From the match programme:-
"THE SKIPPER SPEAKS - THE THOUGHTS OF CAPTAIN BOB"
"Five months of the season have now passed us by and when I look back on our record in that time there is at least something to commend, but generally things have not been going our way. The season started fairly well for us and I was extremely pleased we made the second round of the Cup for the second successive year. It is that sort of consistency we must achieve on a wider scale if we are not going to slip back into bad habits."
"But while the Cup dominated the early part of the season for us, we ran out of steam after our exit at St. Helen’s and over the Christmas period, we hit a severely bad patch. That is always one of the tricky times of the season and although we lost at Bridgend and Swansea in recent weeks there were signs in both those games we were recapturing our former strength and resolve."
"One of the most pleasing aspects of those games was our defence. We all know the old jokes about Penarth’s defence being compared to a sieve, but there certainly weren’t too many leaks or gaps in those games. The tackling is good at the moment and is a phase of the game on which we should now aim to build."
"As well as looking back 1 would also like to look forward, not only to the Final months of the season, but perhaps more importantly, to the 1987/88 season. As always we are on the lookout for new blood and the help we have received from South Glamorgan Institute players this season has been a great help. It would be nice to think that those boys - Sean Turner, Steffan Phillips, Carwyn Lewis, Jeremy Evans, Kevin Morgan - might well consider joining on a full-time basis next term when College commitments are over. It is such an influx we desperately need and they could do a fine job for Penarth. But if we are to secure the services of players of that calibre, we must ensure we are heading in the right direction."
"We need greater beliefs and greater commitment and a far more structured pattern to all the club’s dealings. Success doesn’t come without hard work, but there also has to be inspiration and vision. I think some of the plans we have in mind at the present are desperately in that mould and I would like to think we can build a new side for a new era - starting in the Final month of this season and marching triumphantly into the next."
"There is still plenty of exciting things to look forward to this season with a spectacular Good Friday in hand and an overseas tour scheduled for the close season. There is still a lot to play for, more especially with the future."
"ROB MACPHERSON"
"Chairman's Message"
"We welcome one of our oldest friends Newport to the Athletic Ground this evening and commiserate with them over their result in the W.R.U. Cup match last Saturday. They seem to have the same problem in beating Cardiff as we have in beating Newport and we have to go back to the mid 1950’s to record our last victory which was at Rodney Parade when the inimitable Slogger Templeman sealed the result with three drop goals. This followed a drawn match at the same venue the previous season."
"Tonight we must ensure that we don’t feel the backlash of their losing to Cardiff last Saturday and we must return to the form we showed against the South Glamorgan Institute and not make the silly errors we made against Ebbw Vale on Tuesday. We must ensure that the man with the ball is nailed and we must be first to the break down."
"The former secretaries of both tonight’s clubs the late Bill Everson of Newport and Lot Thorn of Penarth were the instigators of the forerunner of the Snelling Sevens’ - the Welsh Sevens. May the relationships between our clubs continue as they have in the past."
"Club News"
"We are grateful to Mr. Alun Davies of Merthyr Motor Auctions for his continued support this season and in particular for sponsoring tonight’s game."
"Did you know that!"
"We first played Newport in 1887 in what was then the original Welsh Cup at Newport and was soundly beaten. In the Newport programme 28th March 1984 references made as follows, 'Penarth members and supporters, wherever they are, will remember with pride Saturday Sept. 7th 1957, for on that day a certain Bernard 'Slogger' Templeman, with a magical display of drop kicking ensured the Penarth victory by 12 pts. to 9'. Slogger’s four drop goals are now almost 30 years into history. He played for the Baa-Baas at Northampton later on travelling up with Ray Prosser. A pair of likely lads!"