Gwent Premier League Premier

Coed Eva 2 Monmouth Town 5

Monmouth Town returned to winning ways with an emphatic 5-2 win against Coed Eva, which was played at the Sportsground despite being an away fixture, owing to ongoing works on the opposition’s pitch.

The Kingfishers, looking to bounce back after the previous weekend’s loss to Croesyceiliog, had beaten Saturday’s opponents 2-0 just 10 days earlier. And they made a perfect start after just five minutes with the returning Josh Maxsimovic providing Finn Thorp to smash home his first goal of the campaign.

The Kingfishers didn’t have to wait long for a second with Jake Perrella turning provider for Ibrahim Ndure to get his first goal of the season.

Monmouth’s relentless assault on the Coed Eva goal didn’t end there, good work by George Gouldingay bringing a penalty which Rob Laurie dispatched calmly for a 3-0 lead.

The Kingfishers were playing some great football, perhaps as good as the Sportsground has seen in some time. And former Hereford United and Newport County man Nick Harrhy grabbed his third of the season with a stunning lobbed finish after a string of Monmouth passes, resulting in skipper Ford threading an impressive ball through the Coed Eva back line for a 4-0 lead.

Monmouth failed to see out the half without conceding though, with Coed Eva grabbing themselves a lifeline on the stroke of half-time.

Town made two changes at half-time with Oscar Elias and Sam Williams replacing Harrhy and Gouldingay.

The second half started scrappily and Monmouth failed to maintain the momentum that had given them a comfortable lead, with the visitors gaining a foothold in the game.

With 30 minutes to go, it became more of a contest than it should have been after Coed Eva converted a penalty of their own.

This seemed to kick the Kingfishers back into action and the game was finally settled on 73 minutes when the hard working Maxsimovic was rewarded with a debut goal after further good work from Thorp.

James Greaney, Matt Jones and Dave Elworthy all entered play in the second half and all contributed well.

Across town in East Gwent One, local rivals Rockfield and Monmouth provided an entertaining spectacle for the second time in two weeks with the hosts coming out 2-1 victors thanks to goals from Craig Lewis and Owen Walters, although Tommy Chub fired in a candidate for goal of the season for the Kingfishers.

Monmouth Town U18s picked up an impressive 5-1 win at Chepstow with Kian Mills grabbing himself a hat-trick with Ollie Edwards also grabbing himself a brace.

Meanwhile, Chepstow Town 1sts were in seventh heaven beating visitors Pill 7-0 in the first round proper of the JD Welsh Cup, while Abergavenny town won 2-0 at Newport City.

Chepstow’s 2nds lost 3-2 at home to Tredegar Town 2nds, while the town’s Thornwell R&W also lost out 3-1 at home to Cwmcarn in Gwent Premier 2.

Monmouth 1st XI travel to face Croesyceiliog in the County Motors Cup this Saturday (September 23).