CALDICOT Town’s turn in the Welsh Cup spotlight proved all too brief at Jubilee Way, where visiting Port Talbot Town cantered into the last 16 as a result of a 3-0 victory.

In Division Two of the MacWhirter Welsh League, there was another win for second-placed Cwmbran Celtic, but a shock home defeat for Division Three leaders Goytre.

In retrospect, Caldicot’s hopes of cup glory were all over from the 20th minute when home midfielder Steve Edwards was sent off in front of the TV cameras after deliberate handball at a corner.

It looked as though the ball had already crossed the line when Edwards scooped it away, and the handicap of being down to 10 men for 70 minutes certainly lent itself to the final outcome.

However, what also must be reported is that Newport-born Port Talbot goalkeeper Lee Kendall didn’t have a single shot to save, while the number of off-target home efforts was also extremely low.

Caldicot were, in general, second best before the break, but had enough of the possession after it to at least have engineered one chance.

But it was not to be as Port Talbot’s rearguard, superbly marshalled by six-foot central defenders Matthew Rees and Lee Surman, gave absolutely nothing away.

Striker Martin Rose duly smashed home the resulting penalty past goalkeeper James Smallcombe following Edwards’ demise, and credit to Caldicot for holding their top-level visitors to a single goal until late in the final 12 minutes.

Substitute Daniel Thomas ghosted past three would-be tacklers before driving home a fierce close-range shot with Rose completing the scoring by tapping in from inside the six-yard box two minutes from time.

Port Talbot are only the Principality Welsh Premier League’s ninth-best side. However, there is a huge difference in class between that level of football and the MacWhirter Welsh League Division One, where Caldicot ply their trade.

Midfielder David Lloyd was without question Caldicot’s best player, richly deserving much applause when he gave way with four minutes remaining.

Afterwards, joint Caldicot manager Jason Pritchard, in sole charge because of the unavailability of co-boss Simon Wetter, expressed his appreciation of his team’s display.

“I thought it was a very good performance by us,” he said. “It’s hard enough against higher-level opponents with 11 players, so going down to 10 was always going to be difficult.

“I believe the 3-0 scoreline doesn’t give a fair reflection of the game. OK, we didn’t have many chances, but I don’t think they had too many either.

“So as long as it stayed at 1-0 and if we’d had 11, I think we could have caused a bit more trouble than we did.

“But that’s the way it goes in football and our players can take much credit from this game.”

Celtic were playing their first game since striker Scott Lanyon was handed a 14-month suspension, which he has appealed against, for being found guilty of assault on a match referee.

However, they shrugged off his absence to record a fine, 3-0 home victory over the team immediately below them, AFC Porth.

Shane Williamson grabbed two of the goals with Owen Llewellyn getting the other as Celtic posted a seventh win in nine league starts.

“We played very well and also had to defend well, so we’re extremely pleased with this result,” said Celtic assistant boss Della Cheedy.

Llanwern started their match at Ammanford in fifth position, but slipped to sixth after losing 2-1. Danny Penn scored their goal, but the injury hoodoo which is stalking the Newport Stadium club struck again when Richard Shire picked up a hamstring strain.

Croesyceiliog threw away a great chance to climb the table when they could only draw 2-2 at home with Newcastle Emlyn, who scored twice in the last seven minutes to snatch an unlikely point.

“Someone said the first 83 minutes was the best he’d seen us play for three seasons – then we collapsed,” exclaimed frustrated Croesyceiliog chief Gareth Morgan.

“I honestly believe our players thought they’d got the game all wrapped up and they must learn from this very costly mistake.”

Minus leading scorer Jody Jenkins and his strike partner Daniel Mais, Croesy-ceiliog’s goals came via Richard Perry and Anthony Southard at Woodland Road.

Another local club to chuck away a two-goal advantage was Cwmbran Town, who were held 3-3 at home by Maesteg Park.

Goals from Anthony Parson and Dean Wood put the Crows in control, and when Steve Hughes eventually put them 3-2 ahead, it appeared they would secure a fourth win of the season.

However, the visitors, down to 10 men following a second-half sending off, snatched parity with an injury-time equaliser.

Tredegar entertained table-topping Penrhiw-ceiber Rangers and, amazingly, they too lost 3-2 after leading 2-0.

An Ian Morris header and an own goal put Tredegar on course for a win, but Rangers rallied well to steal it with three goals in the final 15 minutes.

And just when you thought ditching 2-0 leads doesn’t happen in Division Three, then think again!

Leaders Goytre were looking nailed on to secure an eighth victory in 11 outings. They were in total control after striker Martin Houston and an own goal had put them clear of visiting South Gower, who began 17th of 18.

Goytre even squandered several scoring opportunities to have won by an even bigger margin – before the wheels fell off in spectacular fashion as the away side went goal-crazy to pinch a 3-2 success.

Like Goytre, Monmouth have also been going well in climbing to third spot – so a 4-1 away defeat at mid-table Pontypridd Town, where Elliott Ford scored their only goal, can certainly be classed as a shock.

“We are very disappointed with the outcome, although we acknowledge Pontypridd were better than us on the day,” said Monmouth chief Adrian Howells.

Aberbargoed Buds returned to action following a postponement and emerged 2-0 home winners over Cwmamman United – with the county’s leading domestic goal-scorer Ross Fowler getting both.

Fowler scored on 10 and 75 minutes to take his league and cup tally for the campaign to 17, four more than Jenkins, Lanyon, Caldicot’s Jason Thorn and Phil Tranter, of Monmouth.

Newport Civil Service went down to a 2-1 home reverse at the hands of Port Talbot-based Corus Steel, who returned to the top. Matthew Lawrence scored for the Gwent club.

Abertillery Bluebirds consolidated a mid-table spot thanks to a 3-0 win over visiting Pentwyn Dynamos, with top scorer Owen Goodenough again living up to his name by firing in a well-taken hat trick.

Risca United entertained Llantwit Fardre and matters ended all square, 2-2, with both the Ty-Isaf Park side’s goals being scored by Liam Havard.

Hot shots: 17 – Ross Fowler (Aberbargoed Buds). 13 – Jody Jenkins (Croesyceiliog). Scott Lanyon (Cwmbran Celtic); Jason Thorn (Caldicot Town); Phil Tranter (Monmouth Town). 12 – Gareth Cullimore (Caldicot Town). 10 – Owen Goodenough (Abertillery Bluebirds); Marcus Power (Llanwern). 9 – Graham Mason (Goytre). 7 – Owen Llewellyn (Cwmbran Celtic); Chris Watkins (Goytre). 6 – Matthew Bowen (Monmouth Town); Brendan Scott (Risca United) Richard Sharratt (Caldicot Town). 5 – Daniel Bailey (Newport Civil Service); Lewis Clark (Abertillery Bluebirds); Daniel Edwards (Newport YMCA); Liam Havard (Risca United); Craig Jolliffe (Goytre); Matthew Lawrence (Newport Civil Service); Kristian Powell (Cwmbran Town); Benny Preece (Aberbargoed Buds); Luke Sallis (Cwmbran Celtic); Shaun Williamson (Cwmbran Celtic).

Clean sheets: 6 – Aberbargoed Buds. 4 – Cwmbran Celtic; Newport Civil Service. 3 – Newport YMCA. 2 – Abertillery Bluebirds; Caerleon, Caldicot Town, Croesyceiliog; Goytre, Tredegar Town. 1 – Cwmbran Town, Llanwern, Monmouth Town, Risca United.