East Gwent Senior League Round-up

TINTERN Abbey met Severn Tunnel in Division 1, knowing victory for either team would put pressure on the pacesetters.

In a niggly match, a Steve Lane penalty sealed the points for the Rogiet side.

Tintern lost their keeper during the warm-up so striker Stuart Williams donned the jersey and then Darren Luff was shown a straight red card for deliberate handball in the area to give Lane his chance.

“Tunnel controlled the game and deserved to win,” said manager Martin Woodford.

His opposite number Steve Duddridge thought the match was more one-sided than the score suggests.

“We were dominating from the off and could have been two or three goals up before the penalty. When Tintern counter-attacked, Steve Lane snuffed out the danger.

“Even when they lost a player, it didn’t help us because they dropped even deeper. We hit the woodwork a few times and they defended for their lives and deserve credit but on a different surface we would have scored a lot more.”

Tunnel are now level on 18 points with Underwood who have a better goal difference.

Chepstow Town won 5-1 at home to Caldicot Town but despite the winning margin, manager Martyn Jenkins said his men didn’t make it easy for themselves.

“We tried to play football but Caldicot were closing us down quickly and we started to panic with the ball,” he said.

“But in the second half we played good football and took charge.”

Chepstow’s goals came from Phil Bailey (2), Steve Smith, Harry Ward and Craig White.

“We lost Dan Williams who was sent off for kicking out at a Town player but I think we deserved the points,” Jenkins added.

Blackrock Rovers drew 3-3 with Rockfield Rovers.

In Division Two, Severn Tunnel B (David Scanlon and Craig Larcombe 2) drew 3-3 with Tintern Abbey B, Caldicot Castle B beat Portskewett & Sudbrook 4-0 and Chepstow Athletic continued to climb the table after a 6-3 win over Sudbrook CC B with goals from Will Morgan (2), Dan Webb (2) Michael Slater and Josh Methuen.

Athletic’s boss Andrew Methuen was pleased, especially as he was short of players and had only one substitute.

“We haven’t been able to put out the same side all season,” he said. “But the players who came in, played well.

“Will Morgan was great, he scored two, took a lot of tough tackles but just got on with it. Kevin Meddings helped to keep things ticking over and Paul Salt’s passing was awesome at times.

“The only down side is that we lost Josh with a hamstring injury. The ref had a good game too.”