Monmouth Town 3 Penrhiwceiber Rangers 4 Monmouth Town narrowly lost out to high flying Penrhiwceiber in a see saw encounter at the Sportsground last Saturday. In blustery conditions The Kingfishers took an early lead when a flighted free kick by Rogers from twenty five yards deceived Dan Field in the Rangers goal and wafted into the top corner. The early exchanges were dominated by Monmouth as the visitors struggled to maintain any real pressure. Town even passed up a number of decent chances as first Palmer then Bowen failed to get any real contact on two free kicks by Rogers. Indeed it looked like set pieces were going to be the only way through for either side until 28 minutes into the first half when a clear foul on Dan Spence went unpunished and Penrhiwceiber took advantage of the extra men pushed forward and equalised emphatically. Just two minutes later another decision went against Town as a ball that again appeared to be out of play was played inside and a rash challenged produced a free kick on the edge of the Town penalty area. A gleeful striker snapped up a loose ball from the resulting melee to make it 2 – 1 but as half time approached another storming run by Bowen was brought to an abrupt end with a needless challenge. Wookey although making a hash of the penalty brought parity as he bounced home the rebound. The Kingfisher defence didn't seem to have emerged from the dressing room for the second half as the visitors struck immediately to take a 3 – 2 lead as a Penrhiwceiber winger promenaded though the home defence to finish at Jenkins near post. Justin Harris then converted a good header form a corner kick just two minutes later and Town had time to waste a few more decent openings, once when great work by Bowen finished hitting the upright, before conceding the winner with fifteen minutes remaining from a near post corner. Town Boss Nick Oxford was not too unhappy with the performance but conceded that lapses in concentration cost his side dear "A couple of decisions could and maybe should have gone for us but we have to make sure we keep playing to the whistle. Again we came out slowly and paid a price for that but overall I thought we played really well and deserved something from the game. I think we moved the ball better than we have for a long time and some of our play was very pleasing on the eye especially when we got down the flanks. There's always something we can do better but our general team play has improved a lot and it was hard to pick out which team was challenging from promotion. They were probably just a bit sharper than us in some key areas and were one of the better team to have come here in recent weeks but we can work on that and get better. " This Saturday Town are away at struggling Abertillery but the following week entertain league leaders Pentwyn Dynamo at the Sportsground.
