East Gwent Senior League

Division 1

Sudbrook CC A 5 Mathern FC A 1

SUDBROOK took another huge step towards lifting the title and promotion to the Gwent County League with a 5-1 victory over second-placed Mathern.

Despite the scoreline, this was no walkover, with Mathern pressing for an equaliser when the home side led 2-1 after an hour.

But had Mathern scored that leveller with a header from a corner, it might have been a different final half hour.

As it was, Sudbrook scored their third and as Mathern tired in the last half-hour, Sudbrook ran in two more goals to seal the three points and further enhance their goal difference, which could still prove to be vital to their promotion ambitions.

The first 20 minutes had been fairly even with both teams trying to play football on a sticky pitch but then Sudbrook took the lead when a free kick into Mathern’s area was headed home by Mattie Phillips.

After the break, Keenan Perrett latched onto a through ball and scored the second before Wayne Duffield scored his 100th goal for Mathern to cut the deficit.

For 10 minutes or so, Mathern pressed forward looking for the equaliser but a header from a corner went a yard wide and the let-off spurred Sudbrook into action.

The impressive Richie Lloyd, a recent signing from Chepstow Town, scored the third and Mathern heads dropped as Oli Mottram and Phillips completed the victory.

“It was a massive win for us,” admitted Sudbrook co-manager Daryl Cann.

“We were slow to start but we played some nice football and Mathern had only one shot on target which shows how dominant we were.

“We were solid in defence and dangerous in attack so now there are four 'cup finals' left.”

One of those 'finals' will be the return match at Mathern and Sudbrook also have a home match against title rivals Underwood.

Mathern manager Lee Baker said Sudbrook deserved to win but he thought the scoreline “flattered them”.

“For 60 minutes we played high tempo and very aggressively, which they didn't like,” he said.

“In the last half-hour we slowed down and let them play. We were in it until their third goal which killed us off.

“But Sudbrook are definitely a team to learn from because they took their chances at the right times which good teams do.

”We take heart as we battled them and pushed them for the second week in a row. We are a young team and we learn from every loss so we definitely won't beat ourselves up about losing to them.”