Gwent County League Division Three

SUDBROOK CC had two Thorns in their side but it was Villa Dino who rose to the occasion in their Mill Lane clash.

The first time the two promoted sides have met, proved to be a tough test for promotion hopefuls Sudbrook with leaders Villa Dino showing why they top the table.

They dominated the first half using the strong cross-pitch wind to good advantage and as the home side’s manager Daryl Cann conceded, both goals came as a result of strong wing play.

“We changed things at half-time and switched to a 4-4-2 formation which helped to get us back into the game,” Cann said.

By then, Dino were 2-0 ahead through Mike Powell and Connor Kearney but when ex-Caldicot Town striker Jason Thorn scored his first goal for Sudbrook on his debut and with the wind in their favour, an equaliser looked on the cards.

With Rob Thorn playing on the shoulder of the last defender, there was always hope but Dino’s defence held firm.

“I thought we were on top when Jason scored,” Cann added.

“But when we pushed for the equaliser we were caught on the counter attack with the third goal.”

Sudbrook had keeper Craig Brimble and some poor finishing to thank for keeping the score to a respectable level.

Three times, Brimble stood up to advancing forwards who were bearing down on his goal before Liam Smith broke through on Sudbrook’s left flank and made it 3-1.

However, Cann still believes his team are strong enough to challenge for promotion, especially as they have a lot of home games left in the league programme.

“Overall, it was a disappointing result but they are a very good team,” he said.

“We know every game from now is a “must win” for us to be challenging for promotion and there’s no reason why we can’t go on to do exactly that!”

In the only other Division Three match to survive the weather, Rockfield Rovers won 4-2 at Ponthir.

Meanwhile, in Division Two, Mathern demolished Sebastopol 9-1 at home, with Luke Farley scoring four times, including a penalty.

Mathern’s other goals came from Elliot Greening (2), Dan Williams, Billy Jeffery and Mark Organ.

“There were three tap-ins apart from the penalty,” Farley admitted, modestly.

“I was in the right spot to finish off good work by Mark and Elliot and to take advantage of a poor clearance, but I’ll take a 9-1 win and four goals any day!”