Up the Ceiber with Six of the Best.
Monmouth Town ended a fantastic 2011 with an emphatic 6-2 win over visiting Penrhiwceiber at the Sportsground last Saturday. In a calendar year that has seen the Kingfishers win the Welsh League Division three and set the League Two alight, the Kingfishers produced a scintillating performance that their hard working visitors simply couldn’t contain at times.
The Town were made to work very hard back in August when they defeated Penrhiwceiber 2-0, and knew that this was going to be another tough test against a side that had only lost once in their last six league outings, propelling them to fourth place in the table.
The town started with an unchanged starting eleven for the first time this season, highlighting the strength in depth and the importance of having a large enough squad to deal with loss of form, injuries and suspensions.
It was, in fact, the visitors who started the brightest and forced a number of corners in the opening five minutes. Penrhiwceiber, to their credit looked to play from the back and had plenty of willing runners from midfield looking to join in any attack they mustered. Despite the weeks downfall and the persistent rain in the morning, the playing surface held up very well, on a weekend that saw a large number of games postponed.
The Kingfishers started to settle and express themselves with some superb one touch free flowing moves. Bowen, up front, worked tirelessly and brought the supporting attackers of Palmer, Ford and Macdonald into play at every opportunity. The movement of the front four and supporting runs from Smith, Hughes and full backs Davies and Ashley Ford show how the town have now amassed an incredible 72 goals in 17 games.
After some sustained pressure, and a superb save from a Davies header, the Town went ahead via Bowen who composed himself well to slot pass the visiting keeper. With twenty minutes on the clock, Ford made it Two after a Jacob Guy header was rebounded back off the post from a Sam Palmer corner. As the Town pushed and pushed, Bowen nearly made it three but his strike cannoned off the post. A shell shocked Penrhiwceiber then pulled one back against the run of play. Despite being in control of the game, the Town looked rattled and the visitors nearly drew level just a minute later but Jacob Guy cleared from the line after Pass was lobbed. The visitors sensed blood and pulled level just two minutes before the half time whistle.
As the Town walked back to the dressing room, they wondered how they were going in with the scores level after dominating for large periods. The half time talk was a positive one and the Town were confident that if they could produce more of the same that had given them the two goal lead, they would win the game.
The young Ceiber side came out and looked to get into the Town’s faces and prevent them enjoying possession. Smith and Hughes started to enjoy more freedom in the midfield and looked to spread the ball from the full backs at every opportunity. Mac Donald fired in a free kick, which the Ceiber keeper will be disappointed not to have kept out. Ford got his second just minutes later to make it 4-2 and restore the Two goal advantage. Bowen and Kennedy made way for Alderdice and Spence as the Town then played keep ball. Dean Palmer returned after a three month lay off to replace Ashley Ford and the Town put the game to bed with Macdonald completing his treble after some sublime build up play.
The Town can now look ahead to a successful 2012 with 46 points already in the bag, just 9 points off a total that saw promotion from Division 2 last season. Before that, the Town head to Aberbargoed Buds for a Gwent County Cup Semi-final on news years eve, kick off 12 noon.
The club would like to wish all their sponsors and supporters a merry Christmas and happy new year and look forward to their continued support next year.
