Monmouthshire Windows East Gwent League Gill Cup semi-final - Caldicot Castle 5 Undy Athletic 4 (aet)

CALDICOT Castle manager Joe O’Brien has a new nickname – “Supersub” – after scoring four second-half goals to book a place in the Gill Cup final.

O’Brien, who has only played brief cameo appearances this season, replaced Paul Harris moments after seeing Undy take a 4-1 lead soon after half-time to lead his men to an unlikely victory.

The game had been reversed from the original draw as Undy were unable to play at their own ground due to their Welsh League team being at home.

Despite recent rain, the Castle’s main pitch was ruled playable and when Castle took an early lead, victory looked a formality.

But Undy replied quickly, Ryan Hudson equalising from the penalty spot and Dan Tozer finished off a flowing move to give Athletic the lead.

Castle seemed rattled by the way the visitors took the game to them and when Hudson scored his second just before the break, O’Brien’s half-time team talk was pretty blunt – improve or we are out!

Quite what was on his mind a minute after the restart when Rhys Evans made it 4-1, is anyone’s guess but he didn’t hang about and joined the battle almost immediately.

Within five minutes he was running to retrieve the ball from the net after making it 4-2 and his urgency seemed to inspire players and spectators alike.

His second goal duly arrived to make a Castle victory possible and when he completed his hat-trick to force extra time, news filtered through to those in the clubhouse and more spectators braved the snow to watch the extra 30 minutes.

Castle went ahead for the second time when O’Brien ran onto a pass from Richard Lund to slot the ball past Undy’s stand-in keeper Mike Waters and complete the comeback.

O’Brien’s haul puts him level with Lund on 22 goals in all competitions and O’Brien praised Lund for unselfishly passing for him to score the winner.

“We had more chances to make the winning margin larger because Richard had a header cleared off the line and James Reid had a volley blocked but with cramp affecting players on both sides we held on,” he said after the match.

“I thought Undy’s penalty award was a little harsh but they pegged us back in our own half and we didn’t do a lot of counter-attacking,

“Undy’s number 10, Ryan Hudson, was giving us problems that we weren’t dealing with.

“At 4-1 it was obvious we had to change things and I thought I could give another option up top – and it worked.

“We were without four regulars and we missed them especially in the opening half-hour when we didn’t really challenge for the ball but anything can happen in a semi-final.

“Now we look forward to the next league match when our quest for the treble continues!”

Castle will face Rockfield Rovers at Caldicot Town’s Welsh League pitch on Friday 6th April.

Bob Cypher