A LAST-gasp goal foiled Mardy FC as they featured several younger players in an away friendly against Gwent Central One champions Fairfield United, reports CLIVE HARRY.

Mardy started well with some confident moves, Owen Vaughan volleying over after ten minutes before going even closer when his goalbound header was tipped over by keeper Gareth Williams.

And they took a deserved lead after 15 minutes when a Nathan Price through ball released Dan Wait who took the ball at pace before drilling a low shot past Williams.

The visitors continued to hold the upper hand for the first half hour, but rather undeservedly trailed 2-1 at the break after mistakes at the back resulted in Fairfield goals.

And a sloppy start to the second half resulted in a well -taken headed goal making it 3-1.

That shook Mardy out of their lethargy though, and rediscovering the confident form shown earlier in the game they scored a picture-book goal on 65 minutes to make it 3-2 – a lovely through ball from Matt Wham releasing Price who outpaced the defence before rounding Williams and squaring for young Ellis Morgan to score into an empty net.

Three minutes later the scores were level when Vaughan got to the byline and pulled the ball back for Price to fire into the top corner, meaning he was involved in all three of his side’s goals.

Mardy now looked as if they could go on to win, but with time running out and their rhythm possibly disrupted by several substitutions, Fairfield pushed forward and grabbed the winner with just a minute remaining.

Despite the result, a competitive friendly will have been a big help to new manager Dai Sadler.

Depending on pitch availability, the club hope to hold an in-house 1sts v 2nds game this Saturday (July 26) before the season proper begins on August 2 with an FAW Trophy game against West Wales Premier Dafen Welfare.