Abergavenny Thursdays - 2

Llanwern RTB - 3

DESPITE leading 2-0 for the majority of the first-half against Gwent County Division Three leaders Llanwern RTB, the Abergavenny Thursdays lack of match time and fitness played directly into the hands of the visitors who took advantage of weary legs and a sloppy shape to fire home three goals and seize the win.

Due to postponed games and a topsy-turvy fixture list, the stranger than fiction fact is that Saturday's game at Pen-y-Pound was the first 90 minutes of competitive football the Thursdays have had since 2008 became 2009.

And the Thursdays were made to pay the price for this prolonged period of inactivity, as club secretary Chris Wilkins pointed out, "Fitness levels were our undoing against Llanwern. It's that simple. After Mark Williams and Leon Gilchrist netted in the first-half, we thought great stuff. If we can maintain this level of play then it'll be a repeat performance of our 4-2 win over Llanwern back in October, when we beat them in their own backyard.

"However, it wasn't to be, Llanwern pulled one back before the interval, and in the second-half we just lost our shape and you could visibly see the puff go out of us as Llanwern upped the ante to score two more and run out winners."

Although it was a disappointing loss for the Thursdays, when you take into consideration it was their first match of 2009 and that they were at one point 2-0 up against the current league leaders, their is definitely some solid groundwork for the club to build on for the remainder of the season.

As Wilkins readily agreed, "Saturday's result puts us about sixth in the table, on 26 points, 14 behind Llanwern. Promotion is still very much a viable ambition for us this season, because we have a fair few games in hand, and a lot of them are against teams who currently sit above us in terms of points.

"I think if we can just get a little bit more match time under our belts, then our performances will only improve in their consistency, and hopefully if we can put together a string of results then who knows?"

This Saturday the Thursdays will once again strive to further their ambition of liberation from the tyranny of Division Three when they meet Crickhowell away.