Wednesday 25 April to Saturday 5 May

"A dramatic couple of weeks in the Cambrian Tyres Aberystwyth League as the season draws towards its conclusion.

We begin on Wednesday 25th April 2007 as Tregaron unfortunately tumbled out of the Cwpan Ceredigion at the semi-final stage, losing by four goals to one against Ceredigion League table-toppers St. Dogmaels, Patrick Crowley getting the only Turfs goal.

Wednesday also saw two games in Division One, with Padarn's last hope of survival slipping away courtesy of a 5-1 loss to Dolgellau. Padarn are therefore the unlucky team who will be playing football in Division Two next season. At the other end of the table, Penparcau's faint hopes of the title were nearly extinguished on Blaendolau at they could only gain a 2-2 draw with UWA Reserves.

Thursday night saw three games in Division Two, as already-promoted Aber Town Thirds defeated UWA Thirds 4-0; Machynlleth gained a 4-2 win at Talybont Reserves and Penrhyn Thirds and Trawsgoed fought out a 2-2 draw.

So Saturday came around, and as Bow Street had no game, Tregaron took the opportunity to close the gap at the top to three points with a 5-1 victory over Aberdyfi. A Caradog Daniel hat-trick and goals from Patrick Crowley and Christopher Jones were sufficient for the Turfs, Aberdyfi's reply coming via Brian Horton.

Penparcau kept their mathematical chances of the league alive with a 3-1 win at Talybont courtesy of strikes from Scott Murrell, Matthew Davies and Steve Wellsby. Jonathan Southgate netted Talybont's consolation.

Bont consolidated fourth place thanks to a 4-1 win over UWA Reserves. Sion Meredith, Trevor Jenkins, Glyndwr Hughes and Damon Smith were the Bont scorers, the students could only reply through a lone Ian Curbishley goal. Sadly I have not been furnished with the scorers for the Llanrhystud-Dolgellau game, suffice to say Llanrhystud's season ended badly with a 3-2 defeat at home.

Division Two saw much the same as usual, both Tywyn/Bryncrug and Aber Town Thirds recording heavy victories over Bow Street Reserves and UWA Thirds respectively. There were two surprises, as both bottom teams gained victories, Llanilar Reserves achieving a 6-3 win at Dolgellau Reserves, while Corris were 3-0 winners at home to Talybont Reserves.

We move on to Wednesday 2nd May, and Penparcau progressed to the final of the Newman Memorial Trophy with a 2-1 victory over Bont, thanks to strikes from Lee Jones and Matthew Davies.

I'll warn my readers now that I've not been given any of the scorers for the rest of the games, so I'll just rattle through the results.

Having said earlier that Llanrhystud's season ended on a bad note, I now have to take that back as they progressed on Wednesday to the final of the Consolation Cup with a thumping 8-3 victory over Trawsgoed. Also, in Division One Dolgellau and UWA Reserves scrapped to a 2-2 draw.

Thursday saw Aberdyfi book a Consolation Cup final date with Llanrhystud as they defeated Penrhyncoch Reserves by a single goal. The final therefore presents an excellent chance for both teams to redeem their seasons, and it should be a closely fought contest. In Division Two on Thursday Llanilar Reserves secured that rarest of events for them (back-to-back wins) as they overcame UWA Thirds by four goals to three.

Saturday 5th May and what turned out to be the most momentous day of the league campaign saw Bow Street gain an easy 8-0 victory over UWA Reserves. Unfortunately Tregaron could not force the championship down to the wire and could only gain a 3-all draw with Dolgellau, thus handing the title to Bow Street for the first time since the 2003-4 season.

So, it's congratulations to the Magpies, who have attained their stated goal of recapturing the league crown this season, though at the expense of disappointment in the cups. The players and management celebrated the win in style, and I was personally witness to part of the celebrations, as I had to endure the unseemly spectacle of Bow Street's finest chanting 'Champions! Champions!' in my direction in the early hours of Sunday morning. When questioned, the hierarchy of Bow Street seemed eager to take on the prospect of Spar Mid-Wales football next season, though some players were unsure about the commitment that this would require. I will also not hesitate to remind readers of my pre-season preview which read, "their (Bow Street's) emphasis should be on league consistency rather than cup glory". So at least they took my advice.

Still, we should also congratulate Tregaron and Penparcau for taking the title to the wire. It will be interesting to see what happens to Bow Street if and when they are promoted. Elsewhere in the league Penparcau could conceivably steal second place from Tregaron after a 3-1 win at Bont on Saturday. Talybont also won, defeating Penrhyncoch Reserves 2-1. It is interesting to see less comment on the 'fixtures' page from Penrhyn fans nowadays, it would be interesting to hear if they are still planning to contest the 15-point deduction which has wrecked their season.

I was invited to the Tywyn/Bryncrug v Aber Thirds title decider on Saturday, an invitation I sadly had to pass up. A spy of mine who was at the game called the 0-0 draw "one of the most incredible games I've seen". Given the scoreline, I think he was being sarcastic.

Elsewhere in Division Two, Penrhyn Thirds secured a 7-2 win over Llanon, thus securing third place, Corris defeated Trawsgoed 2-0, and Bow Street Reserves defeated UWA Thirds 2-1 to secure fourth.

With most trophies decided, the season enters the final lap. Rumours that Bow Street have crashed heavily to Penparcau last night (Wednesday), in the final of the Newman Memorial Trophy are unconfirmed, but as I have said, it's rare to see Penparcau leave the season without a trophy. Of the rest, the Second Division Trophy is still to be decided on Monday between Penrhyn Thirds and Tywyn/Bryncrug, while the Consolation Cup is to be decided between Llanrhystud and Aberdyfi."

Written by Lee Taylor from Aberystwyth.