Manorbier 1 Solva 2
Last season was a tale of two halves for Manorbier - a ramshackle first half, which was followed by a glorious run of results post Christmas.
The 2010/11 season seems to be shaping up in the same fashion, after Manorbier were denied a late equaliser in their game against Solva, to continue a frustrating start to this year's campaign.
The torrential storms which went on to lash the Ryder Cup on Friday passed through on Thursday night, but by Saturday afternoon Manorbier's pitch was once again a sight to behold: a smooth baize which begged for quality football to grace its surface.
Its wishes were granted as Solva and Manorbier played out a game of neat passing football, end-to-end sweeping moves, but interspersed with a number of crunching and/or mistimed tackles that one would expect of a third division dogfight.
The game started with Manorbier slightly on the back foot, seemingly with more focus on Robbie Thomas' DJing and the upcoming ska night that evening, than on the game itself.
Solva capitalised, and scored just two minutes into the game. Manorbier thus had to quickly put thoughts of Robbie's thumping two-tone rhythms to the back of their minds, and set about achieving parity.
The game ebbed and flowed, Manorbier having a number of good moves denied by the Solva 'keeper, but at half-time the score still stood at 0-1.
A rousing team talk by captain Luke Askew fired up the players, but with Manorbier playing into the wind in the second half, they knew they faced a stiff challenge.
The game started to open up, and was not unlike Arsenal v Barcelona, as the game swept from one end to the other in wave after wave of total football.
But it was Solva who seemed to strike the killer blow with a well-struck drive from outside the box with 20 minutes to go, to take the score to 0-2.
However, this only served to strengthen Manorbier's resolve, and they once again poured forward to heap pressure onto the Solva defence.
The critical moment came when long person Lank 'Lanky' Lankster came on for Manorber in attack. Looking like a cross between Freddie Flintoff and the Honey Monster, he terrorised the Solva defence with his long throw-ins and flick-ons.
Finally, the ball was bundled into the net by Lanky - using his excessive height to nod in the ball following a spill by the Solva 'keeper and bring the score back to 1-2.
With just five minutes left, Manorbier continued to heap on the pressure. James Hall was spitting blood, Gavin Evans ran around like a demented ferret, Liam Scouse scared the Solva defence silly with talk of his hard mates from Liverpool... and then following a move up the right wing, a bundle in the box, Luke Askew slotted the ball into an open net after a lung-busting run from defence.
Then, in what can only be described as scenes of total madness, the Solva linesman disallowed the goal and the game thus ended in defeat for Manorbier.
However, the pain was eased by a slap-up half-and-half curry, a night of funky beats by Rob on the wheels of steel at the Swan Lake Inn, and the knowledge that a return leg away to Solva the following week would bring the chance for swift revenge.