Gwent County Division 3

PILCS 3 New Inn 0

After a hard fought 2-1 win over Ebbw Vale on Thursday, New Inn faced a short trip to local rivals PILCS.

New Inn started the game well, although they suffered another blow when the in-form Barrie Evans was injured after only 10 minutes. With many players picking up injuries after 3 games midweek, they were forced to bring Andrew Evans on, their only sub. PILCS soon found their rhythm and put heavy pressure on the New Inn defence, it wasn't long before they found the opener. A free-kick just outside the area was floated in to the back post and was met with a fine volley from their striker.

Shortly afterwards the hosts grabbed their second, hitting New Inn on the break, a cross from the by-line was headed into the empty net, a good move by PILCS.

With half-time approaching, New Inn did find some continuity in their play and came close to scoring. A high cross into the box from Jon Davies dropped rapidly and crashed against the bar only for the ball to bounce over the New Inn strikers who were ready to pounce.

New Inn improved after the break and even though they enjoyed much of the possession, they couldn't create any clear cut chances. PILCS soaked up the pressure and scored a third on the hour mark, a cross from the left-hand side bouncing off the back of a striker before trickling over the line.

The bizarre goal summed up New Inn's afternoon and things were to get worse, New Inn finishing the game with only 10 men. Lee Foxhall's game was prematurely ended when he picked up a nasty injury after a hard 50-50 challenge. The skilful player was a potent threat to the PILCS defence before going off. New Inn huffed and puffed for the remaining 15 minutes, but they couldn't score.

The effort was there for New Inn, but it just wasn't to be as PILCS gained a deserved 3 points. New Inn now lie in 5th position, one point ahead of PILCS with two games in hand.