I turn up and Blaenrhondda FC lose their first league game in over a year!

With the title I’ve given this piece in mind, I should point out that Blaenrhondda FC were also beaten 2-0 in the FAW Trophy on Saturday by a Penrhiwceiber Con Athletic FC side they had thrashed 6-1 at home four days earlier, so I think I’ve got an alibi of sorts against any Jonah accusations!

Last night, however Blaenrhondda lost the leadership of the First Division of the South Wales Alliance League to a FC Cwmaman side that deserved the points in my opinion, even if their margin of victory did flatter them somewhat.

I didn’t know quite what to expect from the match beforehand, but I enjoyed it, because it was played between two sides who were both out to win the game and the quality was pretty good with both teams trying to get the ball down and play a bit more than I thought they would.

I’d say Cwmaman were the more mobile and quicker team, but you could see glimpses of why Blaenrhondda had scored thirteen times in their first two league games, because, although I felt the visitors were controlling things for quite long periods of the game, it was only when you stopped and thought about how many times the Cwmaman defence was put under real pressure that you realised that most of the goalmouth action probably occured at the end the team from just outside Aberdare were defending.

Cwmaman were helped by an effective pressing game which, not only, quite often won them the ball high up the pitch, but also resulted in the home team’s front three being pretty isolated and I thought it was significant that Blaenrhondda threatened most in the first half in particular when they were able to get more bodies forward for free kicks and corners.

The feeling that Cwmaman were shading the early stages was given substance when they took the lead with a goal which would be described as a beauty no matter what level it was scored at, as visiting number ten James Thornton fired into the top of the net from distance – being at the opposite end of the pitch it was hard to get a good idea of how far out he was, but I reckon it could well have been thirty yards.

About a quarter of an hour later, Cwmaman were two up as the home side were caught out by a quickly taken short corner and they never recovered as the ball flew around close to their goal until it was nudged in from close range by Nathan Wills.

If the first goal was one that you just have to accept was something special, the second one was definitely preventable and I thought Blaenrhondda may well have been on for a thrashing after that. They responded well to going two down though and were unfortunate  not to at least halve the deficit before half time  as the Cwmaman goal had something of a charmed life in one scramble and there were some good saves from their keeper to go alongside an earlier header from the home number eleven which came back off the post.

So, at 2-0 down, the match was certainly not all over and Blaenrhondda must have come out for the second half with hopes of still getting something out of the match. No matter what level you’re talking about, the line “score an early goal and were right back in it” will have been heard in dressing rooms the length and breadth of the country under such circumstances and, sadly, there are plenty who do the same as Blaenrhondda did – concede a really sloppy goal within a couple of minutes of the restart!

It all went wrong for the home side when the ball went into touch about twenty yards from their goal and a long(ish) throw in was attempted to an isolated centreback. It looked a very risky manoeuvre which, hardly surprisingly, ended badly as impressive visiting centre forward John Phillips intercepted, cut inside the intended recipient and easily fired past the keeper from about fifteen yards out.

To their credit, Blaenrhondda responded almost immediately as Huw Bowtell converted a fine cross from the left, but, surprisingly, that proved to be the end of the scoring. Cwmamam had their opportunities on the break to extend their lead, but could never quite take them, while Blaenrhhodda were left to curse their luck as the visitors survived one or two more frantic goalmouth scrambles and also because they had come up against a goalkeeper who had a very good evening.

So a disappointing outcome, but Blaenrhondda Park is still a lovely place to watch a game of football in and I enjoyed the occasional reminders that what I was watching was a million miles away from the money and resources rich Premier League football that I had been looking at on Saturday.

For example, as Cwmaman’s first goal was winging it’s way into the net, I noticed a linesman’s flag raised out of the corner of my eye and thought “what on earth can be wrong with that?”. However, I had forgotten I was watching the kind of game that does not really have linesmen as such, they have supporters of either side on opposite touchlines with the flags who only tend to make decisions on whose throw in it is – offside decisions tend to get left to the ref to decide.

Therefore, the reason for that raised flag had nothing to do with any offence the person holding it may have seen, it was all about him, as a Cwmaman fan, celebrating the goal he knew his team were about to score – the same thing happened for the second Cwmaman goal as well!

Finally, I recently came across a great site, which, unfortunately I cannot find at the moment, which consisted of reports on visits to all sorts of non league grounds in Wales that the writer had made. His entry for his trip to Blaenrhondda Park about six years ago I believe, put the crowd for the game he saw at “approximately twenty”. Well, there was a lot more than that there last night – four or five times as many I’d say.