Govilon - 10                            

Malpas Gladiators - 0

 

GOVILON warmed up for their County Motors Challenge Cup semi-final tie under the bright lights of Pen-y-Pound with a confidence boosting rout of Malpas. 

Govilon surged ahead after eight minutes when a long ball over the visitor's defence was cleared off the line by a Malpas defender - only to see his effort fall to the feet of the league's leading marksman Dean Morgan, who side -footed home.

Govilon increased their lead when Richard McCarthy set up Jamie Laurent who hammered home a sweet strike into the top corner of Gareth Clark's goal

And it was Laurent who was on target again to push Govilon further ahead on the half hour mark. 

Five minutes later Morgan's bravery in riding tackle after tackle as he powered into the box saw him beat Clark for his second.

Shortly after the re-start he completed his hat trick when the Malpas defence could not deal with a high ball that Morgan latched onto to fire home.

A break by Jamie Laurent saw him feed Morgan who grabbed his fourth, as Govilon literally hit Gladiators for six.

It was Rhys Whiteman who scored goal number seven when he was first to the ball in a goal-mouth scramble.

Later on Govilon produced another hat-trick hero in the shape of Matthew Stevens who bagged his goals in quick succession, the last of which came just on the stroke of full time.

Looking ahead to Friday night's cup semi-final against Pilcs, Club Chairman Rob Francis told the Chronicle, "We are delighted to have the opportunity to play on a Friday night and we hope this will appeal to all local football fans and boost the attendance.

"We know we will have to be at our very best to overcome Pilcs who knocked us out of this competition at an earlier stage last season, but the prospect of a Pen-y-pound based cup final against local side Clydach Wasps who are already through, is a very strong incentive" 

Gwent County Division Two table-toppers Govilon will go head to head and toe to toe with the Division Three leaders PILCS this Friday at Pen-y-Pound with a 7.00pm kick-off.

Abertillery Excelsiors - 0

Blaenavon Blues - 0

BLAENAVON Blues picked up another point towards survival in Gwent County Division One on Saturday when they held Abertillery Excelsiors to a goal-less draw at the Excelsiors Woodland Field.

Both clubs had agreed to an early kick off to allow the players time to get back to their preferred location to watch the Wales v Ireland international.

The game was a case of two halves with the Blues having the ascendancy in the opening 45 minutes, but failing to capitalise on their chances - the best of which fell to Neil Cox who fired wide when through on goal.

Excelsiors themselves were unlucky not to have scored in the opening half hour when Blues keeper' Lee Jones made two superb saves to keep his side in the game.

Abertillery dominated the second period's possession and territory, but never troubled Jones in the Blues goal.

When the Blues did gain possession they carved open the Abertillery defence on a number of occasions with their passing and movement game.

18-year-old Ben Penry put in a mature display in the centre of the park and linked up well with Neil Cox and fellow 18-year-old Jamie Brankely.

The best chance of the day fell to club captain White who found himself through on goal but his attempted lob went wide of the post.

With time running out both clubs seemed to settle for a point.

Saturday's result entails that the Blues are now four points clear of relegation rivals Cefn Fforest and Mardy, and now need to pick up a few wins to ensure they avoid the drop.

Elsewhere in Division One, it is very much a case of clear and present danger for the Mardy who sunk further into the mire of the relegation zone after being narrowly beaten 2-1 away to the Treowen Stars.

Meanwhile in Gwent County Division Three, the Abergavenny Thursdays away day at Whiteheads ended in a 1-1 draw.