Blaenavon Blues - 0

Pontymister - 1

FOLLOWING a seven week break due to the poor weather an eager Blaenavon Blues returned to the fray and their youthful team put in an inspired performance against an in-form Pontymister.

With the long layoff, a pitch heavy and two of the Blues senior players unavailable the Blues went into this difficult fixture with 11 of the 14 man squad either 21 or under.

What followed was a thoroughly entertaining and skillful performance that showed how bright the future will be for the Blues if they can keep this talented bunch of players together.

The Blues started brightly with Josh Bull turning and smashing a shot against the crossbar. Excellent work by the ever improving combination of Adam Johnston and Jim Cox saw Craig Tanner, surging forward from left wing back, narrowly missing on two separate occasions in the first 20 minutes.

Ryan Symonds playing at right wing back put the Pontymister defence under continual pressure and the passing combinations between midfield and attack continued to pay dividends with Jimmy Cox narrowly shooting over in the first half.

Pontymister certainly played their part in an entertaining opening period which saw them go close, only to be denied by a finger tip save from Lee Jones.

The Pontymister keeper who was by far the busier made a number of fine catches under pressure from the Blues attack. Pontymister main line of attack was from free kicks where they had a definite height advantage over the visitors.

The second half was similar to the first but as the pitch started to cut up and the players became tired the quality unsurprisingly dropped off slightly.

Fine work again saw Adam Johnston going through on goal but he sliced his shot into the side netting. Jimmy Cox again hit two shots which dipped just over.

The game continued to be very open and Pontymister created their chances normally from set plays. Ryan Huish blocked two powerful shots which appeared to heading goal ward and Lee Wathen headed the ball off the line following a corner.

As the game ticked on, both teams continued to push forward looking for a goal. Josh Bull who led the line well created a bit of space and curled the ball into the top corner.

The Ponty keeper leapt to produce a fantastic save when a goal would have probably won the game.

With only 10 minutes left Lee Wathen attempted to feed the ball through to Josh Bull who was making a great break. The ball was blocked and it spun back over Ryan Huish's head through to the Pontymister sub.

He controlled and then appeared to slightly miss-hit the spinning ball and it floated over the oncoming Blues keeper Lee Jones and into the net.

The Blues team were devastated and heads went down and despite the Blues pushing for an equaliser Pontymister managed to play out the last 10 minutes and hold on for the win.

The Pontymister management were very complimentary about Blaenavon's young team and the Blues should be very proud of how they played in a very difficult fixture.

If Blaenavon can maintain this level of performance, the rest of the season should bode well.

Mardy - 2

Cromwell - 2

MARDY (pictured) bounced back from their lacklustre 4-1 away defeat at the hands of Ebbw Vale RTB to hold Cromwell to a 2-2 draw on Saturday.

Since being relegated last season, the Mardy have won four, drawn two, and lost eight during

their debut season in Gwent County Division Two.

They are currently on 14 points and fifth from bottom, and will look to climb up the table further when they face Llanhilleth Athletic at home this Saturday.