With a free Saturday last weekend there was the opportunity to visit my 100th football ground and/or complete the Welsh League again. The short trip to Ynyshir Albions would have meant hitting two birds with one stone, but their home game with Treowen Stars didn’t really appeal to me with lots of other football on. Besides, I reasoned prior to Coronovirus outbreak, there will be plenty of opportunities to finally visit the Ynyshir Oval before the end of the season when the midweek fixtures in the spring begin to kick-in.
There was the FAW Trophy semi-final on offer but having been to Cardiff Met’s ground several times already this season I didn’t fancy a re-visit this time around. There were South Wales FA Senior Cup ties still to be resolved, two in particular stood out: Cwm Rhondda v Porthcawl Town Athletic and Nelson Cavaliers v Island Marine.
Both ties had their appeal and as it turned out Cwm Rhondda (of the Rhondda & District League) pulled off a big shock by beating cup favourites Porthcawl. However, on the morning it was the chance of a slugfest between two sides playing at district level and going well in their respective leagues that swung me. I wasn’t disappointed.
The current Nelson Cavaliers trace their origins back to the 1980s. The original Nelson Cavaliers club were formed in the early 1970s but folded after a short lifespan. The history of football played in the village goes back to the early days of organised football in the south of Wales, a Nelson [Unionists] club playing in the South Wales League in several campaigns between 1896 and 1910. The Welsh League table in the 1919/20 season includes a Nelson club but they appear to have either folded or not participated at that level beyond that campaign. Nelson Welfare club joined the Welsh League in 1946 and played thirteen seasons before dropping out in 1959.
Back to the modern club, they took on the name Nelson Cavaliers in the 1990s as a tribute to the 1970s club (also around the time they moved to the current home at Wern Field on the eastern edge of the village) and were founding members of the former South Wales Senior League in 1994 where they played for 18 seasons. Since relegation in 2012 the club have been re-building with the ambition to return to regional football in the South Wales Alliance League.
This was my second visit to the Wern Field but my first opportunity to have an extended chat with club secretary and legend Rod Powell, who has been involved at Nelson since 1983; first as a player, then as first-team manager before handing the responsibility to his son Aaron in 2017. It is always a privilege speaking to long-standing custodians of grassroots club football with plenty of anecdotes to share and an enthusiasm for the sport that is as genuine as you will find.
Anyone familiar with Nelson’s club website and social media channels will know they are one of the more modern-thinking clubs in district football, operating as professionally as possible with a very informative website packed with archive information and relevant, positive content through their Twitter page. Information is so important for building a club’s narrative and heritage, it is an opportunity missed when clubs make so little effort to inform any potential audience.
It isn’t surprising then that the club maintain a folder of old newspaper clippings featuring the club’s achievements down the years, including some valuable records of local football. My thanks to Rod for sharing it with me and it is genuinely worth a visit alone, as well as the fact Nelson produce a programme for every home fixture despite no league requirement to do so. I’d venture that is probably unique at this level of football and a credit to the club as even some Welsh League clubs barely make an effort.
Nelson are pushing again this season for the Taff Ely & Rhymney Valley League title (they were champions two years) and their opponents Island Marine are also going well in the Vale of Glamorgan Premier Division. Both sides have eliminated South Wales Alliance League teams in this competition this season so there was the potential for a good couple of hours of knockout football.
The game didn’t disappoint, ebbing and flowing as you might expect between two evenly matched sides. Nelson had the better of the first quarter of the match, Liam Dellanna had already been denied by a brilliant point-blank save before he won the penalty that allowed Dan Falconer to break the deadlock for Nelson. The goal sparked the Barry side into life though and they were the stronger outfit as the game headed towards half-time. Adam Bowsher’s poached finish to level the scores was no more than they deserved at the break.
After an early second half chance was squandered by Marine’s Joe Mellars, Ryan Donovan restored Nelson’s lead from Dellanna’s cross and for a long time this looked like it would be enough for the homesters but a scrambled equaliser from Sam Adamson set-up and end to end finale. Both sides had chances but Nelson took theirs. Cameron Szpadt edged them ahead with a close range strike from a corner before Liam Dellanna capped his impressive display with Nelson’s fourth goal in added time to seal their win and keep alive their hopes of a quadruple this season.
Match notes
7.3.2020
Nelson Cavaliers 4-2 Island Marine
(Dan Falconer 22′ pen, Ryan Donovan 50′, Cameron Szpadt 86′, Liam Dellanna 90+2′; Adam Bowsher 31′, Sam Adamson 73′)
South Wales FA Senior Cup round of 16
Wern Field, Nelson
Attendance: c. 45 | Entry: Free (programmes £2)
Jordan Forster 