Monmouth Town 2 Seven Sisters 2 TWO goals from Town striker Mathew Bowen were enough to end his own two month goal drought and secure another valuable point for the Kingfishers Welsh League campaign. Bowen struck early in the second half with a cool finish to bring Town level after a great through ball from Dan Spence. His second followed a dreadful mistake by the Seven Sisters' goalkeeper who inexplicably failed to gather a hopeful through ball and allowed a surprised Bowen to rob him and round him. The first half however was a different story as the struggling Sisters looked to be the better side or at least looked least likely to concede a goal as Town failed to get any rhythm into their game. Smith looked back to his best for town with an all action display but seemed to have little or no support from his fellow midfielders who too often turned into tackles or failed to show any grasp of the rudiments of the game. Despite this Town were in little danger until Roger's poor attacking free kick was turned quickly to the opposite end and as Roberts in the Town goal retreated he lost his bearings and presented the visiting striker a simple opportunity to finish. The Kingfishers did fashion a few first half openings but poor finishing and wayward crosses that troubled the local anglers more than the keepers angles meant town finished the half in arrears. Bowen's strikes hauled town in front and Seven Sisters looked to be heading back to Neath with nothing to show. Manager Oxford looked to secure the points by bringing on sixteen year old Matthew Tabb for his Welsh League debut and Ashley Ford for the visibly wilting Rogers and Cleaves but the gamble failed as the again excellent Spence sliced his clearance and handed the visitors a last throw of the dice. The long throw was almost inevitably nodded on and in and the spoils were shared. Having looked safe from relegation a few weeks back there is still work to do with the remaining nine games coming in the next five weeks but Oxford was measured "It would have been nice to have taken all three but a draw was probably fair and they needed a win more than we did. We've used seven players under 21 and three who can't even buy a pint after the game so I'm happy that we can give our young lads a run and not get beaten. We've got a lot of games coming up and three more wins will make mathematically certain we're safe so I'm starting to look ahead to next season already" Their next home game is not until the end of month. Chairman Lee Robson was looking forward to a big gate for the next game. "We've rearranged our next home game for Sunday 27th at 2.30 and it would be great if Monmouth could turn out in force to see out our first Welsh League campaign". Entry will be free for children under 16.
