Welsh League Division One - Undy AFC 5 Monmouth Town 1

AFTER their mini-revival came to an end at home to title favourites Barry last week, Monmouth Town are firmly back in the relegation battle after an “embarrassing” defeat to Monmouthshire rivals Undy AFC on Saturday.

Before the game the sides were closely matched and Monmouth would have been hopeful, despite going into the half time break one goal down.

But Undy’s second came soon after, and while the Town scored one in response they were reduced to nine men when Simon Crook and Ashley Ford were dismissed.

With a two man advantage, Undy were able to stretch Monmouth and scored three more goals to complete a comfortable victory.

Monmouth sat 12th in the league and manager Ross Kennedy made one change to his side that lost to Barry, bringing in Rob Laurie for Rhodri Lewis. Undy were 13th but went into the game knowing a win would cause them to leapfrog the Kingfishers.

The visitors started the game positively and after 30 seconds should have taken the lead. Ashley Ford won the ball on the edge of the box and his floated cross found Craig Lewis who should have done better, with his header straight at Undy’s goalkeeper James Smallcombe.

The Town had another great chance to take the lead moments later when a whipped cross from Jake Robinson found Lewis once again at the back post, but his header failed to trouble the keeper.

Undy grew into the game, troubling Monmouth with their pace in wide areas, and somehow failed to take the lead in the 15th minute when their midfielder played a through ball in which their striker ran onto. With just Lee Williams to beat he took it around the keeper but failed to score in an empty net, firing over the bar.

Monmouth managed to contain Undy’s pace and kept the ball well, nearly taking the lead soon after. Robinson played a ball down the line to Ford whose cross found Lewis, but his header went agonisingly wide.

With the Kingfishers on top and looking the more likely to take the lead Undy went up the other end and scored when Williams’ goal kick found an Undy midfielder. A through ball found their striker and this time he made no mistake, calmly slotting the ball into the bottom corner.

At the break manager Ross Kennedy was forced to make two changes to his side, bringing off Mitchel Palmer for Rhodri Lewis and Jake Robinson for Robbie Atkinson. But the home side doubled their lead soon after when their winger squared it across goal, finding his teammate at the back post for a tap in.

Moments later Monmouth managed to get one back when Robbie Atkinson whipped a corner into the box which was not cleared by Undy and the ball fell to Rob Laurie who volleyed into the net at close range.

The Town’s task of a comeback seemed almost impossible when in the space of two minutes Simon Crook and Ashley Ford were awarded two dubious second yellow cards. With Monmouth down to nine men they looked very open at the back and Undy took advantage with two goals in as many minutes.

Undy stretched their lead when their striker ran at the Kingfishers defence, cut in on his right foot and shot into the bottom corner, and it was 4-1 when, with three attackers to Monmouth’s two defenders, their midfielder passed it across to his teammate who again was able to tap in at the back post.

It was all one way traffic in the latter stages of the game and Undy found their fifth in the 90th minute. Again Undy made the most of their advantage and their winger went one on one with Williams and calmly put the ball into the bottom corner.

Manager Ross Kennedy described his team’s performance as “embarrassing” and “heartless”. He said: “I felt that was our worst performance since I have taken over. We didn’t look like we wanted to win and didn’t look like we cared. Some of the performances of some individuals were unacceptable and all of our hard work since I took over means nothing. We are back in the relegation battle.”