Fixture

Barry will be grateful to see the end of this month after losing all of their games in the period.

In addition to having to face the three sides above them in the League the squad have been beset with a host of injuries and unavailability which has left the team unsettled to make life even more difficult.

That said, the effort of the players is to be commended and with a little luck the team could have won at least two of those games.

Saturday saw third placed Llantrisant at the Club on a day where despite the sun shining the pitch was heavy underfoot.

Barry could not have got off to a worse start as indecision at the kick off gave the visitors a foothold in the Barry 22. Driving the resultant line out saw them nearly score only for a knock on to save the day.

The Barry scrum was sent into retreat and as the ball squirted out on the slippery surface it was a Llantrisant hand that was first to the ball for an early try which went unconverted.

Despite the conditions Barry were keeping the ball in hand and made good progress forcing the visitors defence to be at it's best but at the same time were missing the cutting edge to really threaten the line.

The hard work of the previous ten minutes was all in vain as from a scrum on the halfway line Llantrisant cleverly used the short side and three quick passes saw them clear of the Barry defence to score their second try which again went unconverted but gave them a 10 point lead after 20 mins.

Barry were certainly having their fair share of possession and were being competitive, but the well organised visitors defence seemed to have the answer to every question they were asked.They did create sufficient pressure to force the visitors to concede a penalty which Barross duly kicked to get Barry on the scoreboard , a score their efforts deserved.

A heavy downpour dictated the game up to half time as conditions worsened and a string of unforced errors by both sides saw the game ebb and flow but produce no further scores leaving the game finely balanced at 10 -3 as the whistle went.

Now with the advantage of the slope and the sun at their backs, Barry opened the second half by sensibly varying their game but were still finding it hard to breach the solid defence of the visitors.

Several attacks came to nothing and it was not long before Llantrisant came back into Barry territory and set up a series of rucks which threatened the Barry line but were equally met with some solid defending by the home side.

Barry escaped downfield and caused panic in the visitors defence only for the penalty to be wasted. This resulted in Llantrisant getting a foothold in the Barry 22 where they launched a series mauls which finally ended with them being awarded the scrum put in.They pressured the Barry eight who were forced back and their was some surprise to see the referee decide to award a penalty try, after all it was the first offence, and seemed very harsh in the circumstances and conditions underfoot.

This could have seen the heads go down but to their credit they came back more determined and began to force the visitors into conceding penalties.

From one of these they kicked for the corner and won the lineout and drove at the heart of the visitors defence.Initially held up short on more than one occasion, they were not to be denied and it was finally Rob Williams who fought his way over for a well deserved try which Kyle Barross converted to bring the score to 17 - 10 to the visitors.

With only minutes left Barry seemed to have secured a losing bonus point which on the day they deserved, but again indecision at the restart gave possession back to the visitors who used their forward power to drive close to the Barry line before finally knocking on.

The resulting scrum saw the tired Barry eight driven back as the visitors took the ball against the head to create an overlap on the outside for a simple try and conversion which gave them a 24 - 10 victory as the referee blew the final whistle.

It is a very fine line between victory and defeat and on this occasion Barry conceded two tries in the game through their inability to deal with the restart ball.

However it is obvious that they need a victory under their belt to build up their confidence and perhaps then we may see them hit their pre Xmas form again

.Next Saturday Barry travel to Aberdare in a League fixture with the coach leaving the Club at 12.30pm

Beside still looking for our first win of the year we are still looking for a winner on the Club Lottery.

Last weeks numbers were 18 -20 -23 and 24, no winners, this weeks jackpot will be £3600