A deflected Wayne Morley free-kick from the edge of the area in the very last minute was enough for Caldicot to win this evenly matched encounter in Gwent on Saturday.

Substitute Jack Jenkins was the unlucky Village player that the ball deflected off into the net, but boss Bob Lloyd was upbeat with his team’s performance.

He said: “I was disappointed with our first half performance as Caldicot, in all fairness to them, they pushed the ball around especially using the width of the park to good effect.

“Although having said that, Mark Snell was not troubled too much by them directly. Most of it was down to the performance of David Rimmer, Steve Bater and David Evans who showed the form that we all know they can produce.

“We played with a lot more purpose and desire in the second-half. We decided to close their wide men down quicker and get them to kick long which suited us with our height advantage. We got a lot more success behind their defence as in the first-half we played to much in front of them therefore closing us down every time.

“By playing in behind them, what looked to be a very solid defence from Caldicot in the first half did look very vulnerable, at times, especially down our left hand side where we had moved Derrick Jenkins.”

Paul Bromage (wedding), Jamie Mansell (injured) and both Marc Lloyd and Michael Hughes (working) were all unavailable for the trip to face Town. Phil Myles and Jack Jenkins both made league debuts while Richard Uffendelle and Nicky Romanello returned to the Village midfield.

Apart from Caldicot’s killer goal right at the death, the game’s best other chance fell to Village new-boy Derrick Jenkins, who opened his account in last Sunday’s West Wales Cup defeat at Llansawel. Mid-way through the second-half a cross-come-shot came off the Caldicot crossbar and fell to the unmarked Jenkins 6-yards out but, as he was leaning back, struck his shot over the top.

Lloyd added: “I was pleased with our overall second-half performance but was disappointed with the final result, one that the boys didn't deserve and especially the defence for the way they played.”

Village: Mark Snell; David Rimmer, Steve Bater, David Evans; Dayle Selvage (Nicky Romanello), Derrick Jenkins, Chris Thomas (Jack Jenkins), Richard Uffendelle, Steven Evans, Ashley Richards, Phil Myles (Owen Williams).