West Wales Premier League Tier 5 Play Off
Saturday 30th May 2026
Kick Off 14.00 Actual14.08
Waunarlwydd Galaxy 2 Glynneath Town 0, attendance 488 (official)
72’ 1-0
89’ 2-0
@ Waunarlwydd Park
Roselands Road
Waunarlwydd
SA5 4ST
No Admission
£3 Programme, 8 pages, including raffle ticket.
This was the final game of the three way play off, to determine which two teams from the three feeder leagues into the West Wales Premier League would make the step up to Tier 4 next season. Pontlliw (Carmarthenshire League) had already guaranteed their place, despite having lost the opening game 0-2 at home to Waunarlwydd (Swansea Senior League) on Tuesday, by then travelling to Glynneath (Neath & District League) on Thursday, where despite trailing 1-0 at halftime, unbelievably hit six second half goals to gain a 1-6 win. At least it made things simple. Nothing short of a win by at least a four goal margin would be enough for Glynneath. Any other result would be enough for Waunarlwydd to take the second promotion place.
I’d arrived early, helped by a trouble free M25 and M4 heading west to Waunarlwydd, just south of the M4, roughly midway between Swansea and Llanelli. The ground is off Roselands Road, with the pitch beyond that of the rugby club. There’s just a portacabin for changing rooms, with the pitch beyond that, running lengthways away from here, parallel to the railway line. It’s fully railed, with a pair of dugouts on the left hand touchline and has overgrown grass banking running the full length of the far side, which gave the best vantage point. A barbecue was set up at the entrance and a programme had been produced too, with the £3 price including a raffle ticket, but no idea if it was drawn or not. It was free admission otherwise.
The game never hit any great heights, but was a decent watch for the large crowd. The Cymru App gives an attendance of 488, whilst a headcount at the game came up with 140 fewer than that. The photos of the game suggest even the lower figure was generous! It was a very cagey first half and came as little surprise that it was still goalless at halftime. Once the visitors had a man sent off, it was game over, at least as far as their very slim chance of promotion went. It still took Waunarlwydd until eighteen minutes from time to finally break the deadlock, when a through ball split the defence and the striker finished with a shot that went in via the underside of the crossbar. The second goal arrived in the dying minutes, when a shot from just inside the box went in off the far post. I’d seen Glynneath twice this season before today and they were excellent both times. Hopefully they’ll be challenging again next season.
I’d had a trouble free drive in both directions. An excellent day out was rounded off superbly by arriving home in time to see Arsenal fail yet again to lift Europe’s top prize. A real result for football, as without the PGMOL to influence the outcome, it was deservedly won by the better team, rather than by a group of set piece merchants.
