Football's back already!

Last weekend marked the start of the new domestic football season here in Cymru with some cup games. And last night the first Ardal League games of the season were played. 

The Ardal Leagues are the third level of football in Cymru, with 64 clubs split over 4 divisions. I decided to go and watch Cardiff Draconians play AFC Llwydcoed on the opening night. 

Ready to kick off!

I had a nice surprise in the morning when my friend Tom texted me and said he was in town and could he come along, and my regular partner-in-random-matchgoing, Paul, was free as well. 

So, how entertaining was the season's first game in the Ardal League South West Division? Hugely! 

Dracs took 4 minutes to score their first goal. The scorer was Sam, whose dad, Scott, is one of my former work colleagues. Scott and I had a good chat at half time over a cup of tea and barely talked about the game.

The Dracs went two up after 9 minutes. In the second half Dracs went further ahead with a 35 yard worldie. Then things went south.

Overall I think the female ref had a good game and the three red cards she ended up flourishing don't change my opinion. She had no choice to send off a Dracs defender for a second yellow. 

But in the 12 minutes of added time she had to sort out some silly buggers who were pushing each other. That meant a couple of yellows and another red card for the Dracs. Unfortunately, it was also obvious to everyone that the smirking Llwydcoed player who was the chief miscreant had got away with causing mayhem. 

The ref then sent off a Dracs coach for being a bit vocal in his disagreement with her decisions (I think). And, because he had had been a bit vocal, she took the Dracs free kick away from them and awarded it to the opposition. A gutsy move. I admired that. 

In between the first yellow card and the injury time shenanigans, the Dracs were awarded a penalty. I told Tom and Paul that it was going over the bar. Sometimes you just know these things. And boom! It went over like a comet.  It might even have cleared the house across the street from the ground. 

A last minute acrobatic save by Dracs keeper Harry Johnson kept the Dracs's opening day (night?) sheet clean. And we couldn't complain at the lack of drama. Three goals, two red cards for players and a skyed penalty.

And a lovely sunset too!