West Wales Premier League

Friday 20th September 2024

Kick Off 19.00 Actual 18.59!

Seaside 0 Garden Village 1, attendance 209

54’ 0-1

@ Pen Rhos 3G Pitch

Copperworks Road

Llanelli

SA15 2NG

£3 Admission

£2 Programme available, but I won’t buy one at any event organised by Groundhop U.K.

I’d visited Seaside at their Crown Park ground back in February 2009, when, as a Carmarthenshire League team, they had beaten then League of Wales side Haverfordwest County 6-3 in a West Wales F.A. Senior Cup 2nd Round match. These days they are using the new 3G caged facility at Pen Rhos, behind Pen Rhos School, on the site of the old copper works. It’s just the standard set up, with spectator access along three quarters of one side. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but tonight it was hosting the first game of this year’s ‘West Wales Hop’, so the crowd was five or six times their normal turnout and it just wasn’t capable of handling these sort of numbers (anything above fifty is pushing it!). The ground here is as bad as it gets and it is appalling to think this is allowed to host level 4 football. There aren’t even any changing rooms or toilets! Players and officials had to change at Crown Park and then walk the 300- 400 yards through the houses to the pitch, but at least it meant we had a short halftime, as everyone stayed out on the pitch! Despite being an organised hop, there was no effort whatsoever to cater for those watching. Not even a mobile caterer. There was food and drink back at Crown Park, but hardly ideal if you fancy a cuppa during the game!

Viewing was dreadful for the majority present, especially during a brief spell of rain (cue the umbrellas). It certainly detracted from the game and was hard to really get into it. It was 11th versus 13th in the league table and the two sides were evenly matched. The only goal came nine minutes into the second half, when a corner on the right was headed back across the six yard box and met with a second header that diverted it back into the far corner. Seaside nearly levelled in stoppage time, but a diagonal free kick into the box was headed against the post.