A THUMPING header from 12 yards gave Caldicot Castle bragging rights over local rivals Thornwell Red & White on Saturday 31st January.

They needed to defend strongly in the later stages of the Gwent County League Division 3 game though, after Matt Divers reduced their lead, to take the points.

Playing for the first time since before Christmas, Castle had the better of the first half with man of the match James McKeon buzzing in midfield.

Early chances went to Castle's prolific striker Joe O'Brien while most of Thornwell's attacks involved the talented Tom Chappell.

It was McKeon who gave the home side the lead in the first half, latching onto a through pass and driving the ball past Thornwell's keeper Jordan Doyle.

Castle were dominating play on a glue-pot of a pitch and most of the action took place on the wings from where Richard Regulski delivered a regular stream of crosses.

The winner – scored by Richard Thorn – came from a Regulski corner, although there was some discussion on social media whether the whole of the ball crossed the line.

Thorn's strong header had hit the roof of the net, bounced out and was booted clear by Dan Cucos and the referee signalled a goal.

Two goals adrift at the break, Thornwell needed to change things and the introduction of sub Matt Divers proved a good tactical switch by manager Steve Bidmead.

Young wing-back Jack Taylor also pushed forward and showed some good touches, in support of the tall and experienced Divers.

Castle dug in and denied their opponents on numerous occasions with last-ditch tackles and some good saves by home keeper Dave Hayward, although he had little chance with Divers' goal, a 25-yard effort which set-up a frantic last quarter-hour as the visitors pushed for an equaliser.

The victory pleased Castle manager Dave Adamson although he admitted he worried the missed chances might be

crucial.

"Considering we hadn't played for seven weeks, we started the better team, had loads of chances in the first half and should have been more than 2-0 up," he said.

"I was worried those missed chances would haunt us and Thornwell had a real go in the second half, but our defence was outstanding.

"Stand-out performances for me were James McKeon and Richard Thorn."

Meanwhile, Bidmead conceded his players were poor in the first half

"We only started playing when we were 2-0 down," he said.

"We played much better after the break and after we scored, I thought we were the better team.

"If we had another 10 minutes, we could have taken something out of the game."