THORNWELL made the long trip to Rhymney after the game was switched because the Chepstow side's Tenby Lane ground was waterlogged.

Things did not get any better when Newport referee Terry Beech – who disallowed a Thornwell penalty a couple of weeks ago - was half an hour late arriving.

Rhymney went ahead after six minutes thanks to a comedy of errors in which the ball struck Thornwell skipper Terry Woodward and bounced back to Lee Williams who hacked it in after a couple of attempts.

The visitors were back in it after 16 minutes when Simon Gould's cross from the wing found Kenny Vidler with pinpoint accuracy on a pitch that was in worse condition than the one abandoned in Chepstow.

Thornwell had scoring opportunities from Gould, Declan Ward and Vidler all ruled out for off-side before Rhymney had a clear penalty turned down when Andrew Skuse pulled down James Jenkins.

The home side was reduced to 10 men after goalscorer Williams was sent off for a second bookable offence early in the second half.

Thornwell's Julian Saunders and Dan Cole both found their way into the referee's book for clumsy tackles.

Skuse put Gould through in the 69th minute to easily round the keeper to make it 1-2.

Dan Cole was lucky not to see red for a trip but in the 82nd minute Rhymney squared the game after a goalmouth melee.

The action continued to the final whistle with Dan Northey pulling off a superb 89th minute stop.

Next week Thornwell travel to Trinant who beat them at Tenby Lane a couple of weeks ago in the Amateur Cup.