Saturday 11th March 2017 ko 16.00

Carmarthenshire League Premier Division

SEASIDE 2 (Rogers 31 66)

CARMARTHEN STARS 0 Howells sent off (dangerous play) 86

Att 175

Entry & Programme £3

As any groundhop organiser will tell you the psychology is that you look to the clubs that have the best plans. Chris Berezai and I both knew that Evans & Williams our previous hosts simply hadn’t had the time to host as either they or we would have liked, so we looked to a club with absolutely rock-solid plans, and Seaside certainly came up trumps.

Seaside is a district of Llanelli, and I hope it goes without saying as to what it’s adjacent to! The great advantage Seaside FC had over our two previous host was a spacious clubhouse. One side saw one of the best chicken curries I’ve ever eaten being sold at a quite incredible rate, and the bar side did a roaring trade as hoppers called in to check their club’s half time scores before our day’s finale.

The ground has something unusual in the Carmarthenshire League, there is covered accommodation, handy I suspect when the weather whips in from the ocean. Thankfully it stayed dry so the obvious vantage point  was the hill on the far side. It certainly offers quite a panorama!

The game surprised many, me included. We’d seen Carmarthen Stars inflict a death of a thousand passes on Ponthenri on top of the dead elephant on last year’s hop. That was a part of Stars’ promotion season, but this game in the top division was an altogether more physical affair.

The challenges flew in from both sides and the wonderfully named referee Matt Deschoolmeister struggled to keep control of the game. It seemed only a matter of time before someone was dismissed, and eventually Stars’ substitute Sion Howells saw red for a quite appalling challenge.

I suspect it made little difference to the actually result, Sion Rogers’ two goals had more or less settled the tie in Seaside’s favour. But as the coach headed back to Carmarthen and our traditional Chinese meal, I was pleased that the day had gone as well as good have been expected. Sunday of course would be another day entirely.