Llanelli 7-1 Llanwern

LLANWERN boss Kevin Russell reckons his defenders played well against Llanelli on Saturday despite being on the wrong end of a 7-1 drubbing. The problem, he believes, is with his midfielders.

"I'm looking at a couple of new players and one of them is a midfielder. They're training with us at the moment, but can not sign because their still with other clubs. We'll have to wait about 28 days I think. Because the players I have, have not responded like I have asked then changes will have to be made.

"It sounds crazy, but I was happy with our defence. We just surrendered in the midfield and gave the ball away too cheaply.

'The back four have not defended badly, they just haven't been protected in-front. We're not defending as a team and that's something I need to address," mused the Llanwern tactician.

Giving his thoughts on Saturday's disappointing game Russell went on: "In the first half we played really well and I was happy. I have got to be honest, football is a crazy game and at half time I thought we were going to win. Unfortunately we let in a soft goal and got the stuffing knocked out of us. After that we were chasing the game."

Llanwern were only 2-1 down at the break, Chris Pearce getting their solitary goal. A dire 45 minutes after the break put paid to all their good efforts earlier in the match. Russell puts much of that second half mauling down to a lack of character.

"I was disappointed with the reaction of the players. They let their heads drop.

"I'm a patient guy, but at the same time if the players here are not going to learn from their mistakes the changes will have to be made.

We gave the side good information before the game and at half time, but the players have just not taken it on board. Players are judged solely on their performance on the Saturday and I'm disappointed with the way things went.

"After a result like this you start to analysing yourself. I spoke to Brian Coyne at Cwmbran Town after his side fell to a similar result. We both agreed that sometimes you feel you have done everything you can, but the players have to take hold of their responsibilities. There is work to be done."

Llanwern face Ely Rangers in the Welsh Cup this Saturday and Russell knows only too well the importance of a good result.

"We beat them 2-1 down their earlier in the season and if we can keep a clean sheet this time then we've achieved what we're aiming for. If we can win and get back on track then we set ourselves up nicely for our next four or five league games," he said.

Llanwern kick off away at Ely Rangers this Saturday at 2.15pm.

Aberaman 4, Chepstow 1

Chepstow went down 4-1 at Aberaman, their lone goal scored by substitute Ollie Hunt. Chepstow trailed 3-0 at the break.

Mark Price, Chepstow player-manager, said: "They were the better side. We had a couple of good chances early on but once they scored we fell away.

'I cannot fault our display after the break and if we had played like that in the first-half we would not have been three down."

Garw 1, Caldicot 0

Caldicot, beaten 1-0 at Garw, suffered a blow in the warm-up, losing striker Richard Shier through injury.

Chris Lilygreen, Caldicot player-manager, said: "I had to change things around before we started. Garw are a good First Division side and we did all right, but the goal in the second-half did come from our mistake."