Saturday 25th August 2012 ko 7.30pm

Mid-Wales League Division 2

HAY ST MARYS 3 (K Jones 26 Goodwin 44p 49)

TALGARTH TOWN 2 (Perry 7 Brooks 87)

Att 317

Entry/Programme Hop Ticket

Badge £3

A quirk of the journey from Presteigne to Hay-on-Wye, is that you spend the vast majority of it in England, ducking back across the Wye only to enter this pretty bibliophile town. That’s right, Hay is Wales’ book town, the English and Scottish equivalents being Sedbergh and Wigtown. It is Hay though which started the practice, although there’s more to the place than just the 30 or so second hand bookshops.

There’s two castles, which as the border has moved over the centuries, have frequently changed hands. The town only really settled down when Wales was taken over by King Edward I Longshanks (the villain in the film “Braveheart”). In nearby Glasbury there was the odd case of servant Mary Morgan, who killed her infant daughter in 1805. She was taken to Presteigne, tried, convicted and hanged, but in recent years has become something of a feminist “cause celebre.”

The Forest Road Recreation Ground is set well away from the tourist area, and the changing rooms serve 3 pitches. One is for the first XI, another for the reserves, and I understand the third, and most basic is used by Mid-Wales South outfit Bronllys. The first two pitches feature quirky lorry-type stands, but one issue was the distance to the toilets given the 7 real ales that had been on sale at the previous game!

The club also realised local real ale sells, and bottles of Shropshire ale sold aplenty. The baked potatoes took time to get ready for no obvious reason, but I was pleased to see a viable vegetarian option available.

The scoreline rather flatters Talgarth, despite scoring first. Hay soon equalised and never looked back, controlling the game easily. Steve Goodwin’s brace was reward for a man-of-the-match performance and when Talgarth’s second goal arrived, through Lee Brooks it was too little, too late.

4 games in a day is always hard work, but rewarding. As organisers, it was well past 11.30 when we got back to our HQ at the Dolforwyn Hall Hotel, but a pint of Monty’s bitter has never been enjoyed so much.