AFTER a flood of goals recently and a mixed bag of results, Mardy fans were hoping a midweek mid-table trip to Albion Rovers would keep alive their fading Gwent Premier One promotion hopes, reports CLIVE HARRY.

But while another goalfest would have delighted the neutral watcher, an end-to-end game resulted in another disappointing evening for the visitors.

Mardy had made their task harder in their previous game by conceding early goals and started the same way against Rovers by going 2-0 down inside 16 minutes.

And they conceded again after 25 minutes to go three down and facing a huge task.

There was a glimmer of hope within five minutes when Tom Jenkins pulled a goal back, but the three-goal deficit was restored before the break when the hosts’ Tom Ripley completed a first half hat trick.

Top scorer Rhys Meadows then scored seconds before the whistle to make the interval score 4-2.

Mardy pushed forward after the break and looked to get behind a rather square defence but were foiled by some debateable offside decisions.

But despite gaining the upper hand in terms of possession and territory, they conceded a fifth goal with 11 minutes to go when Ripley scored his fourth.

To their credit, Mardy redoubled their efforts and Jenkins and Meadows both notched their second goals of the evening to make the score 5-4 with  minutes remaining.

Yet despite several half chances, they were unable to grab an equaliser.

Next up were Mardy 2nds on Thursday for a tough looking Gwent Central One home game against second-placed New Inn Development.

Despite some optimism after winning their previous game against fellow relegation strugglers Race, the evening went according to the form book with New Inn taking a 4-1 half time lead, Mardy's goal coming from Ben Symonds.

After another difficult 45 minutes, the final score was 6-2 to the visitors but one pleasing aspect was a lively substitute display by Massoud Naeim from Afghanistan who also scored his first goal for the club.

The 1sts then returned to action on Saturday, May 4, with a tricky looking game away to Machen who sat one place below Mardy in fifth.

And recent history repeated itself with the hosts given a two-goal start in the first half hour.

Mardy had as much of the play as their opponents and a depleted squad battled to get back into the game, but frustration was evident until Tom Jenkins maintained his recent scoring form by cutting the deficit after 73 minutes.

Half chances came and went but again they were punished by a breakaway goa, this timel from Sean Roberts, who became the second player this week to score a hat-trick against Mardy.

Veteran striker Mark Hughes strove manfully up front and Massoud Naeim made his first team debut off the bench, but a final score of 3-1 put Machen up to fourth, one place and two points above Mardy but having played a game more.