Conwy United 2 Llandudno Junction 0
Welsh Alliance
I thought that because this was a local derby and Junction have a few die-hards it would mean that a reasonable crowd would be in attendance. I was wrong. When I first arrived at the Morfa I thought that I had been misled by the local press; I was greeted by racist graffiti but not a crowd. The turnstile operator informed me that I was about half an hour too early.
I went into the warmth of the Club house to kill time by watching the rugby. Danny McGoona, the Conwy manager and an ex-Bangor player, and complemented me on my Bangor shirt. The crowd began to file in, to judge from the new faces coming in to the bar.
With the rugby tightly poised, Ireland winning by a point, an executive decision was made. The horse racing came on to the TV. I took this as my cue to leave for the stand. As I was about to choose which piece of plastic to warm up I saw a familiar face from Ffordd Farrar, Eifion, so and I thought I'd keep him company. Unfortunately he was to busy on his mobile to engage me in conversation.
Eifion was interested in the fan's forum and all the gossip I had to impart but he didn't know that we were playing a friendly away to Telford so he couldn't furnish me with the score.
As I was concentrating more on our conversation than the game I couldn't really give you any in-depth analysis of the play. Conwy seemed a lot better and this was reflected in the 2-0 lead they had at half-time. Junction's goalie made a couple of good saves. They were even better when you consider that he was one of their coaches. The stand became relatively busier as the first half progressed. I recognised one of the young fans we'd met at the Slovakia-Wales game and he said he'd be going to Dublin. As the first half ended it also ensured a break from the wind rattling the stand's roof.
Whilst Eifion and I were chatting a familiar face walked in, Anthony Wilson, the young Bangor player. A couple of minutes later he came to talk to us. Bangor had lost 6-1 to Telford in the behind closed doors friendly. He said he'd signed second forms for Conwy so he was here checking out the place. Then Mr. McGoona informed him that : "You should have been playing today". Honestly what are phones for!
The second half was more of the same really, except that there were extra fouls. No further goals were forthcoming so I decided to leave early. I also wanted to watch Wales play England and have a few drinks in honour of Welshman St.Patrick.
As I was leaving I saw a couple more faces from the Slovakia trip. We all made plans to meet up. As we were talking a Conwy player slalomed his way through the Junction defences, he narrowly escaped 3 times before he was brought down in the area. It was clear to everyone apart from the officials. When you consider the linesman on that side used to referee Lokomotiv Llandudno's game and was short sighted the mystery is solved.
With that I made my apologies and left for Conwy town centre with plans to dress up in green Apparel some time in the following 45 minutes. I then had a wonderful evening of Irish fakery, it seems that everyone has to drink Guinness on this day. I broke this law as I feel it has the constituency of wood. I made do with Magners and a thrilling Welsh victory over the Saxons.
A local derby with little interest
