Chepstow blasted by Panteg coach (From Free Press Series)

Chepstow blasted by Panteg coach

PANTEG player-coach Ian Bird led by example in Saturday's tense win of Chepstow hitting a magnificent season best of 112 - even if he did ride his luck at times.

But it was bowler Phil Bullock who stole all the glory with his dismissal of former Glamorgan power-house Adrian Dale.

The Panteg player picked-up the biggest wicket of his career to stop Chepstow 's match winner tearing past the half century barrier. It was a vital wicket for the home side and one that undoubtedly turned the match in their favour.

Bird was the first to praise Bullock on his glory-wicket stressing just how important it was.

"Dale was hitting every bad ball and raced to 41. He was on fire and we knew it was vital we got him out. I knew if we did we could win and when we did bowl him out we just went from strength to strength.

"We're all really, really pleased for Phil. He deserved it," he said.

Bird's triumphant century busting stint at the crease in the opening innings alongside Barney Worrad's 84 edged Panteg to an invincible innings total of 243-3.

Chepstow pushed hard coming very close to grabbing something from the game, but the loss of Dale's batting power meant they drifted short of the target by 19 runs.

"When we lost to Usk we targeted this game as a must win," said Bird. "Chepstow are the kind of team we need to be beating. Games like Saturday's are massive for us. By winning we can now look with confidence at the next two games ahead of us against Sully and Newport.

"If we had lost against Chepstow then our heads would have be down and we could have been contemplating three weeks without a win if form has anything to say. The win was vital.

"The players have come up trumps. We needed this result. I needed to prove to myself that I could score the points.

"I think we've turned a small corner. There was a feeling in the club we were down. We've had lads out injured and three defeats. It was effecting players, but we got together before the game and said we can get through this. That might seem simple, but it worked."

Panteg could come back down to earth with a bump though this weekend when they travel to wounded Premiership leaders Sully who lost to St Fagans on Saturday.

"We'll play for everything against," rallied Bird. "St Fagans proved Sully are not infallible by beating them. We are on a high so who's to say we can't beat them too? They will be looking to win, but we have quality players coming back and might just do it."

Saturday's match bats off at 1pm.