The warm Swansea sunshine shone down on the Morfa Stadium on Sunday as Jackarmy.net and Sleepinggiant.com met in the inaugural Harry Griffiths Memorial Trophy match. The Morfa pitch was in perfect condition for this eagerly awaited clash and it was great to see the Swansea and Cardiff players mingling and sharing the odd joke as they inspected the pitch in an "F.A. Cup final style" walkabout an hour before kick-off. As kick off time approached, both teams retired to their dressing rooms for their final pre-match preparations and judging from the thumping music and roars coming from the jackarmy.net changing room, this was clearly a match that they had no intention of losing!!!.
Both teams lined up in the tunnel and were greeted by rapturous applause from the crowd as they were led out by the match officials. Jackarmy.net kicked off and soon found themselves under pressure as sleepinggiant started the match the brighter of the two teams. The boys from Cardiff threw everything they had at us as the Jacks weathered a stormy opening 15 minutes. As the half wore on, jackarmy.net started to stamp their authority on the game and started to create openings in the sleepinggiant defence and even had what seemed like a perfectly good goal disallowed for offside. Time and time again jackarmy built attacks from a rock solid defence dominated by Reeco in his sweepers' role but the crowded midfield was preventing the Jacks playing the free-flowing football we had seen them play in their previous games. With Lee Hopkins and Bomber finding it difficult to find time on the ball in the middle of the park due to the pace at which the game was being played, jackarmy weren't able to utilise the full width of the Morfa pitch and had to concentrate on threading balls through to Stuart and Neil up front in the hope they could create some clear cut chances. But finally, with just 5 minutes left in the half, the breakthrough finally came. Sleepinggiant lost possession on the edge of their box and bomber crossed it from the right, what should have been an easy catch for the Cardiff keeper turned into a disaster as he fumbled the ball and Lee Morgan was on hand to stab home the loose ball to make it Jackarmy.net 1 Sleepinggiant.com 0
While Cyril the Swan kept the crowd entertained, both teams returned to the dressing rooms for their half-time team talks and an opportunity to get some liquid after the energy sapping heat of the first half. Jackarmy.net started the second half with one major change, the loss of their influential captain Reeco who had pulled up with a muscle injury at the end of the first half. He was replaced by Tim Whitford and Ian filled in for Reeco in the sweepers' role. After only 15 minutes of the second half, jackarmy.net doubled their lead in almost identical circumstances to the first goal. This time, Jam played a ball through from the Left wing only for the keeper to fumble the ball into the path of midfielder Lee Hopkins who struck home from close range to make it Jackarmy.net 2 Sleepinggiant.com 0. The next 5-10 minutes saw a spell of sleepinggiant pressure as jackarmy.net keeper Lee was tested severely and made several outstanding saves which ultimately earned him the man of the match award. Sleepinggiant.com were now pushing for a goal which would give them hope in a game that was beginning to slip away from them and their chances were increased when jackarmy.net were reduced to ten men when Lee Hopkins was sent off for his second bookable offence. With the jackarmy.net team in temporary disarray, sleepinggiant took the advantage and scored with a sweetly struck volley from the edge of the area which gave the jackarmy keeper no chance, Jackarmy.net 2 sleepinggiant.com 1. Without their injured captain and now reduced to ten men, the situation was starting to look ominous for jackarmy.net but within seconds of the restart the jacks showed the watching crowd why they were pre-match favourites. Bomber went on one of his trademark runs and after a swift one two with Lee Morgan, he played a perfectly weighted ball into the path of striker Neil. Neil made no mistake as he coolly slotted the ball past the advancing keeper to make it Jackarmy.net 3 Sleepinggiant.com 1. Cardiff hearts were clearly broken as the Swansea lads celebrated and the crowd roared they're approval. With the game now effectively won the jackarmy.net team began to play the passing football that we all knew they were capable of. As their superior fitness began to show in the energy sapping heat, they launched attack after attack at the sleepinggiant defence. Time and time again bomber proved influential in the middle of the park as he threaded balls through the Cardiff back four, opening them up on several occasions. One such ball put Nomad through on goal, but he seemed caught in two minds about whether to shoot or square the ball which gave sleepinggiant.coms'giant centre half the opportunity to put in a last ditch tackle to prevent a fourth goal. But with jackarmy.net now running riot it was inevitable that the fourth goal would come and come it did. With 15 minutes to go, the tired sleepinggiant defence could only watch as Stuart broke through to latch onto another bomber pass to slot home making it Jackarmy.net 4 Sleepinggiant.com 1. With the win now secured, jackarmy.net coach Reeco made wholesale changes, bringing on all of his substitutes who had worked so hard in training over the last 6 weeks. Even Cyril the Swan managed to get a taste of the action, promptly skying the ball over the bar from 15 yards with the goal gaping in front of him!!!
The referee blew the final whistle to bring the curtain down on an action packed match and the Harry Griffiths Memorial Trophy was staying in Swansea. The trophy was presented to Reeco and the champagne corks were popped as jackarmy.net celebrated in true "cup final" style.
Now we only have the small matter of the return match in Cardiff in a few short weeks and remember, in matches between Swansea and Cardiff, nobody has ever done the "double". Is it time to re-write the history books? Let's hope so!!!
Who are we?......................................JACKARMY!!!
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