MONMOUTH led by three penalty goals to nil at the end of a first half of almost total domination against Cilfynydd at the Sports Ground last Saturday.
At the end of a terribly disjointed second half, they still led 9-0 against the National League Division Six newcomers.
A win is a win, but against moderate opposition, it was disappointing that Monmouth could not build on the superiority they enjoyed in that first period. At the end, it was Cilfynydd who looked the stronger attacking force, even though they had one man sent off and another in the sin bin.
Monmouth won the Cilfynydd throw-in at the first lineout of the game and thereafter dominated the set piece play, especially the scrums where they gave their opponents a really torrid time. Wayne Wadley, Mark Jones and Lee Watkins were a solid front row, as well as being lively in loose play.
Regrettably scrum half Gareth Morgan had one of those games he would rather forget and promising attacking positions failed to develop as a result.
Monmouth pressed from the opening minutes and first skipper Andrew Davies, gathering a kick ahead by Frost and then a strong burst by centre Matthew Churches had Cilfynydd defending in their own 25.
Monmouth got their reward for this pressure when Frost put over a 30 yards penalty after 12 minutes. Frost was just wide with a long-range penalty attempt and an excellent Monmouth attack was denied the score it deserved by a despairing Cilfynydd hand.
It started with Jas Tyler coming in from the right wing on the burst. Having breached the first line of defence he linked with Brad Morgan and the ball went on to Stacey Edwards, whose attempt-ed looped pass was just intercepted with a score in the left corner a seeming certainty.
Monmouth were winning the scrums at will, pushing their opponents off their own put-in. Cilfynydd were in further trouble at the line-outs where they were pulled up time and again for crooked throw-ins and Monmouth were quite happy to scrum down as a result.
But while they were winning good possession, they were unable to advance their score until the 37th minute when Frost kicked a penalty from 40 yards and he slotted his third in the fifth minute of first half injury time.
Monmouth came under a lot of pressure in the first 15 minutes of the second half and when they lost Johnny Powell from the second row and Lee Watkins from the front row, the scrum began to creak.
Neither side could mount a cohesive attack until near the end, when Cilfynydd won enough ball for their backs to stretch the Monmouth defence to its limits.
Monmouth are away to Brynithel in the league this Saturday.