11. Tom Pavey. Subs: 12. Scott Powell (for Fraser, 38), 14, Austin Mellor (for Rees, 74), 15. Dan Bowen (for Perry, 69), 16. Joel Wheal (not used).
Referee: Dave Bywater (Presteigne).
Assistants: Steve Fisher (Llandrindod Wells) and Jack Watkins (Presteigne).
Goals
1-0 Liam Jones (3 pen)
2-0 Trefor Lloyd (8)
3-0 Josh Watson (18)
4-0 Josh Watson (27)
5-0 Trefor Lloyd (32)
6-0 Andrew Lloyd (40)
7-0 Liam Jones (45)
8-0 Andrew Lloyd (51)
9-0 Geraint Lloyd (55)
10-0 Andrew Lloyd (90)
Cards:
Rhosgoch: Sam Lloyd (YC, 24), Chris Price (YC, 66)
Talgarth: Kevin Lloyd (YC, 24), Andrew Latham (YC, 36), Gavin Perry (YC, 47)
Monday 30th August 2010
