PRE-season friendlies can often be sterile affairs but the second team encounter between Crickhowell and Mardy at the weekend was frequently a full blooded encounter with plenty of goals thrown in, reports CLIVE HARRY.

After an evenly matched opening, Mardy took the lead midway through the first half when Anton ‘Spud’ Jones, who had been causing problems for Crick with his wing play, set up Nathan Price for a shooting chance which he blasted into the net from just inside the area.

The lead was doubled shortly after when some clever play by Dan Palmer resulted in a miscued clearance into the net for an own goal.

But the compliment was repaid before the break when a blocked clearance rebounded off a Mardy defender into the net to make the half time score 2-1 to the visitors.

The lead was increased ten minutes after the break when more good wing play by Spud Jones gave Palmer a shooting chance on the edge of the box and he made no mistake with a well struck shot to give Mardy a 3-1 lead.

But any thoughts of a relaxing end to the game for the visitors were dispelled when Crickhowell battled back with two quick goals to level the scores at 3-3.

Undeterred by the double setback, the visitors produced a remarkable finish by scoring three goals in the last ten minutes with the first coming in the 80th minute when good work by Musap Husein presented Iestyn Brown-Morris with a sight of goal which he tucked away neatly into the corner of the net.

Five minutes later, Mark Hughes picked up a blocked clearance by the Crick keeper to score into an empty net before the same player picked up a loose ball to make it 6-3 with a lovely shot into the roof of the net from just outside the area.

Mardy’s 1sts are next in action on Wed, 16th August, when they play their first Gwent Premier Two game away to PILCS whilst the 2nds hope to have another pre-season friendly this weekend against Forgeside.