COMEBACK man John Wile suffered heartbreak at Latham Park last night when his costly late blunder dented Cwmbran's League of Wales title ambitions with a 1-1 draw.

There were just two minutes of normal time left when Wile, playing his first game since his re-signing from Llanelli, sliced an attempted clearance towards his goal line. The ball shot into a ruck of players and suddenly nestled in the back of the net to prevent Cwmbran moving up three places to third in the table.

At first it looked like an own goal, but later the score was credited to Newtown midfielder Chris Adamson.

Wile, booked 3 minutes earlier, had an otherwise solid game on his return. The result ended Cwmbran's record-breaking run of 33 league games without a draw and means they trail leaders Barry Town by 11 points, but with only three matches in hand.

The teams' Easter Monday meeting at Cwmbran Stadium now takes on extra significance and with six of the top eight sides still to visit the venue, Cwmbran's fate is still very much in their own hands.

The result was particularly annoying as Newtown were reduced to ten men for the final 26 minutes after striker Steve McCormick had been sent off following a 12-man free-for-all in Cwmbran's penalty area.

Cwmbran strikers Craig Hughes (twice) and Mattie Davies wasted gilt-edged chances to have wrapped the game up.

Hughes fired past the far post while Davies couldn't quite get enough power on the ball and saw defender Tim Edwards clear off the line.

Ten minutes from time, however, Davies fired an unstoppable shot past goalkeeper Paul Whitfield for his ninth goal since returning from Barry, before the unfortunate equaliser. "We're extremely disappointed and there's no doubt this result sets us back," remarked Cwmbran manager Tony Willcox.

"I thought we deserved to win and had much the better of the second half. But we must bounce back from this."

Cwmbran take a break from league action on Saturday when they travel to face Welsh League Division One leaders Ton Pentre in a Welsh Cup quarter final clash.