East Gwent Senior League Division One - Thornwell Red and White 1 Mathern A 5

CHAMPIONS Mathern lead the way after winning 5-1 at Thornwell Red and White but Underwood A showed they mean business by thrashing Undy Athletic 11-1.

After taking the lead through Tom Watson, Mathern were pegged back when Kenny Vidler placed his shot wide of keeper Josh Carter’s left hand and went into half time all-square.

With high winds and driving rain making it difficult for both sides to play, the visitors adapted to the conditions better than their opponents with Kyle Gettings and Rob Wood using the wings to their advantage, Gettings setting up two late goals for his teammates.

In midfield, Harry Johnson didn’t put a foot wrong and Jack Taylor was again a threat whenever he galloped forward to support the attack. Another goal by Watson, two by sub Wayne Duffield and one from Matty Jackson in the last half-hour gave Mathern a slightly flattering margin of victory.

Thornwell were without the influential Neil Brown through injury although he was pressed into action to take the whistle and referee the game.

In his absence, Matt Divers had a good match at the centre of the defence – despite the scoreline.

“I thought the performance was solid as a whole,” Mathern boss Lee Baker said later.

“We moved the ball around well to make them chase but more importantly, we controlled the game.

“As the cliche goes it’s a team effort and today was that with the amount of people playing well.

“We still have things to work on, so we keep going.

“I thought Thornwell were good. They have good players and their number 10 Stephen Reynolds was rapid while Divers at the back was solid.

“We’ve been working on a few things and they worked out a number of times today so it’s pleasing.”

Thornwell boss Terry Woodward said there were positives to take from the performance.

“It was quite a good game for us until 20 minutes to go then it all fell apart,” he said.

“We more than matched them for 70 or so. We need a bit more fitness in the side but there were some positives from the game.

“If we can get the starting 11 plus a few that are missing I think we can do OK. A big thank you to Neil Brown for refereeing after the proper ref didn’t show up.”