MATHERN manager Dean Thomas was in no mood to talk this weekend after seeing his men surrender a two-goal lead to Athletic in the 2nd division of the Gwent County League.

"Just write the same as last week and the week before," he said. "We battered them and paid the price for not putting the chances away.

"We performed well for an hour then let them off the hook but it was another game where we played good football and really should have won."

It was an honest assessment of a match that slipped away thanks to a defensive error and a penalty for handball.

Mathern were in control and cruising thanks to goals by Elliot Greening and Connor Hayden after 20 minutes but those were only two of five chances which would have put the result beyond doubt had they been taken.

As it was Llanhilleth, sitting two places above Mathern in the table, capitalised on a moment of indecision in the home side's defence and as the ball ran loose, Andrew Terrance thumped his shot past Harrison Prettyjohns from ten yards.

The second half saw much of the same dominance although Athletic's managers were becoming increasingly irate and vocal over the refereeing of the match.

But they fell silent when Elliot Greening's pace took him clear.

As he reached the penalty area, Greening was scythed down by Athletic's keeper Josh Withers but the referee waved away Mathern's appeals, telling skipper Alex Bell, the collision was "an accident".

Ten minutes later, at an Athletic corner, Mathern defender Adam Morrissey, in attempting to clear, only succeeded in kicking the ball against his own hand and the referee gave a penalty that was gratefully despatched by Lloyd Hurn to equalise.

In the dying moments, Mathern had a great chance to grab the three points they needed – and some would say, their p e r f o r m a n c e merited.