East Gwent Senior League Centenary Cup

THE East Gwent Senior League’s Centenary Cup reaches the semi-final stage with Caldicot Castle B taking on Underwood Athletic B in one tie and Mathern Reserves B entertaining Severn Tunnel B in the other.

Castle will be keen to put their 4-0 defeat at Undy in last weekend’s Benevolent Cup quarter final behind them, as Undy scored with Tom Scott, Simon Yates, Mark Davison and Dan Roberts.

Mathern Reserves B lost 6-3 to Mathern Reserves A so they too will be keen to return to winning ways.

Jeff Whitehouse, manager of the B team, pointed to a crucial decision as being a turning point.

The A team led 3-2 thanks to goals from Tom Watson, Wayne Duffield and Harry Johnstone – scored against his father Jason in the B team’s goal. The B team, whose goals were scored by Harry Ward and Ieuan Diyaolu, appeared to have broken the offside trap and scored an equaliser but it was ruled offside.

“It was disappointing because they scored almost immediately afterwards to make it 4-2,” he said.

“But my players and their attitude were excellent and they didn’t let me down. Harry Johnstone and Connor Hayden caused us problems all afternoon.”

Mathern A manager Lee Baker said the B team battled well and had made it hard for his men.

“In the second half, we kept the ball very well and made them chase. It could have been a banana skin for us but my squad showed a great team spirit and have the knack of adapting to every situation. Bring on the semi-final!”

Jack Stewart (two) and Connor Hayden were the A team’s other scorers with Diyaolu adding a second after the break for the B team.

In the other quarter-finals, Thornwell Red and White beat Chepstow Athletic 5-4 with an extra-time winner, and Caldicot Town beat Severn Bridge 3-1.

Thornwell boss Terry Woodward wasn’t keen on having to play extra time.

“I’m a bit old for that,” he quipped adding that he was pleased with the result even though his men let in two “soft” goals.

“We went two up, let Athletic back in and after we scored another two, we let them back in again and it all fell apart a bit.

“Our goals came from Dean Corbett, Tony Reynolds (two), Jordan Locke and Nathan Clarke.”

His rival, Jake Parkinson said it was a bittersweet match for him.

“We played well and put in a really decent performance but we lost,” he said.

“We knew we had to soak up pressure and we worked on counter attacking during training and it paid dividends with three of our goals.

“The effort the boys put in couldn’t be faulted and we showed a bit of fight which has been lacking recently. Our scorers were Will Morgan (two), Michael Slater and Luke Harris.”