Monday 26th August 2013 ko 14.30

Welsh Alliance Division One

LLANDYRNOG UNITED 1 (J Davies 4)

PWLLHELI 1 (M Williams 40)

Att 232

Entry £4

Programme £1

Its only about 3 miles from Central Park to Cae Nant but in terms of the feel of the place, it felt a lot more. From the urbane Denbigh, Llandyrnog seemed….well asleep! The coaches and cars drove through the deserted village to what seemed the only place alive, the football ground Cae Nant! As we sorted out somewhere for the coaches to park, the club had earmarked the local Creamery, but that was too far from the ground, many hoppers had found the local pub The Golden Lion, and convinced the landlord it would be profitable for him to open. From what I’ve learned he made a fair bob, and we’re glad as organisers to have helped the local economy!

I was a little nervous about the fixture, as Pwllheli had looked a troubled club when we’d seen them a lifetime ago, two days earlier at Llanfairpwll so I was quietly pleased when a Llandyrnog official strolled up to me and whispered that the visitors had arrived. I bought a Llandyrnog-branded cup-cake and used it as afters to my burger. I’d had the burger against my better judgement, as an organiser if you give clubs a completely blank page catering-wise, you’ll get 11 clubs selling burgers on a hop. That’s neither healthy, or in the final analysis profitable, although this offering was excellent. The point is many bought the cup cakes because they were different, and that’s where the clubs can benefit.

Cae Nant reminded me of St Dogmaels, where those who were prepared to hop outside of their comfort zone were rewarded my one of the most memorable events I’ve been involved in. http://wp.me/p1PehW-1wn

It’s true that the pitch doesn’t undulate quite as much as the Ceredigion Leaguers one does, but the slope is marked, and there’s enough quirks to make Llandyrnog one of those ground somewhere you just have to explore. Whether its the Cage main stand, or the bus shelter, with its astroturf base there was plenty for the now extremely tired hoppers to like.

What became clear was that the Pwllheli of Saturday were not the Pwllheli of Monday, both in terms of the personnel, just 6 started both games, but also in terms of their attitude and application. Once again, they conceded early, but this time they dug deep and found an equaliser through Meical Williams just before half-time. It wasn’t the easiest game to watch, and my fatigue was obvious, but that first point of the season for Pwllheli meant the world to them. Despite Llandyrnog’s disappointment at conceding that point, I found it hard to begrudge a point to a club that helped us out at Llanfairpwll when Llangefni pulled out of the league. You can assume that Pwllhehi will be very much in our thoughts when we put together next year’s hop.

It had though, got to a point where I spotted hoppers assuming the clubs would get their hosting of a groundhop game right. As I shuffled back to the coach, I could think of no better tribute to the host clubs on this hop. We weren’t to be disappointed at the last game either!