DIVISION TWO

GARW ............................. 2 LLANRUMNEY UTD ..... 1

THIS was almost the day when the perfect Garw league record came to grief, writes Tony Poole.

With iconic Blandy packed to the rafters, it seemed one of the biggest attendances in years were about to depart on a flat note.

Approaching time added on for stoppages the score was locked on 1-1, and the Garw think tank of Ryan Blanche and Jeremy Slennett were urging their charges to give it one final push.

And it came up trumps, as substitute Rhys Thomas launched a long throw of Rory Delap proportions in the Llanrumney box.

A dainty flick brought Harry Davies onto the radar and the ex-Penybont star brought the smiles back to the faces of Blanche and Slennett with as dramatic a winner as you’ll see all year.

However, when midtable Llanrumney arrived in the Garw Valley their record showed eight losses in 17 league starts.

Having recently lost 7-1 to Garw in the WJ Owen Cup, they were expected to go the same way as many others this term.

But on the day it seemed as if the Blandy boys were beginning to belief their press, and were routed to the dangerous road of just turning up and expecting to win.

A well populated grandstand groaned when Garw fluffed a 32ndminute penalty, and it was goal-less at the changeover.

The Blandy boys eventually got their noses in front on the hour – and brotherly love played its part along with Lady Luck.

A Harry Davies shot cannoned off a knee of his twin Oliver, resulting in the ball duly nestling in the net.

But the roar emanating from a boisterous Blandy gallery had hardly died down when shock set in after Llanrumney levelled.

And they had to wait until dying embers for the buoyant Blandy boys to dowse the fire of stronger challengers than anticipated.

Garw are without a league game this weekend while in the W J Owen Cup, they will play Division One Cardiff Draconians with Cefn Cribwr paired with Ynyshir Albion.