Gwent Premier One

Mardy AFC 2 Llanhilleth 1

AFTER losing a lead in added time the previous week, Mardy secured a well-deserved three points with a late goal of their own on Saturday at home to Llanhilleth, reports CLIVE HARRY.

Despite the absence of several players, the team were boosted by the return to the club from Abergavenny Town of Ben Jones and Jamie 'Totti' Laurent, with both playing significant roles in the 2-1 win.

The visitors had also been boosted by new signings, but it was Mardy who gained the upper hand almost immediately and forced a flurry of corners before Laurent forced visiting keeper Dan Griffiths into a full length save with a shot from distance.

A Charlie Morris cross was then headed just wide by Nathan Price before Jones almost celebrated his return after ten minutes with a powerful shot that rebounded from the bar with Griffiths beaten.

Barely a minute later there was another escape, when an Owen Vaughan effort hit the post before being cleared.

Laurent then forced a save from Griffiths before Jones had a shot tipped over.

And Mardy went even closer from the corner when a goalbound Matt Wham header was cleared off the line.

But the deadlock was finally broken on 36 minutes when Laurent picked up the ball 25 yards out and with virtually no backlift, bent a shot with the outside of his right foot into the top corner.

Llanhilleth finally saw their first shot pushed away by home keeper Ben Shooter just before half-time, where Mardy only had a narrow 1-0 lead to show for some lovely football in the first 45 minutes.

The second half started with Laurent again trying his luck from 25 yards before Mardy were controversially denied five minutes in when Price through on goal was foiled by a Griffiths hand ball outside the area.

The decision was a free-kick and a yellow card, although the keeper appeared to have prevented a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

Laurent was living up to his Totti nickname, firing another shot that was tipped over, but the visitors’ heads never dropped and there was always a nagging worry about the hosts' slender lead.

Those fears were justified nine minutes from normal time when a Philip Blackmore shot crept past the unsighted Shooter to spark some wild Llanhilleth celebrations.

A minute later, they had the ball in the net again but fortunately for Mardy, the 'goal' was disallowed for offside.

And while a point would have been a meagre return for Mardy's dominance, it was then turned into three with the 90 minutes up thanks to a well-worked goal started by right back Luke Morgan, who seems something of a breakthrough player so far.

Morgan picked the ball up in defence, and played into Kyron Hughes in midfield who laid it off to Price, with the skipper returning the compliment with a ball into the right side of the area, where Hughes controlled the ball on the rock hard surface before laying it across goal for Price to net a deserved winner.

Mardy host Machen on Saturday (August 16) and Panteg on Wednesday evening (August 20).

The 2nds also returned to friendly action in midweek away to Farfield Development and came away with a 6-5 win thanks to goals from Chris Price, Oli Shooter, Kyron Hughes, Robert Didcote, JayJay Simpson and Mark Hughes.