Gwent Premier One

Llanhilleth Athletic 2 Mardy AFC 3

MARDY faced a struggling Llanhilleth Athletic on Saturday and came away with three points after dominating much of the game but often failing to turn possession into clear cut chances, reports CLIVE HARRY.

Despite a scrappy opening period they took the lead after 11 minutes with a well-worked goal, after some good play in midfield saw Nathan Price put through a perfectly-weighted pass for Tom Jenkins to run onto and score with a clinical finish into the corner.

A minute later Price had a well-struck shot of his own safely held by the home goalkeeper.

But while the visitors were generally on top, they were having trouble carving out goal-scoring opportunities.

And they were almost caught on the hop after 25 minutes when the hosts’ Mason Jenkins was clean through only for keeper Chris Price to block and collect the ball cleanly.

With the half-time whistle looming, a one-goal lead would have been slightly underwhelming for Mardy.

But in the space of a minute, two incidents changed the whole pattern of play for the second half.

The first came when good play by Lewi Bradford gave Mardy top scorer Ross Melville a shooting chance and he thundered a shot against the underside of the bar before seeing it rebound to safety.

Jenkins then shot over before the ball was immediately transferred to the other end where Kian O'Brien was put through to equalise.

The passage of play meant that instead of a comfortable two-goal lead, Mardy would have to start all over again.

And things worsened only five minutes after the restart when Mason Jenkins was put clear to lob over keeper Price and give Llanhilleth a 2-1 lead.

The visitors were forced to up their game and with half an hour remaining they forced five successive corners only to be foiled by desperate last-ditch defending.

The pressure was maintained but there was an air of anxiety, amplified when Nathan Price was sin-binned for 10 minutes for remarks to the referee after a nasty-looking foul went unpunished.

Fortunately, an equaliser arrived with 18 minutes remaining, but ironically it came out of the blue when a cross was dropped by the Llanhilleth keeper for Jack Williams to get some reward for his overall performance, side-footing the ball home from close range.

The sense of relief among the visitors' ranks was increased eight minutes later when they went into a 3-2 lead.

Williams was involved again with a cross into the box which Melrose met on the volley to score his 13th goal of the season with an unstoppable shot.

The lead could have been increased with half chances falling to Melrose again and 16-year-old Ellis Morgan, but the score remained unchanged until the final whistle sounded on an away win for Mardy.

This Saturday (March 8) the team face another away trip to Rhymney.

Mardy 2nds were also in action facing a tough task away to Prescoed, but put up a great fight despite being 6-2 down after 23 minutes.

They showed great spirit to deny the hosts any further scores and came up with three second-half goals of their own to go down 6-5.

Scorers were Aaron Dainton with two, Jamie Hall, Connor Power and David Edwards.

This Saturday, they host Usk Town 2nds, ko 2pm.