Sat 28th Feb
v Gwaelod Y Garth W4-1
Goals: Scott Davies 2, Scott Morgan 1, Matt Thomas 1
Sat 21st Feb
Llanrumney Utd (Away) won 8-0
Goals: M Thomas, S Davies, T James, S Morgan, G Morgan, N Reid (2), OWN GOAL
With the previous weeks' lambasting of Bridgend St still fresh in the mind, Cwrt-y-Vil's resolve to pick up points on the road yet again bore fruit with a comprehensive win over an organised home side by 8 goals to nil. A lovely spring afternoon greeted a sizeable crowd to Rumney Rec and indeed, they were treated to a feast of fast flowing football from a team playing with a flare and confidence rarely seen in the nation's capitol!!
On a rare occasion where the same starting line-up featured in consecutive games, the visitors passing game had the homesters under heavy pressure and after a few early misses, Scott 'The Phantom' Morgan opened the visitors account with a well taken goal. The lead was doubled when the soon to be departing Rothschild Reid rounded the keeper with ease to slot home his 6th of the season. However, the homesters rallied & but for a fine point blank save from the improving visiting custodian Tucks, the score may have been tighter coming to the break!! After another important save, Matty Thomas sprung the offside trap to put The Vil 3 up at half time.
Once again, the visitors put in an outstanding 2nd half display, probably due to the levels of fitness in the squad. Skipper James came in on the scoring act cleverly beating the keeper with a square cut. Controversy was to follow as James' header clipped the cross bar but found the net via the back of a home defender!! After much debate and endless minutes viewing of the official match video, The Cardiff & District Dubious Goals Panel finally awarded the goal to the unfortunate home side defender, stating the reason that a shot that hits the post is classed as off target with the last goal bound touch coming from the defenders left arse cheek.. Another scoring strike from the confident Reid rattled the opposition and with Gregg Morgan finally raising his head to net his first in ages, the game was all but won. A brave header by Scott Davies completed the rout, securing 3 more valuable points for the promotion chasers. All three subs were used, with Rob 'housemartins' Lankshear & the ever reliable Percy and a cameo from Sven playing their part as Fabian, Matt & Gregg wanted to come off and sit next to the lovely Laura on the nice, pink team blanket!!
With Cogan yet again dropping points and with the inactivity of league leaders Portos, Cwrt-y-Vil sit proudly on top the 1st division!! Well done to the men in white!!
Sat 14th Feb
Bridgend St. (Away) Won 12-0
Goals: James, Thomas (2) S Davies (4), P Oakey, T James, M Duffy, N Reid (2)
What a difference 2 weeks make!! The Vil, still smarting from the previous games' reverse arrived at Splott Park with intent. A fortnight of pent up frustration bursting for a release on 'The Mission', who had narrowly lost out to the visitors by the odd goal in 5 at Llandough earlier in the campaign. The home side were slightly weakened through international duty but the 10 men put up a spirited display against a Cwrt-y-Vil side who indeed would not take any prisoners!!
The Vil took the game to their hosts with fine interplay between the midfield & strikers. As early as the 10th minute, skipper Tim James, a la Scott Morgan ghosted in at the near post to notch the first of what would be a brace on the day, for the Micheal Vaughan lookalike!! In no particular order, the midfielders, (except for Gregg ) and the strikers all found themselves on the scoresheet. Even Forrest at centre back, cooly slotted home a first half penalty because Tim bottled out of it having totally messed up his previous 12 yard effort of man versus goalie!! Scotts' Morgan & Davies ensured The Vil enjoyed their half time cup of tea 4 goals to the good.
The 2nd half opened with total domination from the visitors, with 2 quick scores from Davies & Rich Nick putting the result beyond doubt. This empowered manager Wax to replace the able centre half pairing of Thorne & Forrest with Luke Boxall & Shaun Ryan, the latter returning from a stint in the Welsh League, picking up bookings for the never-present Lee Penfold!!! More goals followed, with Matty Thomas grabbing 2, the impressive Davies taking his tally on the day to 4 and an unbelievable last minute thunderbolt of a header at the far post from veteran manager Waxy, who had replaced the tiring James midway through the 2nd half.
All in all, a fine, rounded performance to get The Vil back on track. An added bonus was the demise of Cogan who were beaten 7-2 on a nearby pitch, once again opening a gap between the 2 Penarth based rivals!!
Sat 31st Jan
Cogan Coronation (Home) L 1-3
Goals: Matt Thomas
Unfortunately, details regarding this match are rather sketchy due to our Media Provider, Reuters, confusing this local derby with that of the Celtic- Rangers tie at Parkhead!!! Little Tommy Williams from Lewis Road who was playing on the swings with his mother at the time saved the day with the following:-
A keenly contested game was witnessed at Llandough, a real six-pointer where the visitors prevailed. The late withdrawal of the designated referee due to a motorbike service meant the homesters manager, Sven Rafael O'Neill stepped into the breach. Complete with whistle & earplugs the Arbitor monitored a fast, flowing game, with the Vil applying early pressure on the visitors. Only some fine goalkeeping from the visiting custodian kept a rampant home side at bay. Against the run of play, Cogan took the lead through Rodney Redface. Half time came with the score at 0-1.
The second half opened with the Home side putting Coro to the sword. After 20 minutes, the pressure was rewarded when Matty Thomas nodded in a corner in a carbon copy effort of the goal he scored in the corresponding fixture earlier in the season!! Thus followed an Intense bombardment on the away goal only for some fine goalkeeping and admittedly, good defending to keep the scores level.
Coro turned the game on its head when in the space of 4 minutes, poor defending & good finishing by Ian Spector-Gadgette & the kid with the bad attitude put paid to the Vil's plans of creating a points gap between the 2 sides. The referee played just under 12 minutes injury time in the hope of a late comeback but as hard as Cwrt-Y-Vil tried, those elusve levellers failed to materialise. All in all, the performance was a good one, but alas, no cigar for a distraught home side who didn't talk to each other for a fortnight afterwards. Apologies for the lateness of the report but little Tommy had to go home for his tea!!
17/01/2009
Clwb Cymric W 3-0
Goals: Tim James 2, Mark Thorne 1.
Glaring misses: Tim James Pen.
The Villians started the week without a fixture but ended the weekend with a satisfying 3-0 win over local foreign outfit Clwb Cymric, who according to manager, Dai Hard, were fielding their strongest team of the season.
Cwrt made a few enforced changes from the week befores comprehensive victory. Gangly striker Matt Thomas returned to the team via default (no other strikers available), Dave Grant back fresh from a stint at centre back slotted into to his more comfortable role in the middle and former Cwrt-y-vil hero Forrest filled the void at centre back accompanied by the heavily in love Mark Thorne.
Cwrt started well moving the ball slickly through the mud out to wingers and the full backs to test the opposition with some pin point crossing. It was only a matter of time until Cwrt took the lead, the Cymric goalkeeper, back in the team after his stint in the local panto Snow White, spilled the ball and Cwrt goal hanger Tim James stabbed home. It was James again, who moments later added the second as the ball cannoned off his head in the right direction andfound its way into the back of the net. Cwrt continued to press and after a few more chances, a corner was cleared weakly to the edge of the box where Mark Thorne caught his volley sweetly enough to lob the keeper who was rooted to his goal line. Had the keeper been bigger than a small infant, you have to feel that the scoreline would have not been as harsh.
The keeper was in the limelight again minutes later as he executed a perfect driving tackle on goal bound striker Thomas, which earned him a red card from the ref. Had the keeper known of Thomas's more recent goal scoring record he could have saved his blushes and let him miss. On a hatrick greying skipper Tim James stepped up to the take the penalty and preceded in producing the worst penalty in club history, with the ball actually skimming the corner flag and going out for a Clwb Cymric throw in.
The second half was slightly more muted affair, some decent efforts on goal were thwarted excellently by the welsh speaking sides replacement keeper, while Cymric won a penalty and like veteran James, missed by a country mile. Some late petulance from teenager Nicky Reid saw him pick up his first yellow of his fledgling senior career. A mistake that will cost him a £6 fine and will see him grounded for 2 weeks unable to go out and play with his friends.
3-0 final score, a solid performance from the promotion chasing Cwrt and boy what a clean sheet for Tucker, what an amazing and polite keeper he is (there we go tucks i have acknowledged it so you can stop harping on about it now). Unfortunately though, the game saw influential midfielder Dave Grant limp off with a reoccurence of his hamstring injury which saw him previously out for 7 weeks. The game also saw Fab Collier and the returning Forrest pick up knocks which could rule them out of Saturdays fixture with Deportivo Centrica.
10/01/2009
Whitchurch Blues W 8-1
Goals: Rhodri Morgan 3, Scott Davies 3, Scott Morgan, Tim James
On a frosty afternoon at the Fortress, The Villans ran in possibly there best, most comprehensive performance of the season with an 8-1 destruction of hapless Whitchurch.
The semi frozen pitch, which survived a prematch inspection, was warmed instantly with the red hot pass and move football of the home team. The youthful and exuberent strike force of Campo and Davies, tormented the Whitchurch defence with pace and trickery from kick off and it looked only a matter of time before Cwrt took the lead. It took just under ten minutes for the veteran skipper, Tim James, to pick up a loose clearence outside the box and drive low into the far bottom corner. There was concern over whether the skipper would be fit to start the match after complaining of a troublesome big toe, the same injury that hampered him during his years with Grampus 8 in the late 90's, but with the help of boots 2 sizes too big he took the field looking quite the clown.
Cwrt for the first time this season maintained their early impetus and piled on the pressure and took their chances, scoring at regular intervals. Whitchurch failed to threaten, some stout defending snuffed out anything the fat away team stikeforce could throw at them, which to be fair were only emty Macdonalds wrappers, but still, well done defence. The only downside of the 1st half was when experienced defender Peter Ingram pulled a fetlock stretching for a challenge. Unfortunately there was nothing the vets could do and he was later shot in the paddock and sent off to the glue factory for a nominal fee.
The second half started in similar emphatic fashion with Scott and Campo both completing their hattricks, a fantastic effort from both strikers taking the score to 7-0. A brief lapse in concentration saw the Blues grab a consolation but then a well taken set piece from Rob Leonard was volleyed in by Scotty Morgan who ghosted unmarked into a goal scoring position. 8-1 the final score, and an all together fine performance. Good news for Cwrt that David Grant came through his first game in 7 weeks unscathed and also that manger Sven Benitez is off to Benidorm for a couple of days, so there should be plenty of entertaining tales on his return .
That win sees the Villans sitting in 2nd place in Div 1, now taking a 6 point lead over local and promotion rivals Cogan. This should add yet more spice to the local derby scheduled for 31st January at the Fortress.
02/01/2009
The Villa W 2-0
Goals: G Morgan, S Davies
With the game in doubt due to Fortress Llandough pitch being un-fit the fixture was switched to nearby Cogan.
Cwrt welcomed back skipper Tim James following a brief spell of injury with his dodgy toe and welcomed back manager Martin Duffy after he missed the previous week due to an ice skating party he attended.
Cwrt fielded a balanced team with Boxall back at the heart of Cwrt's defence and showing all the class that we have missed in recent weeks.
An experimental centre midfield pairing was tried with Shaun Ryan partnering James in centre midfield. However Ryan showed a graceful elegance in the engine room showing some glimpses of class with through balls and breaking up of the opposition play. This pairing may be tried again by the management.
Early exchanges from 2 well matched teams was followed by the first real opening on goal, it fell for the opposition.
A mix up between the Cwrt centre halves say the opposition striker bear down on Tucker. The goalkeepers bulky frame however scared the striker into shooting wide of the post. What followed can only be classed as handbags at dawn as Tucker and burley centre half Peter 'Peggy' Ingram squared up for a sumo match over who's fault it was for the striker going through on goal.
After the pair kissed and made up Cwrt began there assault on the opposition with the youthful and busy strike force of Campo and Scott Davies terrorising the opposition defence with both forcing great saves from the oppositions keeper. With Cwrt's usual striker off shooting deer or pigeons this new strike could have only pleased manager Duffy and made it extremely difficult for the returning Thomas to force his way back in.
As Cwrt continued to press the deadlock was finally broken with Rhodri 'Campo' Morgan skipping down the left flank and firing in a low cross for his brother Gregg to smash home his momentum taking him into the net and ripping it down.
The opposition showed very little in response with an off target header being the only notable chance and a very quiet game for goalkeeper Tucker who would enjoy a clean sheet for the first time this season.
As the half drew to a close Cwrt double the lead with a cool finish by young Scott Davies. This all but killed off the opposition.
With a brisk half time team talk which saw Duffy have nothing to say due to the level of performance Cwrt re-took the field and continued to dominate missing several chances. The defence were rock solid with a man of the match display by the ever reliable Luke Boxall.
One moment of note in the second half was the woeful attempt of a penalty by Tucker. After his goal the week before Tucker felt confident once the referee had given a penalty following a handball by the defence.
Tucker saw his scuffed effort miss the target completely and trudged back to his goals un-consolable and was promptly advised that he would never take another spot kick.
This missed penalty however did not cost the team and Cwrt saw out the game for what was in the end an easy 2-0 home win. Still unbeaten at home in the league this season and Cwrt up to 2nd in the league
27/12/2008
vs St Josephs (cup) L 4-2
Goals: S Morgan, M Tucker (pen)
6 goals and 3 red cards for this festive fixture in an action packed game.
Cwrt down to a bare 11 due to injuries sustained in the Glyncoed match and fielding an unusual line up took the field against lower league opposition on a freezing cold afternoon.
After a scrappy opening with both keepers making routine saves Cwrt took the lead with a fine strike from the in form Scott Morgan.
No sooner had Cwrt taken the lead than the opposition had levelled the scores when the Joes broke straight through the patched up midfield, a through ball to the striker who had shown our aging centre halves a clean pair of heels and finished past the stranded keeper.
Cwrt continued to press and burly target man Matt Thomas was bundled over in the box with the defender escaping one of the many cards issued by the ref.
With several Cwrt players debating who would take the penalty it was left to the ever confident Tucker to bound up from his goal at the other end.
With the opposition trying to put him off with the usual insults of fatty and who ate all the pies, the emotionally hurt goalkeeper finished with all the grace of a seasoned striker. This was all the action for the 1st half.
The second half saw very little action from Cwrt but 3 well taken goals from the opposition. 2 red cards for the Joes for petulance and a red card late on for the ever reliable (for a red card that is) Shaun Ryan for trying to strangle a younger member of the opposition.
Cwrt crash out of a cup competition again and are left to concentrate on the league
20/12/2008
v Glyncoed Corries W 8-4
Following a break of almost 3 weeks due to the elements Cwrt entertained lowly Glyncoed at fortress Llandough.
With the game in doubt due to a heavy downpour both team along with the referee agreed to play. With what was to come the home team may have wished they had chosen to call the game off.
A bright start by the opposition along with some dodgy refereeing decisions (which would only worsen throughout the match), dodgy defending and a huge slice of fortune saw Cwrt 3 goals behind.
This somehow seem to galvanise a stunned Cwrt into action.
With Skipper Tim James pulling the strings in the centre of the park and mainly in the oppositions half Cwrt began to find some of the sexy football we have been known to play of late.
Scott Morgan and a brace from youthful striker Scott Davies brought the villians level at the break.
After a stern talking too from manager Martin Benitez Duffy Cwrt took the field and instantly showed improvement carving the opposition open at will.
3 more goals followed in quick succession. 2 penalties for the very attacking Tim James and an own goal which our struggling striker Matt Thomas tried to claim.
This seemed to spark a lethal destruction switch the the heads of the drugged up opposition. What followed was a barrage of late and dangerous challenges which went completely un-punished by the struggling referee.
2 more goals from Cwrt finished off the opposition, the hat trick completed by Tim and a goal from busy winger Nick Reid. A late consolation from the opposition finished the scoring. This however was not the end of the drama.
After injuring several of our players the opposition made a late substitution bring on another drugged up lunatic.
After being disposed by the youthful Reid in midfield the substitute vented his frustration by fly kicking the youngster just above the knee role leaving the Cwrt winger writhing in agony. A mid pitch brawl assumed and the ref called a halt to the game in his best decision of the match.
A festive night was then had by all.
29/11/2008
V Whitchurch Blues W 3-2
Goals: Matt Thomas, Rick Waller o.g., Shaun Ryan .
(Dubious goal panel considered Gagsy's plea to be awarded the equaliser, but decided it was going so wide before the deflection that the ball would have ended up in Tongwnlais)
On a freezing afternoon at Caedelyn, Cwrt's first half performance did little to warm the cockles of the three strong crowd as Whitchurch took a 2-0 first half lead, courtesy of two sublime finishes from the busty whitchurch striker.
A half time rollocking from Rafa galvanised Cwrt for the second half and the balance of the game began to swing towards the away side. Cwrt pulled a goal back in the 70th minute when a slick passing move resulted in handsome striker Thomas unleashing a 20 yard thunderbolt that trickled in to the bottom left corner. Cwrt were now well on top and pressing for the equaliser, which duly came 10 mins from the final whistle when the ball broke loose on the edge of the Whitchurch box and Gagsy lashed it towards the corner flag. Luckily the ball cannoned off a defender and a flew into the net. Cwrt were now really firing and in the dying minutes more pressure on the Whitchurch defence resulted in a corner. Rob Leonard swung a great ball in to the box and it was met by the evergreen defender Shaun Ryan, soaring like an eagle through the winter air to ear it, bullet like, past the home sides keeper. One of Cwrts young following Ashley James was heard to have said that 'he didnt think old people could jump that high' but well done Shaun you really proved the young man wrong. It was the veterans 2nd goal in successive games which strengthens his pleas to the manager to be considered as a striker.
The final whistle went resulting in a superb comeback from the away team. A much better 2nd half performance where the defence were rock solid and the attackers actually hit the target. Lots of positives for the team to take into next weeks encounter with Gwaelod.
22/11/2008
V Cardiff Cosmos Portos L 8-4
Attendence: 7
Tim James Injury Count: 1
A top of the table clash at Uni Fields started poorly for Cwrt as midfield maestro Dave Grant limped off early with a hamstring tweak to be replaced with soon to be maker of Cwrt history Ginge.
Portos slick passing passing proved too much for the Cwrt early on as the home team strikers opened up the Peggy/Ryan centre back pairing on numerous occassions to take a blistering 4-0 lead. With goalkeeper, manager and captain all going uniformly bananas, the Y-Vil finally burst into life. Passes started to flow and gradually chances began to open up.
A pinpoint corner from Leonard met by the head of Scottie Davies gave Cwrt their first, and it was another corner that gave them their second. War veteran Shaun Ryan picking up a loose ball on the edge of the Portos area to drive home a low shot into the bottom corner. Cwrt were now really firing and after another surge forward saw Scott Davies chopped down on the edge of the box to allow Leonard to demonstrate again his dead ball expertise, as he bent one up and over the wall in to the top left hand corner. Half time came only too swiftly stopping Cwrt in their rampant comeback tracks at 4-3.
After the break and a good telling off from Benitez, Cwrt conceded rapidly. MOM Leonard undoing some of his good 1st half work by playing a beautiful slide rule pass for the Portos striker to slot past the helpless Tucks. A further 3 unanswered goals followed as Cwrt were passed out of the game by a strong Portos midfield. A late consolation from the freshly shaven Gregg Morgan was all the away side could muster as they slumped to their second league defeat of the season.
Some brief respite and humour was brought into the game as Ginge made club history to be the first player to be subbed on and off in the same game. Rumour has it that Waxy had received a call from George Weah earlier in the week puporting that Ginge had once played international football for Liberia, and because of this the ginger was handed a place on the bench. This is the second manager to fall for such a stunt, after Graeme Souness was outfoxed in the mid 90's.
e - text, photos, videos, addons, whatever you want!