Croesyceiliog 21 Tredegar 37
15 April 2006
Despite a much improved performance Croesy have slipped closer to the relegation zone after this defeat and with only three games remaining desperately need to pick up a couple of wins and then hope that Rumney and Brynithel are unable to take advantage of their games in hand.
This was an incident packed game and one which any neutral supporter would have been sure to have enjoyed. Tredegar are a big, powerful and very physical side and Croesy did their best to match them with some big hitting and excellent counter attacking. The Croesy scrum was in trouble from the off, being turned over several times, but the forwards stuck to their task manfully. Tredegar took an early lead with a converted try but Croesy levelled with one from wing John Misljen converted by David Davies. Hard as Croesy battled they could not match the power of the visitors in the first 40 and they ran in 2 more tries to lead 17-7 at the break.
Following a touch-line incident Tredegar replacement Brendan O'Sullivan unwisely got involved in the fracas and was sent from the field, even before he had set foot on it; a good one for question of sport's what happened next round.
After the break Croesy came back into the game with two excellent tries to show that with ball in hands they are one of the most exciting team around. Rather than opting for a clearance kick from a penalty 5 metres from their own line the quick thinking David Davies, who was in excellent form throughout, tapped and fed the line going left. Second row Richard Gibbins was involved in the move a couple of times taking play deep into Tredegar territory before the visitors were penalised again. A second quick tap saw the ball move back to the right with centre Stuart Fitzgerald diving over in the corner. Davies put over a tremendous touch-line conversion to narrow the gap. Tredegar added a penalty to increase their lead before the unstoppable Misljen grabbed his second try with another of his typical long range efforts. He has now scored 6 tries in the last 5 games and has proved himself one of the best finishers the club has had since the heyday of Andrew Paraskeva and Lenny Woodard. It is just a pity that he went missing for a large part of the season otherwise who knows how many tries he could have scored.
The try took Croesy into a 21-20 lead and they thoroughly deserved to be there. The forwards had steadied the scrum, the lineouts were going well and the likes of Larry Williams and Scott Copsey were tackling everything that moved. Unfortunately, Croesy had made a supreme effort to get back on terms and in the final quarter it took its toll. Lee Williams who had been having his best game for some time went off injured and his physical presence was missed as Tredegar ran in three tries to stretch away for the win.
Despite the defeat Croesy have to take a lot from this game. Every player put their hands up to be counted for this one and can be proud of their effort. But it has to be carried on into the remaining three games against Brynmawr, Rhydyfelin and Llantwit Fardre and we have to win at least two of these.