Seven Up for Mardy

After an excellent point away at Ponthir last week, Mardy moved up a level to score seven past Coed Eva Athletic on Saturday with 21 year old Levi Boulter scoring his first hat trick in senior football.

The home side went on the attack almost from the first whistle and two early Owen Vaughan set pieces caused problems for the visitors before the opening goal came after ten minutes. Some good passing saw Dan Palmer spring the offside trap and when his shot was blocked by keeper Rhys Freeman, Boulter was on hand to net the rebound. The lead was increased virtually from the kick off with Boulter slipping the ball through a gaping hole in the defence for Liam Simmonds to score clinically.  There was virtually no let up in Mardy's attacking flow with a third goal arriving on 25 minutes and it came about after a role reversal with Simmonds putting through Boulter to score on this occasion. The interval arrived with the score still at 3-0 and more goals expected after the break although Mardy keeper Kris Purnell was forced to make a full length save to keep the visitors out just before the whistle.

The second half began with a rampant Mardy looking for more goals and one duly arrived after five minutes when some smart play by Charlie Morris released Boulter who took the ball past a defender before completing a well deserved hat trick. Monty Squire then shot just past the post before a fifth goal arrived after 73 minutes. Vaughan finally had some reward for a number of well taken set pieces when his free kick fell for Ross Melrose whose shot on the turn beat a diving Freeman. It was becoming more like shooting practice at this stage with a rare effort from Lewi Bradford whistling just wide before the lead was increased with five minutes remaining after some more clever play from Morris. The scoring was finally  completed just before the final whistle when not for the first time, a ball over the top split the visitors' defence and Melrose took the ball on and chipped delicately over Freeman to be faced with an empty net only for Rhys Evans to appear and apply a finishing touch  to deprive the Mardy striker of a second goal - something which did not pass without comment afterwards! There were several outstanding displays but manager Dai Sadler awarded his man of the match award to Simmonds for an excellent  display in midfield. This Saturday the team will face a much harder task away to high flying Alway in Newport.

Mardy's Development team again showed signs of improvement despite a 4-1 loss away to PILCS Reserves with Ben Clarke scoring their goal a minute after coming on. This Saturday, the team travel to play Tranch in the Gwent Central Open Cup.