F.A. Wales Amateur Trophy
2nd Round
Saturday 30th September 2023
Kick Off 14.00 Actual 13.59
Glynneath Town 2 Afan United 5, attendance 67
7’ 0-1
14’ 0-2
19’ 1-2
29’ 1-3
36’ 2-3
47’ 2-4
79’ 2-5
@ Welfare Park
Addoldy Road
Glynneath
SA11 5DU
No Admission
£2 Programme, 16 pages.
I Hadn’t planned on coming here, but the offer of a lift swayed me, even if it meant missing out on a double elsewhere! The match pitted 5th in Neath & District League Premier Division (Step 5) versus 9th in South Wales Alliance Division 1 West (Step 6). Home to Glynneath is at Welfare Park, nothing more than a changing room building with two pitches. One for rugby, with very rusty posts and the other for football. On arrival there were just four corner flags in place, but the goals were wheeled into place and then the pitch was roped down each touchline and it actually began to feel like a ground. No admission charge, but the club did issue a limited number of match day programmes. 16 pages costing £2. Not worth bothering with really, as it was very poor, but it is their only way of taking any money, so good luck to them. All six ‘hoppers in attendance bought one, but very few locals appeared to have one.
Despite being a step below the hosts in the Welsh football pyramid, the visitors took charge early on. They were two goals up inside fifteen minutes and looked like it would be an easy afternoon for them. Glynneath pulled it back to 1-2, but Afan soon restored their two goal advantage. Another goal for Glynneath made it 2-3 nine minutes before halftime, setting up the second half perfectly, but when Afan made it 2-4 within minutes of the restart, thundering in a free kick off the underside of the crossbar, it seemed to knock the stuffing out of the hosts. Plenty of chances, at both ends, but only one more goal, which again went to the visitors, coolly lobbing over the ‘keeper from wide left of the 18 yard box with eleven minutes left.
On arrival into the town, just up the road from the ground, at the end of the high street, there was quite a crowd gathering, probably a couple of hundred. It turned out to be for the unveiling of a bronze statue for local celebrity Max Boyce, a big name in the 1970’s. He’s now 80, but was present for the occasion.
