Goytre Toity

Goytre United v Taffs Well

Port Talbot Town v Airbus UK Broughton

A frosty morning at the Paris of North East Wiltshire and the first HST South Wales bound. A couple of appointments in Cardiff, then early kick offs in the Wfl cup, and late kick offs in the Welsh Prem, meant a full day.

Rolling into Cardiff.

First stop was the National Museum. This is an excellent place, and many a lunch hour was whiled away here when I was working in Cardiff. Today, I forwent another exhibition on destructive art, the last dinosaur, and a collection of telescopes.

My choice was an exhibition about William Smith, the ‘Father of English Geology’. Smith was a blacksmiths son from Oxfordshire who through his love of fossils, discovered that the earths minerals were layered in a particular order, and it was possible to predict the deposits and order by the types of fossils found.

I walked the Somerset Coal Canal a couple of years ago and became interested in Smith then as it was whilst working on the canal’s construction, that he pioneered a lot of his work. He compiled a map of the uk, showing where mineral deposits were, and this available information gave Britain ready access to the resources that then drove the industrial revolution.

However, he never made much money from his and was declared a bankrupt until receiving official recognition in his latter days. His last duty was to source the stone that the houses of parliament were built from.

Next up was the quarterly meeting of the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society (Bristol Channel Branch). Obviously you need to take the edge off such an event so it was a quick Maxim - Maximus at the Queens Vaults.

Across the road the Millenium Stadium is no more as they were removing the signage as the sponsorship with the millennium committee has ended and it is becoming the Principality Stadium.

After general chat there was then an update on Waverley and Kingswear Castle, the last two operational paddle steamers in the uk and owned by the PSPS; . Later there was lunch and a presentation on Dean Forest Railway, but I opted out.

Instead it was off to Wally’s for some Billtong.....

....and Madame Fromage (which sounds like my sort of bordel)for cheese....

....and the indoor market for rolls. This used to be the womens prison but it probably wasn't big enough so now it is a market.

Finally to Keith the Fish, who although sounding like someone from the Hatton Garden heist, actually supplies giant crab claws.

I haven't been drinking in Cardiff for a couple of years so it was a quick scoot round the guide pubs in town. Firstly the newly listed and excellent Gravity Station for a Waen - Mousse Warning.

Next the Rummer Tavern for a Arundel - Pickled Mouse. (library shot as I forgot to take one).

The City Tavern and Urban Tap House are right next to each other and the former was a RCH - Hewish Sunrise and the latter a Black Jack - Beginners Luck.

Onto Zero Degrees. Normally I steer well clear of lager brew pubs but they were showing the cricket so I had a pale ale and five wickets.

Back to the station and onwards west. Football grounds visible from railway; City of Cardiff Stadium....

....Brewery Field (though I think Bridgend Town have merged with Bryntirion and departed the ground?)

Substance for the day. Billtong, rasperies, Saddleworth - Smelly Ha'peth, Cahill - Irish porter, Brie De Meaux.

Into Port Talbot and I have long thought these houses had the worst view in Britain, straight at the steel works, however.....

....they have now also had a dual carriageway built through their front gardens.

At the station itself….

….and a whilst everyone was off for the replacement bus to Neath and Swansea.....

....I was over the road for the 66 bus on the short move to Goytre.

Goytre is a small village a few hundred yards out of Port Talbiot, but it’s location in a wooded valley means it is like another world. There was previous mining activity but this has long since gone. The bus goes right through it before terminating at a massive cemetery.

The cemetery separates the village from the football club which was spied through the trees in the valley.

Goytre United 1 v Taffs Well 1, (Taffs Wells win 2-4 on penalties) Welsh Football League, Nathaniel Car Sales Cup, Round 3

Goytre played in local Port Talbot leagues until the early eighties, when the opening of the social club funded promotion to the South Wales Amateur, and then, after building a stand, to the Welsh Football league in the 1980s. They have won the league three times this century but their ground has prevented promotion to the Welsh Premier League.

Taff’s Well is situated up the Rhondda Cynon Taf valley from Cardiff. The team have been rocking around the WfL since the 1970s, and are current holders of the cup.
Both teams are in Division 1, being 7th and 5th though Goytre do have 7 games in hand!

The ground itself is an absolute delight, nestling in a lovely wooded valley.

Down one side is a narrow stand.

The other three sides are hard standing but with a high fence down one side as there is a raging river the other side. Some slightly out of character signage has been added to the fence.

This side also showed signs of where the dugouts have been moved to the other touch line.

Power lines cross one of the goal mouths.

I did a complete circuit of the ground and couldn't find any rusting agricultural equipment or detritus, so went exploring. I found this behind one of the goals.

However I was punished for my insouciance as the second I walked through the gateway, the home team scored, very much against the run of play.

This is the most tantalising find for agricultural equipment. Couldn’t find the actual mole trap.

Nearing half time, and I couldn't refuse this offer.

The bar itself was situated in a strange complex of buildings just outside the ground.

The beer choice wasn't great but the choice of bar snacks was amazing, eventually settling on a ploughmans and a Guiness.

Heading back into the ground, firstly the rather loose description of artisan meats in the Ffrwd Wylt valley.

Then the stand had a rather eastern bloc heritage,

The changing rooms were a separate block.....

....but did sport one of the holy grails of non-league, club crests immortalised in stained glass windows.

Second half was spent in the stand, gaining wisdom from the dugouts (just shouting "don't let them cross it" every time the ball went remotely in their own half.

It was all Taffs Well in the second half. There weren't many clear opportunities but with about ten minutes to go, a very soft penalty was given, which was duly scored.

The ref didn’t then give an absolutely certain penalty to Taffs in the final seconds, so it was on to extra time, and then penalties.

After a few successful kicks.....

The home side had one saved and this miss saw the away side triumph.

Despite the extra time and penalties, there was still almost an hour to get to Port Talbot Town for their 1730 kick off. A pleasant walk up the valley led to a less pleasant walk across town....

….some challenge for the gen-italia graffiti crown…

….until the floodlights were spotted as I crossed the new bypass, which actually goes right through the town.

Approaching the ground, there was some excellent graffiti on display.

Port Talbot Town 2 v Airbus UK 2, Broughton, Dafabet Welsh Premier League

Port Talbot Town have been around for most of last century, nearly always at the second level of the near national setup. This meant they were often the second club to Afan Lido in the town. In 2001 they finally made it to the Welsh Premier, and have stayed there since, the highlight being a UEFA cup campaign.

Airbus UK Broughton played for 50 years in the Wrexham Leagues, before promotion to the Cymru Alliance in 2000 and the Welsh Premier four years later. They are managed by ex-lower league journeyman striker Andy Preece. Some great facts about them:-
1. Their nickname is ‘the wingmakers’
2. In UEFA competitions they are called AUK Broughton due to sponsorship regulations
3. They have retractable floodlights because the ground is at the end of a runway.
This game was 10th v 4th, and the last before the league splits in two.

The ground itself was a bit of a let-down. This is a UEFA graded ground but was a wide expanse....

....with stands down both sides.

This one built in 2006 to get the UEFA accreditation.

There were the cheapest looking dugouts I have ever seen.

A bit more artwork cheered the place up.

A large section of the smallish crowd were the Port Talbot Ultras, who made a fair amount of noise throughout the game.

Airbus took the lead after about ten minutes.

I then took a photo of the strange number font on the Port Talbot shirts (this is a 7)…

….however, from this corner, the keeper punched the ball into his own net to make it 1-1

Preece had already been giving the keeper hell about his kicking, so when this happened he was raging. "Get your head together, and catch everything, you useless cunt" were his instructions, said without any affection. However, before this could be put in place, half the floodlights on one side went out.

The ultras, sensing the game as turning, tried to help out by moving to that end and shining torch apps onto the pitch, but the ref wasn't having it.

After a short time, all the floodlights on that side went out…..

....closely followed by all the lights in the stadium....

....only the glow of the blast furnaces providing any illumination.

Eventually the lights flickered back into life, the players came out and we were back on. Airbus missed a penalty just before half time.

In the second half, the game really livened up. Firstly there was an almighty fracas which saw an Airbus player get sent off.
It then kicked off between the Airbus bench and some of the Port Talbot supporters. Preece hadn’t endeared himself to the home support with his attack on his own keeper. The Ultras had been giving him stick, which he was biting on, and then giving a load back. By midway through the second half it seemed this was all Preece was doing, which led to a slightly pathetic stand-off between the two sides which the Ref and stewards had to come and sort out.
Back to the game and another sending off, this time a home player for a professional foul. However, no more goals until the 90th minute when Airbus got a deflected goal.
By now all the home fans were baying for blood, and about 10 minutes into injury time, Port Talbot scrambled a goal with the very last kick. This started wild celebrations amongst the home fans, players and bench, whilst the Airbus bench went hunting down the officials.

And so I headed back to the station for the last train of the day back to Swindon, and ironically, the floodlights were still burning bright, long after the game had finished.