Welsh League Division One - Port Talbot Town 0 Monmouth Town 1

ON an autumnal Saturday afternoon, Monmouth Town travelled west to take on Port Talbot Town in what was a must-win game to take them out of the relegation zone.

Ross Kennedy made three changes to his side that were beaten against Goytre, bringing in goalkeeper Ben Taylor for Lee Williams, captain Rob Laurie for Rhodri Lewis and Craig Lewis for injured Dafydd Jones.

The Town started the game brightly and used the wide pitch to their advantage and troubled Port Talbot’s defence out wide in the early stages through Jake Robinson and Elliot Ford. The first chance of the game went to the away side when Luke Cleaves’ long throw into the box was cleared out to Sam Palmer on the edge of the box who shot first time just over the bar.

Monmouth were dealt a blow minutes later when target man Craig Lewis was substituted due to a calf problem and replaced by Rhodri Lewis. Minutes later the Steelmen should have taken the lead when Kazeem Kareem lost the ball in the centre circle and their midfielder played a ball in behind the Town’s defence, which their winger ran onto, but his shot lacked conviction and accuracy.

Port Talbot came into the game and managed to keep the ball well. They should have broken the deadlock in the 10th minute when their player floated a corner into the box and found his teammate who headed towards goal but Jake Robinson was there to emphatically block it off the line.

Monmouth weathered the storm and had a golden opportunity to take the lead minutes later. Elliot Ford passed it back to Mitchell Palmer who whipped in a cross first time and found Jake Robinson. He headed across to Rob Laurie, who headed just over the bar.

On 30 minutes Monmouth’s hard work almost paid off when Mitchell Palmer floated in a free kick which was cleared out to Jake Robinson. The ball found its way to Kazeem Kareem whose shot was headed off the line.

Port Talbot started the second half the better of the two sides and troubled the Kingfishers early on. The home side continued to dominate the early proceedings and the Kingfishe’s struggled to deal with them. They had another great chance to break the deadlock in the 55th minute when their centre back played a long ball in behind the Town’s defence which their striker ran onto, beating Dan Spence and forcing Ben Taylor into a magnificent acrobatic save.

Monmouth managed to get a foothold back into the game and had some good chances of their own.

Both teams continued to attack in the latter stages of the game with real desire and intensity and both teams weren’t content with a draw.

But Monmouth’s resilience paid off when they took the lead minutes later. Some brilliant individual play by Luke Cleaves resulted in him whipping a ball into the box, which found Rob Laurie, who emphatically headed it into the top corner.

With a much needed lead Monmouth were forced to hold on after Ford was shown a second yellow card for dissent with just 10 minutes remaining. The Kingfishers defended like their lives depended on it and showed great passion and desire, nearly getting a second when Cleaves beat three players but shot went just wide of the post.

After the game manager Ross Kennedy said he was “proud of his team”. He said: “I couldn’t fault the boys today. I thought every one of them worked for one another and showed great passion and desire and deservedly earned the three points.

“This is only the start though, we have to take our confidence into our next game, and we won’t be content until we get out of this relegation fight.”

The Kingfishers’ next game is on Friday 9th December at Taff’s Well as they look to pick up valuable points and get out of the relegation battle.