Ardal League North West
Saturday 14th August 2021
Kick Off 14.30 Actual 14.33
St. Asaph City 2 Blaenau Ffestiniog Amateurs 2, attendance 27
53’ 0-1
61’ 1-1
90’ 1-2
90’ + 2, 2-2
@ Roe Plas
off High Street
St. Asaph
LL17 0RF
No Admission
£1 Programme, 16 pages.
The chance of a double in North Wales was too good to miss, that is, if you are interested in football, rather than just programmes. The fact that there would be no programme at the evening game meant I was making the near ten hour return trip on my own, so I started the day at a ground most others had already visited, as it was part of a ground hop some years back, rather than visit a ground that others still needed.
The ground is developing nicely. It is fully railed and has hard standing along one side and behind the goal at the entrance end. A brand new seated stand was opened at the last home match, but they charge £3 (you get your programme free) to sit in it, so only three people made use of it, despite it raining for the majority of the first half. It seems odd to charge, when a pathetic crowd of just 27 were here for a game in Tier 3 of the Welsh pyramid.
When I arrived an hour before kick off, I saw two people run to a car and drive off hurriedly. Apparently, one of the Blaenau players had forgotten his boots, so they were heading into Rhyl to buy a new pair, making it back just minutes before kick off. It was a good job they did, as they only had a 12 man squad today.
The match was fourth bottom versus second bottom, with both teams feeling this was a winnable game. They created plenty of chances and it was a surprise that it was still goalless at halftime. Blaenau broke the deadlock early in the second half, a free kick that hit the wall was driven back into the bottom corner, giving the ‘keeper no chance. Having already used their substitute, the visitors were down to ten men on the hour mark, when a player had to leave the pitch for a brief spell due to injury and within a minute St. Asaph levelled it up at 1-1. Both sides went for the win and as we hit the 90 minute mark Blaenau looked to have scored the winner, with a deflected free kick, but two minutes into stoppage time St. Asaph netted a deserved equaliser.
This now leaves me with just Llanuwchllyn and Saltney Town left to visit in order to complete the top three tiers in Wales.
