Gwent CFA Senior Cup Final

Monmouth Town 1 Cwmbran Town 1 (aet)

(Cwmbran win 5-4 on penalties)

MONMOUTH Town suffered cup final penalty shootout heartbreak after battling to a 1-1 draw with unbeaten league champions Cwmbran Town on Saturday, reports JAMES TOWNLEY.

The Kingfishers just missed out on promotion finishing third in the Gwent Premier top tier, but hoped to end the season with cup glory at Chepstow FC's Larkfield Park.

But after extra-time, the Gwent Senior Cup final went to penalties and the Crows just nicked it in a nailbiting sudden death finale.

The first half was a tense and close 45 minutes, with the first chance coming Monmouth’s way, when Dan MacDonald delivered a free-kick to the edge of the box, which was stopped by keeper Callum Brain.

Cwmbran then had a huge chance as Aysa Al-Doori’s shot beat Ethan Ross in goal, but Ashley Ford was there to deny him.

The ball deflected back out to another Cwmbran player, but their second shot was stopped by Luke Cleaves in a great defensive display from the Kingfishers.

The rest of the half proved uneventful, but Monmouth had a great start to the second period with Josh Maksimovic winning the ball high up the pitch on the left before fizzing a shot just over the bar,

But it was Cwmbran who made the breakthrough on 54 minutes, Ieaun Evans delivering a great long pass in behind to Aysa Al-Doori who showed great skill to beat his man before firing the Crows in front.

Monmouth pushed back and were awarded a free-kick, with MacDonald playing short to Josh Maksimovic only for the chance to go begging.

But entering the last 20 minutes of normal time, the never-say-die Kingfishers then found the equaliser, George Gouldingay’s cross deflected to former England Schools cap MacDonald, who placed it nicely past the goalkeeper from the edge of the box.

Within minutes, Joshua Brown thought he had put Cwmbran back in front after the ball seemingly bounced back out of the goal, but the officials couldn’t determine whether or not the ball had crossed the line, and it wasn’t given.

It remained locked at 1-1 until the end of 90 minutes, with the players now facing another 30 minutes of extra-time in the hot sunshine.

After the restart, Monmouth’s Ebrima Ndure found space on the edge of the box, but his shot wasn’t powerful enough to trouble Brain.

Gouldingay then found himself in a similar position, but rather than too little power, his shot had a bit too much as it went flying over.

Cwmbran's Harry Russell next attempted a spectacular shot from a cross into the box, which would have been a fabulous goal had it found the target rather than fizzing over the bar.

But despite close attempts from both sides, the game ended 1-1 meaning penalties.

Monmouth took an early advantage in the shootout, with Ross denying Samuel O’Sullivan and MacDonald scoring.

Rob Laurie’s penalty miss then allowed Cwmbran to get one back with Luke Upham converting his, before the Kingfishers' Mitchell Palmer, Mathew Jones and Sam Oxley scored, matched by the Crows, as the shootout entered sudden death at 4-4.

Ross then saved Russell’s penalty, before Ndure also missed out for Monmouth as the tension reached fever pitch.

Cwmbran then scored their next penalty, and a great save from Brain denying Finley Thorp saw the Crows crowned double champions, 5-4 on spot kicks.

It was an agonising end to the Kingfishers' season after such a great effort, but the squad can be proud of what they have achieved in the last 10 months.

Keep an eye on the club’s social media for upcoming pre-season matches as they will now look ahead to the next campaign.