In their away journey to Cold Bath Road to face Caerleon in the Welsh League Division One encounter, Ton Pentre were without the solid Nathan Prygodzicz in defence, after picking up an injury in the previous match. Consequently, Rhondda Bulldogs manager Kevin Richards called upon Craig Thomas to fill the void. He sat in midfield with Neil Davies dropping back into defence.

Ton were facing a team that has made a perfect start to the season with two 3-0 wins at home. This confidence was visible in the opening stages of the game, as poor defending from Ton presented the Caerleon strikeforce with a chance of being the team to open up the goalscoring. The fist ten minutes saw the Rhondda Bulldogs midfield not connecting with their forwards. Dean Morris was guilty of this after Craig Thomas's sleek play saw him pass to his team-mate, who hit a wayward ball that was collected by Fitzroy Hutchinson in the Caerleon goals.

Moments later the ball was pushed forward up the Ton Pentre wing via Ceri Harding, who crossed the ball through the air onto Carl Thomas's forehead. His effort forced Caerleon to concede a corner. The ball was looped in and Mike Jones thought he had scored two goals in two games, however, the referee ruled it out. It appeared that there might have been a push in the box.

The 22nd minute provided the home team with their best chance of the game so far. As Lee Tapper watched the ball go over his head, Caerleon's James Dean had run onto it and saw his effort cleared off the Ton Pentre line by Captain Neil Davies. Just three minutes later Tapper headed past his own 'keeper but luckily saw it go wide after Caerleon hit a miss cross into the box. Straightaway Ton Pentre were caught out again as Caerleon's James Leighton unleashed a shot that fortunately went over the cross bar. This was the result of poor distribution and slow reactions from Ton. The 37th minute saw Caerleon's Steve James imitating Simon Davies' run for Wales against Croatia last Wednesday. However, James, who ran from his own half through the Ton midfield and defence was not able to score like Davies had with his shot going straight into the arms of John Roberts in the Ton goals.

This appeared to be the wake-up call that Ton needed. Excellent movement saw Alex Lawless, Craig Thomas and Harding pass and move resulting with the Caerleon defence getting confused and not keeping up with the game. A moment later in the 44th minute it was Tapper and Jones who played a one-two with each other. Tapper then played the ball to Craig Thomas who's long pass picked out Harding on the other side of the pitch; his cross found Jason Roberts's head. It was a fantastic goal and Ton Pentre were 1-0 up at half time.

Unfortunately the second half seemed to be a three-way contest between Ton, Caerleon and the referee and his assistants. It appeared as though the referee had found his whistle at the interval and was making sure his power was recognised in the second period.

Caerleon managed to pull a goal back through Jamie Hillier after only six minutes of the restart. His goal came as a shock with the Caerleon attack not looking sharp enough to dent the scoresheet. Nevertheless his headed effort left John Roberts stranded in goals, 1-1. Ton Pentre worked hard in the second half, but the referee spoiled much of what they had done. The same went for Caerleon as the game was starting to loose momentum with the referee's recurring annoyance of making sure that the teams knew he was the man calling all the shots. And the result of this saw the match finish 1-1 leaving most people relieved that it was over.

The Rhondda Bulldogs play their first home match of the 2002/2003 season at Ynys Park on Wednesday 28th August against Neath. Then Cardiff Civil Service travel to the Rhondda the following Saturday (31st August). You can check out all the latest news and leave comments on Ton Pentre's new website at tonpentreafc.com.

Ton Pentre: John Roberts; Tapper; Jason Roberts; Jones; Craig Thomas (Phillips, 81 mins); Davies; Lawless; Morris; Carl Thomas; Kiyaga (Lewis, 76 mins); Harding. Subs Not Used: Edwards.