Division 1 - Maesglas 1 v 4 St Dogmaels

A disappointing result for the Blues to say the least. The game which both sides needed to win to keep on the trail of the teams above them in the league, but to be perfectly honest neither side will be capable of winning the main event without reinforcements into their squads, the Blues have a apart from a couple of older lads have a very young side and this showed in the way the Saints dominated by using their more experienced players. With Ioan Owen and Sam Orme pulling the strings and keeper Casey Walters instructions was to knock it long, and by doing so causing problems for the young centre midfielders of Rhys Davies and Luke Jamieson who could not handle the physicality and the height advantage of Orme and Owen. This will be a learning curve for the pairing and in hindsight maybe manager Jones should have changed the pairing, but at the end of the day it’s not just down to two players, the rest of the team needed to pull together and in some respects some individuals didn't !.

Let’s not get too worked up, Saints have always been the more physical side in years gone by, and Maesglas are  the footballing side, and with just two of the regular starters from the championship winning side of just two seasons ago,  it’s all about re-building all over again. So when people say the Blues are not the team they were, then those people are right, but the Blues however on their day, can play good football against footballing sides, a physical encounter may be their downfall as was the game against Saints.

Saints game plan was too use their height advantage throughout the game and obviously this was their way of  winning the 3 points in a game which was a poor one, there were glimpses of what Maesglas can do when the ball is played on the deck but in reality there was no quality football played. The Blues inability to win the aerial  battles against the Saints cost them dearly, and even going down by 2 goals in the 1st 30 minutes, the Blues tried in vain to play good football, but this stop start affair and the constant moaning of the green brigade did not help the Blues cause, and for both sides referee Geoff Hearn did not help matters either, his dishing out of the yellow cards for trivial offences was frustrating too and not consistent with other offences which were worse, but saying that there was not one bad tackle throughout the game, which for a derby makes you think what was Mr Hearn looking for. Maesglas pulled one back before the break a well taken strike by Dai Cole, the Blues'  front runner  gave everything in which was a frustrating day for him.

In the second half the match never got going, Maesglas were on top for the first quarter and pushed for the equaliser and in doing so left gaps at the back and with one attack they were caught with a sucker punch and got punished. 3 -1 soon became 4-1 and the game petered out with both teams wanting the final whistle to come. On the day Saints deserved this local derby, and Maesglas will be licking their wounds, but Maesglas will learn from this defeat once again and start afresh next Saturday when they entertain second division outfit from Aberystwyth league Trawscoed in the Emrys Morgan Cup.