Gwent Central One

Mardy Dev 3 Clydach Wasps 2nds 1

WITH Mardy's 1sts suffering postponement for the third game running, the spotlight fell on the Development team, whose home derby against Clydach Wasps 2nds got the go ahead after a pitch inspection.

Mardy made a bright start but went behind after 11 minutes when Wasps' Kyle Cheshire took advantage of some slack marking to head home a corner.

The hosts continued to press forward, but still trailed 1-0 at the break.

And after the restart, the visitors could have made the game safe when Mardy skipper Mark Hughes brought down Jay McCloy in the area, losing a tooth in the process, only for the penalty to be blasted over the bar by Luke Welsh.

But despite pressing forward, it looked as if Mardy’s efforts would go unrewarded until a minute from time when man of the match Benji Clark collected a Hughes pass and levelled with a lovely shot from distance.

The match took another dramatic turn just a minute later when Monty Squire was pulled down in the box by McCloy and Hughes tucked away the penalty for a 2-1 lead.

Unfortunately, the visitors' frustration boiled over, resulting in two players being sin binned for abusing the official before, only a minute later, two more players (one from the sidelines) were sent off for the same offence, including McCloy.

Mardy poured forward against the eight men and victory was sealed by a beautifully struck long-range shot by George Martin to make the final score 3-1.

With a busy end-of-season fixture list looming, Mardy have been busy with transfers, bringing back Lloyd Walker after spells with Abergavenny Town and Clydach Wasps, plus Sam Widdop from Oxfordshire team Longford Park, and signing Nelson Wale-Alao from FC Tredegar and keeper Sam Locke.

The 1sts visit Llanhilleth on Saturday whilst the Development travel to Tranch in the Gwent Central Open Cup.