Saturday 10th March 2012 ko 4.15 pm

Ceredigion League Division One

NEW QUAY 1 (Harvey 41) Thompson sent off 88 (dangerous play)

MAESGLAS 2 (Howell 38 R Evans 88) Morgan sent off 90 (violent conduct)

Att 276

Entry & Programme-Hop Ticket

Badge £3

3 bottles of Pen-Lon beer at £3 each

Curry and Chips £3

Not having to worry PRICELESS!!!!

The last game saw us head south once again to the pretty fishing village of New Quay (not to be confused with the Cornish town of Newquay!) Once again, in footballing terms this was another step down in status, and once again it felt like a step up!

New Quay uses its connection with the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas to encourage tourists. And yes, “Under Milk Wood” is based on the village. It should also be noted that Thomas’ name for the village is Llareggub, or Bugger all backwards, indicating that Thomas found the place boring!

Clearly, he never visited Parc Arthur, for it’s a superb venue. A scarce piece of flat land, a remnant of slate mining, there’s just enough room for a modern changing room block and a narrow pitch. The club put on a superb show for the visiting throng, with beer from the local Pen-Lon brewery proving popular, together with cakes, curry and chilli-con-carne. They did a roaring trade.

In fact so good was the club’s organisation that all Chris and I needed to do was carry out the crowd count, and enjoy the game.

And what a good game it was, in terms of both skill and excitement. An absent hopper had commented that watching football at this level was scraping the barrel somewhat. He could not have been more wrong as second hosted top, with New Quay defending an unbeaten record.  A quite wonderful cross from Peter Almond gave Llifon Howell the simplest of tasks to open the scoring, but New Quay were soon level, Charles Harvey beating the keeper to the ball to head home.

There was no let up in the second half, with both sides missing plenty of chances, but with the game heading for a fair draw, Maesglas broke free and Jamie Thompson did what he had to do. A late crunching foul took the player out, and he collected his red card without complaint. His sacrifice was totally in vain as Richard Evans’ free kick, taken just inside the half way line, sailed over the unprepared keeper’s head to win the game for the visitors.

In injury time Maesglas were themselves reduced to 10 men when Chris Morgan collected a straight red for a poorly aimed punch on his marker. That didn’t detract from a marvelous game at a picturesque venue, a fitting end to a hugely enjoyable hop.

Except for those of us on the coach that is. With time tight for us to make the last train out of Port Talbot Parkway, we were treated to a masterclass in driving from Keith Regan of Castell Coaches. We made it with a clear 30 minutes to spare, and if you’re thinking that he achieved this by speeding think again, he didn’t and the coach is speed-limited in any case. Just skill, and knowledge of the roads in these parts. It was appreciated by all there, and in fact the only way we knew he was pulling something out of the hat for us? He was quiet for the only time for the entire hop!