Mardy had high hopes of a Gwent County FA Amateur Cup cup run going into Saturday's game against Newport side Riverside Rovers but, despite dominating the majority of the game, a high wind and resilient defence from the visitors saw them go down to a 4-2 home defeat.

Despite playing into a strong wind, Mardy started confidently and after three minutes an Owen Vaughan corner flashed across the face of goal without anybody able to get a touch. Five minutes later, a Jamie Laurent free kick was met by Vaughan only for his hooked shot to go wide.

The home side continued to dominate possession and it looked only a matter of time before they opened the scoring but to everybody's surprise it was the visitors who took the lead after nineteen minutes. A wind assisted kick out by keeper Morgan Pickett deceived the home defence and Harvey Hampshire latched onto a loose ball to fire his team ahead. Mardy almost got a deserved equaliser shortly afterwards when recent signing Monty Squire put Rhys Evans clear on the right wing and his cross was hooked just over by Ross Melrose.

Levi Boulter then went close before another goal was scored just after the half hour mark but it again went to the visitors when a Louie Goold shot was blocked by keeper Matthew Davis only for Corey Jones to lash home the rebound. If the home side felt aggrieved by the scoreline after dominating much of the play, they had an even bigger mountain to climb seven minutes before the break when Hampshire grabbed his second to put Riverside three goals clear.

Davis was injured in the process and was replaced by Alex Cavalli who became the seventh different player to go between the sticks for Mardy this season. The deficit was almost cut just before the break when a goalmouth scramble ended with a deflected shot hitting the visitors' post and going behind.The second half began with the strong wind now behind the home side and they almost scored virtually straight from the kick off when a great shot from Vaughan beat Pickett only for the ball to hit the underside of the bar before rebounding to safety.

However, a goal did arrive after 52 minutes when a ball by Laurent deceived the visitors' defence for Melrose to score from close range. The comeback was definitely on just after the hour mark when Melrose was fouled in the area and got up to slot home the penalty for a 2-3 scoreline. The home side were throwing everything at the visitors in search of the equaliser but consequently left themselves short at the back and Richard Cain scored a fourth goal for Riverside in a breakaway. Squire was getting through a prodigious amount of work in midfield for Mardy and he looked to have grabbed a deserved goal with a run and shot from the edge of the area which appeared to be bound for the back of the net only for Pickett to make a full length save to push the ball around the post. There were no further goals and credit must go to Riverside for their defensive resilience and their ability to break quickly and score.

Mardy manager Dai Sadler expressed his frustration afterwards that his team did not get the result he felt they deserved but wished the visitors the best for the next round of the cup.