Ardal South East League
Monmouth Town 3 RTB Ebbw Vale 1
A CONTROLLED and dominant performance from the Kingfishers saw them record their first Ardal South-East League victory of the season in their first home league match, despite Ebbw Vale scoring a late goal to make it a tense ending to proceedings at the Sportsground, reports DAN KEANE.
Monmouth had not played since their tight defeat in the FAW Trophy to local rivals Caldicot Town due to the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, with their Ardal South League Cup match against Garden Village was postponed.
The Kingfishers were boosted with the return of key players from injuries and holidays, meaning for the first time this season manager Steve Davies had the luxury of selecting his side from a full squad available.
Davies started with Dan Keane, James Greaney, Ashley Ford, Curtis Hurley, Mitchel Palmer, Iwan Mooney, Lewis Davies, Mitchel Palmer, Josh Maksimovic, Shemar Parkes and handed debuts to strikers Luke Firkin and Liam O`Callaghan.
The afternoon started in a sombre mood with the Kingfishers joining their opposition alongside Monmouth RFC in holding a joint minute’s silence paying their respects to The Queen.
Monmouth started the game on the front foot and dominated possession in the early stages of proceedings, completing numerous switches of play whilst playing the opening stages of the match in their opposition’s half.
The Kingfishers continued to dominate the early moments of the match with RTB unable to win the ball off Monmouth with the midfield rotations and combinations Palmer, Parkes and Makismovic were creating.
The first real clear cut chance of the game came after 15 minutes when O`Callaghan was slotted through on goal by Maksimovic who opened his body up and slotted the ball towards the far corner of the net. But Ebbw Vale`s keeper read it fantastically and tipped his effort around the post.
Soon after it was Maksimovic who had a brilliant chance to break the deadlock when after good link up play by Davies and Firkin out wide he ran at the Ebbw defence, cutting in on his right foot and firing on to the crossbar.
After the early Kingfishers dominance against the run of play Ebbw Vale had a great chance when they hit Monmouth on the break and caught the home side slow in transition.
Their winger ran at the Kingfishers defence before playing the ball towards the back post to his teammate who fired his shot towards goal , only for stopper Keane to make himself big and block the shot before Ford was able to clear the ball away.
After the half hour mark Monmouth finally got their reward when Davies ran down the by-line squaring the ball to Firkin who was on the penalty spot.
His shot was blocked, but O`Callaghan was there at the back post to put the ball into the net from a tight angle.
Right on half-time the Kingfishers were left wondering how they weren’t awarded a penalty when a great run in behind Vale’s defence saw Davies run one on one with their goalkeeper and be taken down after taking a touch.
Five minutes into the second half Monmouth doubled their lead when some clever play out wide from Mooney set up Maksmimovic whose shot from just outside the box rattled the crossbar before Firkin headed the rebound into an empty net.
Monmouth had chances to extend theirl lead before Vale had a good spell around the 70-minute mark where they should have got a goal back, but Keane produced two smart close range stops to deny them.
But after continuous pressure from Vale they caught Monmouth on the counter-attack when their midfielder slotted their attacker through one on one with Keane and the striker calmly slotted it past Keane.
That meant a nervy last ten minutes, but the Kingfishers confirmed the three points with five minutes to go after a perfectly weighted pass in behind Vale`s defence was met by Joe Beckett who slotted the ball past the goalkeeper from close range.
Head Coach Steve Davies said: “It was great to play our first home game of the season at the Sportsground and it’s been a tough start for us playing the first eight games away from home.
“The players did not let themselves down and executed the way we wanted to play really well`.
“It was evident in the first half we controlled the game and the players got their rewards with a great team goal although Dan Keane made some great saves to keep us ahead.
“We did allow Ebbw Vale back into the game but the players did not let that phase them” .
It was also a special day for Monmouth Town as a community club who were represented by their under 6s junior team as mascots.
It was also great to see so many supporters at the Sportsground.
The Kingfishers next home game is on Saturday, October 1, v Croesyceiliog AFC after a trip to face Risca United this Friday evening