Gwent County League - Sudbrook CC 2 Rogerstone 1

SUDBROOK CC bounced back from their Amateur Cup exit seven days earlier with a hard-earned three points at home to Rogerstone.

After the match in which Sudbrook won 2-1, assistant manager Drew Main said the performance was “subdued”.

“We returned to league action for the first time since before the Christmas break,” he said.

“The game was played in freezing conditions and we were missing eight players from the squad we had for the cup match.”

Absentees meant a return to action for manager Daryl Cann – his first appearance on the field this season.

“Daryl and I urged the team to start strongly and dominate from the first whistle, taking out our frustration over the cup exit, on Rogerstone,” Main added.

“We did start very quickly, scoring within the first two minutes through Steve Wilson.

“For the next 40 minutes or so we dominated and missed a number of good chances and we could easily have been well ahead.

“Tom Turner scored direct from a corner to make it 2-0 and at half-time warned the players not to allow our performance to drop.

“We also told them to slow the pace a bit to tire Rogerstone because it was clear we were the much fitter team.

“Although we started strongly the match slowly fell into a real battle on an increasingly heavy pitch with some strong challenges from both sides.

“We had several chances to score more goals but it wasn’t to be and Rogerstone made it 2-1 with less than 10 minutes to go although we were never in danger of losing the match and dropping points.

“Daryl and I are both happy with the win, and agree that it’s not necessarily the performances we worry about anymore as long as we keep gaining points.

“It was good to be back on a grass pitch again and get some rustiness out of our systems as we have a big two weeks coming up.

“On Saturday, we face a tough match at Coed Eva Athletic and the following week we have a top-of-the-table clash at home to Brynmawr.”

Severn Tunnel boss Marcus Jenkins was disappointed with his team’s second half display at home to Cefn Fforest.

“We led 3-1 at half time but we fell asleep and lost 6-5,” he said.

“It’s just totally unacceptable. We can’t even blame the pitch because it was the same for both teams.”

Tunnel’s goals came from Ollie Morgan-Davies (2), Tom Atkins, Rhys Briscoe and Luke James.

Caldicot Castle’s match at Mardy fell victim of the weather, but in Division Two Mathern won 3-2 at relegation-threatened Wattsville thanks to goals from Ieuan Diyaolu, Elliot Greening and Mark Organ to move into fourth place in the table.

Villa Dino, 5-3 winners at home to New Inn, are well clear of Fairfield United and Ynysddu Welfare who have five games in hand over Mathern.