Gwent County League round up

BLACKROCK Rovers manager Paul Lovell blasted players who don’t turn up for training after watching his team slump to defeat at Nantyglo.

“After a long break without playing and the blasé attitude of Blackrock players to training, it was no surprise that we found the going tough,” he said.

“I counted six players in the starting line up who probably haven’t kicked a football for four or five weeks. Why they think they can just walk on a pitch and attain the standard required to compete in this league is beyond me.”

Playing against the wind and rain in storm conditions, Rovers suffered another blow when they had a player sent off in the 20th minute and five minutes later they fell behind.

“We faced an uphill battle and did well to keep the score to a single goal at the break,” the manager added.

The second half saw the conditions ease and the lack of fitness and sharpness from lack of training told when poor defending allowed Nantyglo to double their lead.

Zak Niblett scored what Lovell described as a “wonder strike” finding the top corner from 55 yards to give Rovers a glimmer of hope but while they went in search of an equaliser, the home side broke out of defence and killed off Rovers with a third goal to seal the points.

Meanwhile, at Mill Lane, Sudbrook CC moved into seventh place - three points behind Rovers – with an 8-1 victory over lowly Penygarn and Trevethin.

The win helped to ease the pain of defeat by runaway leaders Villa Dino seven days earlier.

“We put last week’s performance behind us and went on an all-out attack,” Sudbrook boss Daryl Cann explained.

“It was a much-improved display from the whole team before the Christmas break.

“Rob Thorn hit a hat-trick, Richie Lloyd added two to take his total to 11 and Ben Miles scored and our new signing Pavel Navra in his first start for us, played excellent football and scored twice.”

Caldicot Castle and Rockfield Rovers were without a game.

In Division Two, Mathern’s 12-match unbeaten run came to an end when a goal two minutes from time gave Fairfield a 2-1 victory.

Relegated from Division One last April, Fairfield are keen to bounce straight back to the top flight and obviously saw Mathern as one of their rivals.