Gwent County League Division Three Penygarn and Trevethin 2 Caldicot Castle 2

CALDICOT Castle manager Alex Hart was in no mood to mince words after watching his men draw 2-2 at lowly Penygarn and Trevethin on Saturday.

“It was probably the worst game of football I have ever witnessed,” he said later.

“We only had confirmation the game was going ahead at 12.30pm so it wasn’t the best preparation,” Hart added.

“I understand the need to get the games played if we are to avoid a massive fixture backlog going into March but the pitch was too boggy to play football.

“The conditions suited our opponents far more than us and I now accept there is no possibility of us gaining promotion this season.”

With both teams struggling to run with or pass the ball, Castle fell behind in the 20th minute with their hosts’ first attack but Joe O’Brien equalised five minutes before the break.

“It was the first genuine piece of quality in the game,” his manager said. “Joe found the top corner from what seemed like an impossible angle. It was a great strike!”

After the break, Jake Withey delivered a cross that the home defence could not cope with and O’Brien was on hand again to stab the ball home for a 2-1 lead.

“We had a few chances we should have taken that would have finished the game but the keeper made a decent save and our poor finishing cost us,” Hart said,

“Penygarn started to get more confident and put us under a bit of pressure using the conditions well to test with high balls and they equalised with a good header into the bottom corner.

“They had the better opportunities to win the game. We were forced to clear off our line in a goalmouth scramble and were probably fortunate to come away with a point.

“The conditions were the same for both clubs but they dealt with them better than we did, which was annoying, Really good teams deal with the conditions and come away with all three points.”

Hart made it clear he expects his men to finish as top local club and wants to start with victory at Ponthir this Saturday.

Blackrock Rovers manager Paul Lovell has stepped down and the club is currently looking for a replacement,

In a brief statement, Lovell said: “I decided it was a good time to go, when the club is in a healthy position, has plenty of players and in a good position in the Gwent County League Division Three.”

Blackrock are currently sixth, nine points behind the leaders with a game in hand.

They and Sudbrook CC had their away matches postponed last weekend but Rockfield Rovers enjoyed a 2-0 home win over West of St Julians thanks to goals from George Ryley and Ryan Jones.