A contingent of St Dogmaels supporters who crossed the Teifi to cheer on the champions in their opening Costcutter League encounter with Cardigan Town breathed sighs of relief after their favourites got out of jail with a late equaliser at King George V Playing Field.

The Magpies shaded the opening 45 minutes but Saints improved during the second period and in a frenetic final few minutes went close to winning the derby which was well-controlled by veteran referee Eirian Morgan.

It would have been rough justice for Town who thoroughly deserved a share of the spoils in a tight contest that never reached any great heights.

Chances throughout the 90 minutes were at a premium and most of the play was concentrated in midfield.

Saints showed an abundance of skill on the ball but lacked firepower up front while the Magpies did enough to suggest that better things could be in store during the months ahead.

Newly-appointed player/manager James Evans was influential for Town in midfield, skipper Alun Williams strong at the heart of the defence and Chris Welch impressive on the left while Saints midfielder Rhys Jones gave his skills an airing and central defender and skipper Jason Williams was a tower of strength.

The Magpies went ahead with a cracking goal midway through the second period when a deep Welch cross from the left was met by Dylan Davies who buried a header wide of Marsden.

The strike galvanized Saints into an all-out effort for an equaliser which arrived ten minutes from the end courtesy of substitute Michael Diggle who earlier sent an effort crashing against the crossbar

There was a feeling beforehand that last season’s runners-up Crannog faced a tough opener against promoted Aberporth at Parcllyn, but in the event the visitors emerged 6-1 winners.

Crannog, who led 3-0 at the interval, deserved maximum points but the final scoreline was perhaps unfair to the Airmen who turned in an encouraging performance.

The Crannog marksmen were George Colven, Robbie Evans, Huw Owen, Mike Glover, Barry Davies and Steffan Jones.

As the build-up to the season gathered momentum former Welsh League outfit Newcastle Emlyn showed in friendlies that they could challenge for silverware, and a visit to Cae Dandre in west Carmarthenshire for an encounter with Llanboidy was considered by many as an for the Reds to get off the mark.

But although they came through with a 3-2 win it was anything but a cakewalk against the battling homesters who pushed the visitors hard.

It could be argued that if Emlyn had converted clear-cut openings they would have won by a wider margin, but credit to Llanboidy who were in contention throughout.

Although it was essentially a team effort that saw Emlyn home Jake Kelly stole the limelight with a well-taken hat-trick which included two penalties.

Llanboidy led twice through Rhys Jenkins and Ross McDonald, but the homesters were pegged back by Kelly who netted the winner with a header at the back post five minutes from the end.

Lampeter Town under new manager Jonion Evans were given a fright at Felinfach where the Milkmen earned a 1-1 draw and with a little more rub of the green could have banked all three points.

After a goalless opening 45 minutes Jason Jones fired Town ahead but Felinfach rallied and central midfielder Owain Evans netted an equaliser.

Llandysul were made to pull out the stops before edging home 1-0 against full-of-fight Ffostrasol at Llandysul Park where a Scott Mayes goal was all that separated the rivals.