The second game of our Wales trip was in Caernarfon, which is around an hour and a half’s drive further into Wales from Wrexham. We extended that journey time by stopping off at Erddig, on the outskirts of Wrexham, to have a wander around a seventeenth century country house and its gardens.
I liked the house and it gave me a few ideas for smartening up ours. They had photos and biographies of the staff from a hundred and fifty years ago on the walls, which is unusual as the focus is invariably on the owners and their family.
In the garden we approached a pond and were met by around twenty carp who had clearly confused our arrival with whoever usually feeds them. I had no snacks in my pockets, so we had to leave them disappointed.
The game was at The Oval, Caernarfon. Unlike its cricket counterpart it’s a small venue with a capacity of just three thousand. It dates back to the 1880’s and is the current home of Welsh Premier League club, Caernarfon Town.
There was a lengthy queue to get into the UEFA U19 fixture between Italy and Serbia. It wasn’t a game that I’d expected to be well attended given the teams and kick-off time, but it probably wasn’t far off being full.
I had a chat with a Caernarfon fan, who told me that his team had been playing elsewhere last season whilst the ground was upgraded. We were sat in the Wyn Davies stand behind the goal, which was new, as were the dugouts and a standing area behind them. The scoreboard also looked to be a recent addition, and the re-laid pitch was as good as those at the World Cup.
The old main stand where the local fella usually sat had been reserved for FIFA officials and media.
There wasn’t much in the way of snacks with most kids around me getting pot noodles. There was a bilingual menu at the food cabin but interestingly there is no Welsh equivalent of pot noodle. I settled for a Snickers.
The first half was fairly even with the teams separated only by an early Italian penalty
Play was end to end after the restart as both teams tried to make something happen. Italy clinched the points with quarter of an hour to go when their striker who had just been booked for a dive broke free and, with the keeper backpedaling, stroked the ball home.
Trail of the Lion King 