Saturday 29th August 2015 ko 16.45

Welsh Alliance Division One

TREARDDUR BAY UNITED 4 (Murphy 6 A Thomas 17 28 C Williams 47)

ST ASAPH CITY 3 (J Jones 47 86 Johns 74)

Att 304

Entry £4

Programme £1

Badge £3

From our first two games in agricultural Anglesey, the third saw a complete change of locale. We headed north-west and on to Anglesey’s smaller brother Island, Holy Island. Its best known for the port town of Holyhead, and the ferry over to Ireland, but just west of there is the holiday village of Trearddur Bay.

Its obvious why, the beach is of beautiful golden sands, and there are opportunities for scuba diving here too. What did happen is that the two ice cream vans parked at the front did far more business than their widest dreams when our two coaches arrived.

In a sense that was a shame, as I hope people left room for Bay’s absolutely delicious home-made chicken, leak and potato soup. The club’s catering was still being praised two days later when we were finishing our 11th game at Penmaenmawr! In fact the only issue the club had was where to put all their spectators!

The ground is tight, perhaps nearly as tight as Amlwch’s, but the retaining wall proved to be a handy place for hoppers on their third game of the day to sit down. The only issue I had was whether they’d paid to get in, and so whether to count them on the head count. That job was made easier by Bay being used to having to deal with the problem. They waited until the 15th minute, then sent the gateman along the line with a bucket and a bag of programmes. Those who chose not to pay rapidly moved on, and there was Chris Berezai and I to walk behind and count whoever was left!

Some of us spotted an interesting vantage point, the land in front of a vacant property’s front garden. I would imagine it was technically trespass, but with the “For Sale” signs obvious, it hurt no one to climb the footpath and get one of the most memorable views of the hop.

Not that there was any reason to take your eyes off of the action on the pitch. Bay raced into a 3 goal lead in half a hour, adding a fourth just after the break. But then newly promoted St Asaph rallied, and turned the game completely on its head. They then ran in 3 goals of their own, with them missing chances to steal what would have been, at half-time, an unlikely point.

Trearddur celebrated at the end, and as we waited for the coaches, I glanced back at the club officials and players, pleased at how well their afternoon had gone. Little did I know just how important to Chris and I that happiness was to be.