page revision date :
Narberth ‘net’ a great result
There was a great deal of chuckling before the Narberth AFC match against Ragged School in the West Wales Cup at Jesse Road which centred around the goal posts, stanchions and nets.
The Bluebirds have the modern portable sets of goals which are not sunk in the ground but have a stabilising bar at the back and are pinned down for matches by large metal pegs – and very good they are too. But when I arrived at the ground I could see that the goal posts nearest the changing rooms hadn’t been sited and had the back of the net facing onto the pitch - so I jokingly suggested to hard-working club secretary (and county chairman!) Colin Williams that this might be the right tactics to employ against a side that was second in the Swansea Senior League that has won the West Wales Cup several times.
We had a quiet chuckle but things went from bad to worse when some of the players placed the posts in readiness for the game, and pinned them down perfectly – only for an eagle-eyed visiting supporter to spot that the goals were in fact upside down, with the stabilising bar as the crossbar and the crossbar resting on the ground as the stabiliser. This meant that the stanchions were also resting on the ground, rather than in the top corners of the net and it required a hasty re-siting before the referee came out to inspect them. Then it was spotted that the same thing had happened at the far end and so it needed a quick gallop from a few players to turn them over so that the cross-bar was in the air, not on the ground!
Still, all’s well that ends well because the Narberth players still had enough puff to grab a superb 3-2 victory over the Swansea giants and march on in the competition – but if they get a home draw in the next round I bet the posts will be put out properly beforehand!
Bluebirds’ fans reach Aber – eventually!
Haverfordwest County SAFC played at Aberystwyth Town on Boxing Day and Eddie Bunston, Kevin Bryce and Co from the Bluebirds’ backroom boys organised a coach to take supporters to Mid Wales for a great day out, other than the result, because the Bluebirds lost 2-1.
But their start was a little out of the ordinary, after setting out bang on time, because when they were en route to Fishguard to pick up supporters from the town someone smelt petrol and so the driver decided to return to his depot to pick up another coach, which he duly did. But after some of the supporters had boarded the coach there was another hold-up because a car parked on the forecourt, where the owner was in paying for his petrol, rolled gently into the bus and although no-one was hurt it wasn’t possible to close the coach’s door!
So it was off that vehicle and on to a third coach – where Kenny Roberts was praised for his brave attempts to stop the contact between car and bus, and on to Aberystwyth without any further incidents and in plenty of time to enjoy some food, a pint and the chance to cheer the Bluebirds’ on. With so much excitement I bet chairman Rob Summons and the rest of the travellers can’t wait for the next coach trip to cheer on Derek Brazil’s boys!
Footballer shows dancing skills
If there is a dancing on ice competition on television in the near future then a footballer from the county town could well be considered after he had shown his breath-taking ability to stay on his feet during the recent cold snap.
He was quite cheerfully walking down High Street, quite oblivious to the tricky underfoot conditions, when his front foot went from underneath him and his back foot looked hot favourite to follow until a whole flurry of arms and other movements saw him move about ten feet down the slope but somehow stay on his feet as watchers on the other side of the road gasped at first but gave him an impromptu bout of applause which he gratefully acknowledged, perhaps in the sudden realisation that had he gone down he could easily have broken a collar bone, shoulder or leg, as well a nasty bang on the head.
Perhaps even funnier was the fact that I was chatting to an old hand in terms of football at the time and his comment cracked me up.
“When he plays against us I wish he would stay on his feet because you only have to breathe on him and he goes down in a heap. I’ll remind him of today when we play against him again!”
| 
