Bishop ready for the Zebras’ big rematch against rivals the Athletic
TREORCHY head coach Andrew Bishop hasn’t forgotten the ribbing he took on Twitter from some of his former Ospreys and Wales team mates the last time he took his side to Bridgend Athletic.
That was on the third weekend of the season when the home side added to the early season woes of the Zebras by making it three defeats in a row with a 13-5 triumph.
But now there is a chance of revenge following the draw for the third round of the WRU National Plate.
“I got a bit of stick from the likes of Bridgend Athletic old boys Lee Byrne and Rhys Webb after our defeat in September. I hope I can give some back to them after 8 December,” said Bishop.
“We had a difficult start to the season with those three straight defeats, but since then we’ve found our feet and haven’t lost. We’ll be a different prospect when we return to Bridgend Athletic because we are now in a much better place as a team.
“We’ve got a young side with a lot of attacking talent. Things are beginning to gel and it has been good for the side to have the skipper, Jordan Lloyd, returning to full fitness.”
Lloyd missed the early part of the season through a broken bone in his foot, but showed no ill effects as he booted the Division One East Central side into the third round with a lastgasp drop goal against Ystalyfera in the last round. The west Walians, beaten finalists two seasons ago and semifinalists last season, brought big support with them and looked to have done enough to go through.
But then the Treorchy pack worked a position for Lloyd to drop for goal and his pressure kick hit the mark – and sent Bishop and his coaching team skywards!
“We thought we were down and out, but this team is full of character and showed their fighting spirit to get back into contention at the end. Then came that drop goal to win the match,” said Bishop.
“It takes a lot of nerve to be able to do that and Jordan showed his class and experience. Cavan Slade filled in superbly well for him in the early part of the season, but it has been good to have him back.
“He’s our captain, he guides us around the field and he is able to cope in pressure situations. He got us into the next round of the Plate and now we can start thinking about the next game.”
Treorchy Youth have been to the Principality Stadium in the past two seasons in the WRU National Youth Cup final, but now the club can maybe start dreaming a little bit bigger after dumping one of the favourites in the Plate competition.
Bridgend Athletic may have got one over on them in the league, but they now find themselves one place below Treorchy. No wonder Bishop is happy with the recovery his side has made since their rocky start.
Having won the Division One East Central title in his first season as part of the coaching team at The Oval, and added the Mid District Cup last winter, now there is an even bigger prize up for grabs.