photo by Ian Lovell

Although only one point, Paul Emmanuelli showed the worth of a drop goal as it was enough to win this tight battle at a damp Glan-yr-afon Park.

After a ten minute arm wrestle between the sides , Byron Williams opened the scoring catching Cardiff out with a quick play the ball, after a break by Emmanuelli, who converted.

Two mistakes by the Bulldogs, were both punished by the Demons with tries by Adam King and Elliot Kear who intercepted a pass and ran 90 metres to give Cardiff an 8-6 lead.  It was turning into a typical close hard fought Bulldogs-Cardiff game.

Jason Rogers then burst through to set up a try for winger Trevor James, which was

quickly followed by a 2nd try for Byron Williams.  Emmanuelli converted to give Blackwood a 16-8 half time lead.

The 2nd half saw a similar pattern with more Bulldogs pressure, and a break from Leighton Bassett forced the Demons into giving a kickable penalty away.  Jeremy Lloyd converted. Rogers and Paul Young then worked hard to set up the Emmanuelli drop goal. 

If Blackwood thought the game was then over, then Cardiff made them think again, with making the most of another mistake to score a try through Marty Pearce to bring the score back to 19-12. Tom Burnell surprisingly missed the easy conversion which was crucial to the final
score.

The Demons then saw their chance and threw everything at the Bulldogs and the pressure told with Joey Davies going over.  Tom Burnell converted for the 1st time.

The Demons kept up the pressure but the clock was against them and the Bulldogs held on to claim the two points.

article by Tony Evans and Ian Golden
27 May 2007