By Robert Nisbet

This win, in a hard bruising encounter, laid down a marker for the kind of determination the Blues will need to muster to do well this season.
      The Bluebirds had a lot to prove, to themselves and their fans, after going down to a 5-1 defeat at West End on the Wednesday. But this was the perfect riposte: an away win grafted out in a tough uncompromising game, against a side which was suffering its first defeat for 18 months.
      Maybe the important moment came on the 70-minute mark when two Ton players were shown the red card, at a time when the score stood at 1-all. The chance to collect the two extra points was there, but with the Bulldogs pulling everyone back in defence it was going to be difficult to crack the nut. Then, in the 78th minute, two subs combined, with Alex Squires playing Jamie Evans in for him to head against the bar. As the ball rebounded it was Richard Ryan who was the first to pounce and put away the winner.
     Ryan had featured prominently in the move which led to the very good opening goal, in the 39th minute, when Chris O’Sullivan and Alex Galdo combined cleverly to send Ryan through on the right. He could have shot but chose to square to the better-placed Anton Owens, who fired in.
     The lead was cancelled out in the 47th minute when some slightly lax marking after a throw-in saw Ton’s Leon Young exploit the gap to score. The score was still at 1-all in those two fateful minutes when Josh Evans was sent marching for a dangerous tackle and Jason Cowan collected a second yellow card. If the Blues had not been able to crack the 9-man opposition and had left Ynys Park with just one point, we might be looking at a merely moderate league position now, but some good passing, capped by Ryan’s goal, saw the Bluebirds through to a good win.
     The West Wales Properties-sponsored Bluebirds had travelled to the Rhondda without the services of the injured Gary Taylor and Nicky Woodrow, but Phil Cattlin switched to Taylor’s slot in midfield and Alex Galdo played up front, with a sub appearance for the newly-signed Jamie Evans. There was also a very welcome return, even if a token one, after 88 minutes, for Lee Hudgell.  
      The Bluebirds’ next game is on Wednesday, when the big West End side who blasted the Blues 5-1 on their cramped Mayhill pitch come down to see how the two sides will match each other on the Conygar Bridge Meadow’s wide open spaces. There is another home game on Saturday next, 27th August, when the visitors are high-flying Cambrian & Clydach.
   
County: Craig Morris; Kristian Griffiths, Dave Evans, Simon Gilderdale, Gareth Elliott, Anton Owens, Chris O’Sullivan, Phil Cattlin (Alex Squires, 70), Richard Ryan, Alex Galdo (Jamie Evans, 60), Richard Lewis (Lee Hudgell, 88).