West Wales Premier League
Friday 21st February 2024
Kick Off 19.15 Actual 19.14!
Rockspur 3 St. Joseph’s (Swansea) 1, attendance 270 (official 224)
20’ 1-0
35’ 2-0
72’ 3-0
90’ + 2, 3-1
@ Penyrheol Leisure Centre, 3G Pitch
Pontardulais Road
Penyrheol
Gorseinon
SA4 4FG
£3 Admission
No Programme.
If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m a completest when it comes to finishing off leagues, I wouldn’t have bothered making the effort to venture here for a match, especially with the usual dreadful Friday traffic meaning it took almost 6 hours to get here. The ‘ground’ is as bad as it gets, especially when you consider this is the fourth level of football in Wales. It’s just a caged pitch, with no spectator area inside the fence. The only plus point here though, is due to high grass banking along one side, you can at least watch the game with the fence being a minor distraction.
The match was a top of the table clash, with leaders Rockspur coming into this 8 points clear of second placed St. Joseph’s, as well as a better goal difference, but having played three games more than their chasers. Although it wasn’t a title decider as such, it certainly felt like it, with a huge crowd (I counted 26 more than the official attendance) present and both teams going at it 100% from start to finish. Rockspur went ahead after twenty minutes, when a long throw in was flicked in from just inside the 6 yard box. Goal number two, their 100th in the league this season, came ten minutes before halftime, when another long throw was cleared from the box, but only as far as the taker, who returned it with a first time cross that was swept high into the roof of the net from 5 yards. Their third goal came eighteen minutes from time, when yet another long throw was finished with a powerful header into the bottom corner from close range. St. Joseph’s rounded off the scoring in stoppage time, poking in a through ball from the edge of the 18 yard box to pull it back to 3-1, but Rockspur were well deserved winners. They now lead the table by 11 points and look odds on to now go on and win it. If they do, they’ll be looking for a new home, as surely, even the Welsh F.A. won’t allow such a dreadful ground as this to host level 3 football, but you never know…..
