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Treowen Stars extended their lead at the top of the Ardal South East to six points after a dominating 4-0 victory over Caldicot Town.

The Stars were back at Bush Park for the first time since October 2024 on a bitterly cold Saturday afternoon, up against an in form Caldicot side full of confidence.

Focused on the job at hand though, the Stars impressed from the first kick, totally dominating the game and were well worth their four goal win.

Kick-off

Like any top side, Treowen started the game purposefully and on the front foot. Both sides had big bodies, but it was the hosts who were smartly avoiding the tussles and instead getting the ball down and creating some nice patterns of play.

Corey Jenkins was the man most involved early on. Anytime he picked the ball up in and around the penalty box, things began to open up as the Stars probed for the first goal.

It was Caldicot who had the first chance of the game though, a good move from former Risca United player Cole Greenhaf down the right led to a shot which was comfortably saved by Cael Jones.

Another threatening ball through a few minutes later was intercepted brilliantly by defender Gavin Meacham, who was then away down the left into the vacated space.

After eating-up the ground, Meacham laid it to Jenkins near the edge of the Caldicot box who decided to have a slightly speculative effort towards the near post.

It was a decent strike, but it shouldn’t have beaten Matthew Sandiford in goals, who let the ball bounce over him and into the net.

The visitors had the ball in the net themselves a few moments later when captain Matthew James’ header looped over everyone. Offside though and a wake-up call for the Stars.

Still well on top, the hosts were away once again down the left after another nice series of passes on a difficult pitch. The ball eventually fell to Jenkins whose strike was put onto the post and cleared away.

Arguably the best chance of the match for Caldicot came at around the 25th minute when a mad scramble at the back wasn’t dealt with by Treowen, and the ball came to Lyes Mihoubi who should have scored. His effort was a snatched one though and he put it well over the bar.

Still looking to grab the vital second, captain Christian Davies decided to take it upon himself to drive through the Caldicot midfield and defence, before putting a shot onto the post once more.

Fortunately this time for the Stars, the ball rebounded to a blue shirt as Christopher Hartland was most alert to fire home.

The hosts managed the half out well before taking refuge from the bitter cold for what must have been a pretty easy half-time team talk for manager Ben Murphy.

Second-half

More of the same from Treowen to start the second-half. Fullback Aaron Thomas – who had been excellent all game – with the first shot on goal. A simple effort for Sandiford to gather this time.

Jones had a quiet game in goals for the league leaders, but answered well when a ferocious Laurent Ngunjoh strike was heading for the bottom corner. The Treowen number one had no right to save it, but somehow a strong glove steered it away.

This started a spell of possession for the visitors, who were putting everything into getting a goal back.

It wouldn’t come though, and with more space now in behind, the hosts switched up their plan from possession-based intricate passes to balls over the top, looking to stretch the field.

No better example of this than the third goal, when a pump up field from goalkeeper Jones bounced over everyone to Jenkins near the edge of the area.

Drawing in two defenders, he headed inside to Hartland who watched the ball down and volleyed underneath Sandiford to score his second of the game. 3-0 and tie over.

Despite coming into this one having lost just one of their last 11, Caldicot had no answer against a well-organised Treowen side.

Leader at the back Craig McDonnell made sure chances were kept to a minimum all game, but was grateful to see a Benjamin Burns header crash the post and cleared away as he and the rest of the backline looked to protect a clean sheet.

As the final whistle was approaching, Jenkins was still full of running down the left. A ball over the top had the winger away, with his eventual shot palmed to the feet of Hartland.

He made no mistake in netting his hat-trick and 17th goal of the season.

A great performance and win for the Stars, who move six points clear at the top as they edge closer to the Ardal South East title and promotion to the Cymru South

Reaction

After the win, Caerphilly Observer spoke to Treowen Stars manager Ben Murphy, he said: “We started well and got a foothold in the game and they [Caldicot] struggled to get into it.

“They had a decent spell in the second-half, but overall I thought we were comfortable winners, and 4-0 was a fair reflection of the game.”

On his teams tactics coming into this one, Murphy said: “We always look to be a side who are good on the ball, but we don’t mind going in behind if that’s what the game dictates.

“Caldicot are a big physical side and at the end of the day we’ve got quality footballers who we’ve brought in so we do want to be controlling these games with the ball. I thought we executed really well today.”

On the title race overall, Murphy added: “Our goal at the start of the season was to win the league and gain promotion, there’s no hiding from that.

“We’re still on target but there’s still a long way to go, we’ve got tricky games coming up starting with Risca and then we’ll see where we are after that.”