East Gwent Senior League Division One Mathern A 10 Caldicot Castle 0

 

MATHERN A bounced back to the top of Division One with a 10-0 victory at Caldicot Castle A.

Castle’s second pitch was declared fit despite heavy and persistent rain and Mathern were happy to have the chance of returning to the top as Severn Tunnel A’s match against Thornwell Red and White A was ruled out.

The match was notable for Jack Stewart’s first half hat-trick – he added a fourth after the break – Wayne Duffield’s smart back-heeled goal to make it 7-0 and Keiron Gettings’ two goals – the first he’s scored for Mathern FC since leaving Underwood.

Such was his joy after opening his account that he dived full length to the muddy ground in celebration but chose not to repeat the performance for his second goal!

Mathern manager Lee Baker admitted his men had started slowly but when Ieuan Diyaolu tapped in the first goal after Duffield headed a corner back across goal, it seemed to steady the ship.

Without the Watson brothers, Tom and Alex, influential midfielder Ryan Guscott and ever-present defender Cobi Robinson, Baker was forced to rearrange his selection.

“Defensively we were solid and deserved our clean sheet and Jordan Barrett did a shift at centre back and was quite impressive,” he said.

“We started slowly and let Castle play a bit in the first 20 minutes but once Ieuan scored the first, we settled down.

“Wayne scored the second from Connor Hayden’s corner and Rob Wood made it 3-0 before Jack scored his hat-trick.

“We scored some very good goals and going forward we were too good for them and put them under a lot of pressure.”