My August 2026 football round up

I decided I went to enough games in August for them to merit their own post. I saw three Cardiff Dracs games, Shrewsbury's first game of the new season, Barry maintain their table-topping winning streak, and my first Grange Albion game in a couple of years. I finished the month at a random game in Brecon. Because why not?

On the very first day of August I watched the Dracs lose 1-0 to a 97th minute goal away at Ynyshir Albions. I'd been to Ynyshir before but this time most of the pitch was parched due to the heatwaves.

The next weekend I was up on the Friday night at the multi-use pitch in Ystrad Mynach where Caerphilly Athletic play their "home" games. I've been there four times and seen three different teams at "home" plus a neutral play-off. 

There was some history on the wall on the way in. I love a good footie plaque.

A handy poster confirmed we were in the right place. All the details you need, except the date.

It's not a great place to watch football, but it's not the worst and at least the stand has some height to it.

The Dracs had a player sent off after about half an hour, defended like heroes and earned a point with a 0-0 draw that felt more like a win. It was my first 0-0 game in 370 days!

The next day I walked round to watch Grange Albion v Sully Sports. It was the first game I'd seen at Coronation Park for a couple of years. The grass was dangerously dry and players got grazed and bled if they fell over when tackled. 

This time the team I was supporting had a man advantage after a visiting player was red carded. Albion were 1-0 up soon after but couldn't add to their single goal. They even had a penalty but the kick bounced off the crossbar with a loud 'Booooiiinnnggg!!' and looped up and over the very high fence into the bus depot.

So far in August I'd been to three games and only seen two goals. I hoped my luck would change on the middle weekend when I went with my Mum on the Shrewsbury Town supporters coach to Tranmere.

It was a new ground for both of us. I quite liked the mismatched stands and old fashioned feel of the stadium. The stewards were friendly. We found a fabulous chip shop with wonderful potato scallops. The only thing that wasn't great was the result: a 2-0 defeat for Salop!

Still, I'd doubled my goal tally for the month and if I start to let the results determine my enjoyment of the football, I'm doomed, really.

Goal-wise, things picked up after that. The Dracs hit form, despite another first half sending off and beat Llanelli Town 4-2 back at Lydstep Park. A cracking win in their first ever competitive meeting with Llanelli.

There are some changes at the ground so I had to trog all the way round three sides of the pitch to get to where we miscreants prefer to stand.

It was another dry, dry pitch.

My next game also finished 4-2, with Barry Town comfortably beating Airbus UK Broughton in the Cymru Premier. It was Barry's fifth consecutive win since the start of the season and we sang 'We are top of the league' at the end of the game. Having said that, the two Airbus goals were absolute crackers and I can't see them having any problems staying up.

You get a handstamp on the way in these days.

Towards the end of the game we saw a spectacular moon, wreathed in cirrus wisps. My photo doesn't do it any justice.

And then my last game of the season surpassed even that goal tally. I had a discussion with my match-going buddy Paul (who I'd sat next to at Ynyshir, Ystrad, Tranmere, and Barry) about where we could go for a random open Saturday.

We settled on Brecon Corries - a new ground for both of us - and an Ardal Cup game against Morriston Town. I was very impressed by being served tea in a club branded mug and enjoyed a decent brew in the quality crockery 

I went for a wander to take some pics in the first half and ended up behind the goalposts for the first two goals - even though they were opposite ends of the pitch. 

Morriston were the stronger team and won 5-2. They could have scored more, but asking for more than seven goals feels greedy!

And that was the month - seven games and 23 goals, two new grounds and plenty of good football memories.

Summery season summary

I didn't go to any football matches in May, but this week I went to watch Cymru's women's team play Czechia in their final group game qualifier for the Women's World Cup. It was my final game of the season. Cymru won 3-1 to make sure I wrapped up my season on a high.

I feel like I had a good season, even though 47 matches is a few less than I've managed in recent seasons. Even with the slightly reduced number of games I completed four and a bit of the six goals I set myself for the season.

My 9 new grounds this season means I hit a new milestone of 150 football grounds. That was one of my season goals. 

My season's map of all the 27 grounds I went to has one significant outlier. 

Yep, it was my trip to Malaga. (Read my match report.) Going to a game in Spain with my friend, Jim, was another ambition for the season that I'm happy I ticked off.

Two of the other new grounds were watching Shrewsbury playing away, at Swindon and Oldham respectively. At the start of the season I listed six possible Shrewsbury away games to go to. Swindon was on the list, Oldham was not. I didn't make it to any of my other targets on the list, a mix of other commitments and crap scheduling. 

Shrewsbury had a pretty dire season, saved by a new manager bounce when Gavin Cowan came in as manager and won 5 games in a row. I didn't see any of those wins. In fact, I only saw one win in the six matches I went to.

Cardiff Draconians had a good season, finishing sixth in their first season in the second tier. Barry Town also did well, finishing third and winning the MG Cup. I couldn't go to the final because I was at a bucket list Thousand Yard Stare gig. I went to the Welsh Cup final though, and saw Caernarfon lift the trophy for the first time in their history. 

The Dracs helped me to another one of my season goals - ticking off all the grounds in the Cymru South. I managed that early in the season, with a trip to Carmarthen Town in August. My final domestic game of the season was a play off match for Poole Town - this took me up to 10 Poole Town games, which was another target for me this season.

One goal I missed was another game in Scotland. My trip up there at the end of October didn't work out football-wise, but I had the fantastic consolation of watching a rugby international at Murrayfield instead. 

I'm currently thinking up some new goals for next year during a brief break from football. (I'm boycotting the ghastly World Cup!) However, pre-season friendlies and the qualifying rounds for UEFA competitions start soon so I don't have long to wait. 

My April 2026 round-up (part 2)

This month has been so busy I've had to do two round ups. In part 1, I mentioned canvassing, litter-picking, going to a local history evening, football and loads of other stuff. I've also blogged a Book of the Month, an Album of the Month, and about my monthly Blood Bowl fixture with Bryan.

I spent the first and last weekends of April in Shropshire, celebrating my birthday at the beginning of the month by feeding rhinos at West Midlands Safari Park, and then celebrating my youngest niece's birthday with a family party on the final Saturday.

Since my interim round up post I have been in Liverpool for the Diabetes UK Professional Conference (DUKPC). 

The programme I work on had a bigger presence than ever before including involvement in some sessions. This meant I had my second bucket list moment of the month (after the rhinos).

Nine years ago, in 2017, when I was working in the NHS, I went to DUKPC as a punter with my friend Sara. It was being held in Manchester. I remember saying to her that one day we would be presenting together at the conference... and nine years later my prediction came true!

The whole conference went very well from our perspective. We had a great team of young people working with us. It was even sunny the full time we were there.

After the conference I went to Shrewsbury for the weekend. My niece's birthday party included a bouncy castle and a piñata. I took this photo of my Mum just before she delivered the killing blow that smashed the poor colourful donkey.

Everyone else had a go too. Some people were more dangerous flailing with a stick than others!

I went to Shrewsbury Town's final home game of the season in the afternoon. It closed out a nice symmetry as I was at their opening home game back in August. It's been a long old season and they looked in danger of a second successive relegation for much of it. But they were safe by the time this game came around. It finished 2-2 and Shrewsbury's equaliser was voted goal of the season a few days later!

Blue the Lion, the Shrewsbury mascot, got injured during the half time mascot race with Fleetwood's Captain Cod and had to be helped away. It's perhaps an indicator of what a poor season it's been that their mascot lost a foot race with a fish.

I got to see some bonus football watching Zac on the Sunday morning. His team were drubbed so we went to Greggs afterwards to drown our sorrows in sausage rolls.

My final game of April was Gloucester City v Poole Town in the play-off semi-final in the Southern League Premier Division South. I went with Steve. It was a great game but I'll mainly remember it for some terrace aggro that delayed the game when two scrappers fell over an advertising hoarding.

Gloucester won 3-2 after extra time. I think it was the first game I'd seen this season that went to extra time.

It was my 10th Poole Town game. I got a Futbology badge when I checked in.

And then on the last day of April I did my final station trip of the Senedd election campaign, with my friend Anna.  I have done 28 of these weekly sessions since October and I am weirdly going to miss them when the election is done.

May is going to be busy with the election and then some traveling. So next month's round up will likely be another full one.

A week in the Shire(s)

The shires in question were Shropshire and Worcestershire to be precise. It was my birthday week and with big plans to celebrate my birthday itself with rhinos, we needed to stay relatively near to where the rhinos live, just outside Kidderminster. (I've already mentioned some of what we did in my round up for March as we were away on the cusp of the month.)

We opted for a cottage rental on a working farm and horse racing stable just south of Bridgnorth. We had a couple of trips into Bridgnorth itself. It's a nice small town with some lovely little shops including Booka, a fab independent bookshop, and some historic buildings.

Bridgnorth is blessed with interesting railways. We rode on Shropshire's randomest railway (the Bridgnorth cliff railway), and also took some photos of steam engines at the Severn Valley Railway terminus as well.

Spotter spotted!

Across the county border, we went to a falconry centre in Hagley. This was exceptional value, with two flying displays included in the admission price. All the birds get to fly daily and they all seemed very well cared for. 

One of the flying displays went amusingly awry when a peregrine falcon decided to fly off leaving the presenter in the lurch. He did a good job carrying on talking to the audience while the peregrine resolutely didn't come back. 

I put some pics from the falconry centre in the March round up post. But here are some more...

I had a fun week of football, with trips to Ludlow Town and AFC Bridgnorth before a Good Friday game at Shrewsbury Town, the day after my birthday. Salop were playing Tranmere and won! The three points were a great belated birthday present.

My friend Paul had come up from Cardiff and came to sit next to me in the second half. Here we are looking suitably thrilled during the match. (Thanks to Podge and his super zoom lens from the other end of the ground!)

I also saw my friend Jim and his son, Nick, at the game. Jim is the friend I went to Malaga with back in February. I made them pose for a selfie.

After the game we had a family pizza evening at my brother's house. I even had balloons to remind me of my advancing age.

And so, after a week that went by very quickly, we departed the shire(s) and returned home to Wales.