UNDY continued their good form with a 2-0 victory at Aberbargoed Buds in the Gwent Senior Cup last Tuesday (15th October).

A trip to Aberbargoed is never an easy ask and a midweek trip minus numerous key players in a cup game is an even bigger ask, but Mark Crook's men are made of stern stuff these days and the players available all stepped up to the plate and booked a semi-final spot with a much-deserved 2-0 victory.

Without the services of Ben Roberts, Tom Hooper, Kel Stevens, Mike Jones, Chris Parry and Ollie Beckett and with the previous Saturday's hat-trick hero Gyles Thompson rested on the bench, the manager drafted in under 19s Dan Jarman, Olly Smith and Alex Jarman along with under 21s Josh Fitton and Ben Smith in a squad of youth and experience.

Gareth Cullimore, who was a constant threat throughout, opened the scoring in the second minute, beating his man and guiding the ball around Kirkwood in the Buds goal.

Dan Jarman, Andrew Larcombe and Olly Smith were causing numerous problems with their neat little exchanges and Jarman's raw pace was a real headache for the home team.

On 28 minutes he burst past his man into the box and blasted his shot against the crossbar.

Undy's back five were excellent and got the ball wide as soon as possible and from a flick on Dan Jarman flew past his man and volleyed a spectacular shot from 20 yards past the helpless Kirkwood on 41 minutes.

Centre half Aherne had to be replaced at the interval with youngster Ben Smith coming on for Undy, who beat Monmouth Town 3-1 in the previous round.

The second half was a much more even affair but the Buds were content with pumping long balls into the box which the back five dealt with admirably, with the experience of Mike Binning leading by example as he seemed to head and kick anything that moved.

Ben Smith had a decent chance from a slick move and a Cullimore cross but his effort went just wide of the far post.

Youngster Alex Jarman got his first team debut replacing his 19-year-old brother Dan and at the other end of the scale the experienced campaigner Will Vers replaced the excellent Martyn Phillips.

The buds had the ball in the net on 80 minutes but the linesman's flag was raised well in advance of the strike for offside.