Swansea Senior League
Maes-y-Gollen Cup 3rd Round
Saturday 22nd February 2025
Kick Off 12.00 Actual 12.09
Rosehill Community 7 Sandfields 4, attendance 33
14’ 0-1
16’ 1-1
21’ 2-1
36’ 3-1
47’ 4-1
52’ 5-1
63’ 5-2
72’ 6-2
75’ 6-3 (pen)
78’ 6-4
82’ 7-4
@ The Ganges Field
Pentyla Road
Cockett
SA2 0YN
No Admission or Programme.
Having stayed overnight following the game at Rockspur last night, I decided to take in one of the noon kick offs in the Swansea Senior League. My original choice was at Penllergaer, but by 11.05, no one had arrived (it subsequently appeared as postponed on the Cymru App at 1 o’clock!) so I made the seventeen minute drive south towards Swansea, arriving at The Ganges Field, pleased to see players arriving and that the game was going ahead. Well, that’s what I thought. Unbeknown to me, there was no referee, despite one being assigned according to the app, but the game was actually reffed by a ‘home official’. According to one of the away team substitutes, this is perfectly normal for this league and he commented “we haven’t had a proper ref for about 8 weeks now”!
The ground is a ‘pitch in a large field’, very undulating and sloping towards one side. There is a small area for parking just inside the gate leading off Pentyla Road, but almost everyone parked roadside, whilst a couple of metal containers acted as changing rooms. This was a cup game, between two teams from Division 2, the lowest of the three tiers that make up the league. What it lacked in skill, it certainly made up for it with entertainment. It was the sort of game that looked like every attack would end with a goal. Neither defence were good, but that didn’t really matter, because the attacking players wasted chance after chance.
The visitors took the lead with a 35 yarder that sailed over the ‘keeper and it set the tone for what was to come. Rosehill equalised within minutes, quickly followed by a second goal and by halftime they’d made it 3-1. Halftime was just five minutes, with everyone staying out on the pitch and within two minutes of the restart it was 4-1, scored with a superb bicycle kick and five minutes later a 25 yarder saw their lead increase to 5-1. Sandfields did pull one back, but a header from a corner soon made it 6-2. A penalty, then a corner from the right, scrambled in at the far post, unbelievably saw the visitors pull it back to 6-4 and a comeback looked on the cards, but Rosehill put the game beyond doubt when they added a seventh goal with eight minutes left, courtesy of a volley from the edge of the 18 yard box.
So, despite not getting to my first choice game, this was certainly a great backup and for anyone thinking of coming along to a Rosehill game in the future, I’d recommend bringing along an abacus!
