Gwent County League Division Three

CALDICOT Castle bounced back from the 3-1 defeat at Severn Tunnel in midweek, to draw 4-4 at home to third-placed Machen in what Castle manager Dave Adamson described as a bit of a cracker!

“We started well and went 1-0 up with Joe O’Brien finishing after good work by Kyle McCabe,” he said later.

“They equalised quite soon after, something which is becoming a bit annoying.

“We took the lead at Rogiet but Tunnel equalised almost immediately and the same happened against Machen.

Keeper Dave Hayward suffered some mixed fortunes to give the visitors two goals.

“Dave misjudged a long ball and their striker took it round him to make it 2-1 and they made it 3-1 when a header bounced off the bar, hit the back of his head and went in. 

“At the break, I wasn’t too angry with them as I knew we’d played alright and were creating chances.

“I brought Connor Bryant on to give us some pace down the right flank and we pegged it back to 3-2 when Kyle Williams headed home from a corner.

“We equalised with a fantastic goal from Sean Marsh but Machen were still very dangerous and our two centre halves Kyle Williams and Matt Kinchin were playing very well.

“With 10 minutes to go we took the lead rather fortuitously, Connor chased down the keeper who hit the ball at him and it bounced off him into the net.

”They pushed everyone forward and got an equaliser last minute with a shot from outside the box.

“A draw was probably the fairest result although it was disappointing not to win but after Tuesday’s poor performance at Severn Tunnel this was a good reaction against a strong team.”

Castle were due to travel to play Rhymney last night (Tuesday) and are home to Mardy on Saturday.

In Division Two, Mathern beat Cwm 3-1 thanks to goals from Matty Board and Dan Williams (2). They were last night visiting Fairfield United and welcome bottom club Wattsville on Saturday.