Fixture

The U13’s travelled to Llantwit Fadre with only 16 fit players and had to play a number of players in new positions.

Despite this the players that took to the field were committed and desperate to play for the badge and the Bridgend Ath name.  The first half started as a scrappy affair with both teams making plenty of mistakes and giving each other opportunities conceding penalties.  It was Tonyrefail that scored the first try after some good handling put their winger away out wide with the conversion missed.
Another tactical change, made behind the posts, proved a master stroke within a couple of minutes of the kickoff, Sam Breeze moved out wide to cover as winger. With Llantwit Fadre on the attack and looking to have spare men over, Sam read the play picking off a wide pass in the middle of the pitch and managed to out pace the defence all the way to the line. With the U13’s normal kicker out injured the subsequent conversion was missed.  The rest of the half was a mirror image of the first 10 minutes with neither side managing to stamp their authority on the game.
Half time score of 5-5.

The second half the Ath started with more purpose and carried the ball on numerous occasion into the heart of the Llantwit Fadre half and after a clever chip by Alex Tidball and a good chase by Dan Clarke a penalty was given close to the line. The Ath took a quick tap and go with Dan Honeyfield crashing the ball over from 5 meters, with the conversion missed. Score 5-10.  Llantwit Fadre got back into the game after the Ath gave away a few soft penalties and after a mix up at an Ath line out close to their own line the home team pounced and were able to pick up and dot the ball down over the line. Conversion missed meant the scores going into the last 10 minutes were 10-10.  With a few Ath players starting to hobble and with the team down to only 15 fit players it was good to see the U13’s putting the hard yards in and with a bit more composure, going through a couple more phases they could have crossed for the winning score. It wasn’t meant to be and the time ran away from both sides with the ref blowing the final whistle with scores remaining at 10-10.
It was a commendable effort from all the boys with so many changes before and during the game.