FOUR goals in a blistering 20-minute second-half spell brought Mathern back from the brink of home defeat on Saturday.

With Mathern trailing 3-1 after an hour of play, Mathern boss Dean Thomas sent Tom Marmont into the fray and pushed midfielder Alex Bell forward to supplement the attack. The tactics paid dividends, the extra firepower testing an overstretched Rhymney defence when Richard Wood wriggled into the penalty area before being brought down and the referee pointed to the spot.

Wayne Duffield made it 3-2 despite a valiant effort by Rhymney’s stand-in keeper Lloyd Jones.

Minutes later, Tom Marmont chased a long ball out of defence and swung over a cross which Elliot Greening headed into the top right corner to level matters and register his second goal of the game.

Greening and Ieuan Diyaolu combined to release Bell whose fierce shot was parried wide by Jones but the alert Wood fired it home to put Mathern ahead and as Rhymney visibly wilted, the same player latched onto a fine pass from midfield and fired his second to complete a remarkable comeback

Mathern co-managers Dean Thomas and Gareth Moore were naturally pleased with the way the team fought back.

“Rhymney proved to be as we expected, a very tough team to break down,” Thomas said.

“It was a competitive first half, with us just shading possession and having one or two more chances with Elliot scoring our first goal.

“But we started the second half on the back foot and were quickly 3 - 1 down but we showed the spirit and togetherness that has been the basis of our recent run of league wins and four goals in the last half hour were the highlight of a dominant display that showed the fitness levels of the team. We face another tough game this Saturday in a local derby at Thornwell.”

Rhymney’s joint managers Jason Harding and Ken Hopkins paid tribute to Mathern, describing them as the best team they had played this season.

“Unfortunately, we are scoring goals but we can’t shut up shop and we give silly goals away,” said Harding.

“Mathern looked comfortable on the ball and we were impressed with their midfielders Greening and Diyaolu,” added Hopkins.

In other matches involving East Gwent teams, Caldicot Castle won 2-1 at Trinant after once again falling victim of an early goal.

“We were without eight players and for the first half hour we were all over the place, went behind and were lucky it was only one goal,”said manager Dave Adamson.

“Then on 35 minutes Richard Thorn forced the ball home from a Mark Wood corner and five minutes later we were in front when Joe O’Brien ran onto a Richard Beach pass, beat the last man and smashed it into the top corner.

“The second half saw us defending brilliantly under a lot of pressure from the home team with outstanding performances again from Shane Jeremiah and captain Richard Withey to give us a deserved victory for the first time since the end of September.” Now Adamson is hoping he will have a full squad for the match against Ponthir on Saturday.

Thornwell’s match at Neuadd Wen was called off while, in Division Two, Blackrock Rovers drew 2-2 at home to Malpas United.