Java: If (int == 1)... not working

So I am trying to learn Java, and have been writing a basic program based off of the 21 matches game; in which each player takes turns taking 1,2 or 3 matches. The player to take the last match loses.

It was going well until I found that when the user was about to win, the program wouldn't enter the final else if statement; it would skip over it and come back to the user, without the computer having taken any matches. Attached is the method I have written for the computers turn.

    public static int ComputerPlays(int matches){ //Method for the computers turn
    int matchesTaken = 0;

    if (matches > 7){ matchesTaken = new Random().nextInt(3)+1; }
    else if (matches > 4 && matches < 8){ matchesTaken = matches - 4; }
    else if (matches < 5){ matchesTaken = matches - 1; }
    else if (matches == 1){ matchesTaken = 1; }

    System.out.println("Computer takes " + matchesTaken + " matches");
    return(matches - matchesTaken);
}

The line else if (matches == 1){ matchesTaken = 1; } is where I'm having a problem. Any help would be appreciated.

P.S. I realize that I could turn the else if into an else statement, but the main thing is I want to learn what the problem is, not just get around it.