Last Saturday, the 2nd annual Ystrad RFC Football match, between Ystradgynlais 1sts and Ystradgynlais Athletic took place.

With the 1st XV looking to retain the trophy, the army of players, well over the usual 11 a side, took to the astro turf. It wasn’t long before the so-called Ystrad ‘Elite’ were in front, in what seemed like an attacking 1-1-30 formation. The 1sts passing the ball around like they did all last season on the rugby pitch, the most unlikely of scorers, Ystrad’s very own Peter Crouch, Darren ‘Hurcules’ Evans striking a crisp shot into the back of the net. Athletic stand in keeper, Paul ‘Jamesy’ James could only watch as the ball hit the net.

It wasn’t long before the 1sts doubled their tally with a sweet strike from Hywel Evans, one of the more talented players on display and it looked like the Athletic would have to restore pride by keeping the score count down.

Then something in the air changed, the Athletic’s Chris Evs turned up late to roll back the years to his Penrhos Utd days, taking the gloves from Jamesy. In a matter of minutes he had already pulled off a cat like reflex save to give the Athletic hope.
The never say die attitude paid off, when Ricky ‘Monkey Boy’ Williams hit a volley into the top corner, 2-1 and the players began to believe again.
The back and forth nature of the game was great for the neutral and with half time approaching a cross into the area saw a powerful header burst the net to make it 2-2…the only problem being, that it was the head of 1st team skipper Dai Love.
With the come back complete, Turkey style ala Euro 2008, Athletic player manager Shakey could be heard rallying the troups.

The 2nd half was a lot scrappier, which was pretty difficult considering there was hardly a team of Ronaldo’s out there, more a team of Peter Kay’s ‘Av It’ style. But Hywel Evans capitalised on a poor clearance to put it past Chris Evs to make it 3-2 to the 1sts. Minutes later, referee law enforcer Craig Eds harshly awarded a penalty to the 1sts with what looked to be the final nail in the coffin for the Athletic. Chris Toms stepped up with a Ronaldo like confidence about him. You could hear a pin drop as he approached the spot, to strike a Chris Waddle effort clean over the bar.

The belief in the Athletic returned and a goal mouth scramble at both ends made for nail biting tension, however the Athletic managed to scramble one in courtesy of Nobby and the game looked destined for penalties at 3-3.

With mere moments left on the clock, all eyes were on referee, Edwards as he blew for a free kick on the edge of the 1sts area. Athletic skipper, Cellan ‘Spud’ Morgan, placed the ball with Beckham like intent. With what looked like a cross, whipped in, Nobby dropped the shoulder with a dummy, causing confusion. The ball still in mid flight from the free kick whizzed passed everyone and into the bottom corner and the team piled on skipper Morgan for what turned out to be the winner.

The game was played in great spirit and the result, 4-3 proved a worthy score line as the Athletic took home the trophy in what is now an integral part of the Ystrad RFC sporting calendar.

Pictures can be seen at http://ystradtv.blogspot.com/2008/07/ystrad-rfc-football-match.html

Report by Daniel ‘slim’ Davies!