East Gwent Senior League - Centenary Cup Quarter Final

WITH their senior teams having a rare day off, Mathern B boss Keith Tipper could have had major selection problems for the game at Portskewett and Sudbrook.

But despite having more than 50 players to choose from, Tipper stayed loyal to his players and picked a team from his regular squad.

“The team is all third team players,” he said before the match.

“There’s no need to put ringers in. I like to play fair and I have 15 players available so I will be making use of all of them.

“If we can’t win by playing fair and square, we don’t deserve to be in the next round.”

Portskewett and Sudbrook progressed to the semi-final with a 3-1 victory thanks to goals by James Beard, Gary McGrath and Gareth Huntley but Tipper said he had no regrets over his decision.

“Ash Lewis was our scorer in what I thought was a fairly even game,” he said later.

“It was just that Port and Sud took their chances and we didn’t but it was a great game to watch, real end-to-end football and their keeper was my man of the match for making several key saves and clearances.

“We lost Matty Bajjada and Mike Gettings early in the first half to injuries but the subs did a great job when they came on.

“I am really proud of the players who showed great team spirit and steel by not giving up.” 

The home team’s man of the match was Simon Babb.

In the other ties, Chepstow Athletic beat Chepstow Town 5-4 and Underwood B won 4-0 at Severn Tunnel while Sudbrook CC thrashed Caldicot Castle B 14-1.

Underwood boss Craig Johnson was delighted by his team’s performance.

“It was another top performance and I was pleased that we kept a clean sheet and I was particularly impressed by our three strikers, Callum Ford, Jahmal Johnson and Jermaine Allen. They all scored with Sam Leighton netting the other goal.”