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After three weeks without a game, the Rhondda Bulldogs made the short journey to play an improving Bridgend Town. Ton had to make a number of changes from the last game, with Phil Allen, Dwayne Mardenborough and Kristian Orchard making the starting line up, due to injuries and suspension. The changes did not make any difference to the Ton play and they won the game with more ease than the score line suggests.
 The Coychurch Road pitch was in good condition considering the rain that had fallen, and although slippery, Ton adapted to the conditions very quickly and took the game to Bridgend from the start. In he 5th minute a ball was crossed into the Bridgend area by Dwayne Mardenborough, Ton’s Tony Rees jumped to head the ball and was blatantly pushed, there was a “big” shout for a penalty by the players and the Bulldogs faithful around the ground. The referee was well positioned to see the incident, however he waved play on to the dismay of the Ton team.
Ton kept playing good football considering the very wet conditions, with Ton dominating the play with Conaty prominent. With a great break out of defence Ton’s Shugar shot over in the 15th minute. Alyn Jones was booked in the 18th for something he said. Then Bridgend’s 1st attempt was a weak shot by Huggins in the 19th minute. Another yellow card was shown to Mainwaring of Bridgend.
On the half hour Idzy in the Bridgend goal pulled of a superb save from Conaty, he hit the ball from 40 yards and it was going into the top right and corner of post and crossbar, Idzy got a hand to it pushed the ball around for a corner. It was a wonderful shot and save. Following this Ashley of Bridgend was shown a yellow card for a bad challenge.
The rest of the half was Ton’s and Bridgend offered very little offensive pressure. Jones, Mardenborough and Rees were prominent and got a number of shots towards the Bridgend goal. With the game scoreless at half time the Ton Fan’s were wondering if this would be one of those games that Ton would dominate and not get the 3 points?
Then within 2 minutes of the restart the Merlin Sponsored Ton Pentre went 1-0 up, a corner from the Ton right was not cleared by a static Bridgend defence, Tony Rees quickly got onto the ball and scored from 2 yards. This was a well deserved lead, what followed was controlled football by the visitors. Then on the 52nd minute Ton’s Lee Mathews was shown a Yellow card, for a bad challenge.
Ton’s keeper and Captain Marty Ellacott was called into action for the 1st time in the 55th minute when a speculative shot from Bridgend’s Mainwaring was easily saved.
 On the 56th minute Healey of Bridgend was rightly shown a Red card for striking Ton’s Mardenborough, the latter was also shown a Yellow card for flicking his foot at Healey in retaliation. The Assistant referee saw the incident and helped the referee with his decision. Ton were now in control of the game. And were awarded a disputed penalty in the 68th minute when the referee saw Ton’s Orchard brought down in the area!!! He was the only one who saw it, Alyn Jones Ton’s top scorer stepped up and converted the spot kick, with his shot going into the net off the cross bar. 2-0 to Ton and they were cruising until in the 85th minute when a rare lapse at the back a allowed Bridgend to get a shot at Ellacott who made a wonderful save, the ball fell to Fahiya at the edge of the area, the Ton defence were slow to get to him, Fahiya hit the ball into the Ton net giving Ellacott no chance. This gave Bridgend some hope and they pressed forward, during which the not to be forgotten referee booked Ton’s Shugar.
The remaining 8 minutes including stoppage time was a little nervy, however Ton defended their line resolutely and won the game. This was a game the Bulldogs deserved to win, and the win has moved them up to 5th place with games in hand over all the teams above them.
This Ton side seem to have shaken off the nightmare of last season and look like a side that can have a tremendous season. However, this week it’s back to cup action. And it’s the Welsh Cup with a game against Welsh Premier side Rhyl at Ynys Park 2:30 kick off. They are the cup holders and are one of the top sides in Welsh league football. For Ton to get anything out of the game they are going to have to be at their best in what has been reported to be the tie of the round, so much so S4C are televising their flagship Y Clwb Pel Droed from Ynys Park.
Ton Pentre: 1. Marty Ellacott; 2. Mark Crutch; 3. Kristian Orchard; 4. Scott Hayward; 5. Phil Allen; 6. Lee Mathews; 7. Ryan Shugar; 8. Steve Conaty; 9. Tony Rees 1 (Blatchford 68); 10. Dwayne Mardenborough (Clarke 88); 11. Alyn Jones 1 (Docherty 83)
Subs
12. Phil Clarke; 14. Jamie Blatchford; 15. Mathew Docherty
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