Mardy 6 Cwmffwrwdoer 5 (After Extra Time)

MARDY progressed to the semi finals of the Gwent County Amateur Cup in dramatic fashion on Saturday - winning by the odd goal in 11 after drawing 4-4 with Cwmffwrwdoer Sports after 90 minutes.

After catching his breath, team coach Ben Bannon said: "It's great to be in the last four, and it was a great game for the supporters. But I've gone a bit grey in the process."

Mardy's Adam White bagged an early brace but the see-saw contest saw the home side fall 3-2 behind. Two late goals from Paul Williams and Jamie Laurent turned the tie in Mardy's favour, only for Sports to equalise for 4-4 at the death.

Goals by player-boss Bannon and a second for Laurent all but settled the tie, though Sports did pull another back as a late consolation.

"We'll be having a word with the defence because several of their goals were errors by us, such as missing one on one tackles when they're through to score."

And he added: "This weekend we're at Blaenavon for what could be the championship decider. If we want to be in the Welsh League, we can't defend like that."