Monmouth Town secured their first win of their Welsh League Division One campaign with an improved display at Swansea-based West End FC last Saturday (18th August).

Although the Kingfishers were still not at their most fluent, there was far more fight and desire applied to the performance after the disappointing loss in midweek to Cwmbran Celtic.

Barry Burns made a number of changes to the side that lost by replacing striker Matthew Bowen with Tom Maxted and reshuffling his back four by bringing in Dean Palmer for the injured Ashley Ford and swapping Aaron Davies and Dan Spence from their usual centre back and full back roles in order to give the defence a more natural balance.

The Town started off with a plan to press higher up the pitch when not in possession and look to push full backs on at every opportunity when the ball was theirs.

West End were out of the blocks quicker and put the Town on the back foot without really creating any clear cut chances, resulting in a few long range shots that failed to trouble Blackburn in the town goal.

The Kingfishers, in their new kit chosen by their members in the Five Pound Football Club and sponsored by WyeMedia, struggled to maintain possession and put themselves in needless trouble at times as the hosts, who beat former champions Goytre United 4-1 in the week, looked for the opening goal.

On 20 minutes, the Kingfishers lost skipper Smith due to a thigh strain and he was replaced by 18-year-old Max Fessey in the centre of the park.

The breakthrough came slightly against the run of play when a Blackburn kick down field evaded everyone apart from Dan Macdonald, and the former Aston Villa forward finished with aplomb into the top corner.

This stunned the hosts and the Town started to look more assured in possession and were able to get the dangerous Macdonald more into the game.

Maxted worked tirelessly, closing and pressurising defenders and he was nearly rewarded but blazed over from six yards.

On 41 minutes, the Town doubled their lead from an unlikely source. Left back Dan Spence delivered a dangerous looking cross that Maxted just failed to get on the end of but the ball bounced and found its way into the far corner of the goal.

It was essential that the Kingfishers saw the half out and went into the break with their clean sheet in tact and the side, as a whole, did that effectively.

The second period started slowly as the Town played to protect their lead. Elliot Ford and Sam Palmer were both looking dangerous when the Kingfishers broke from any home attack.

The whole shape and game plan looked more assured and Blackburn was rarely called upon to make any saves of note.  Jacob Guy crashed a header against the bar and Ford missed a golden opportunity from a Maxted cross before the Town thought they had made the game safe when Rob Laurie ghosted into the box to head home unmarked from a Maxted long throw with just 17 minutes remaining.

The Town, however, never seem to do things the easy way and allowed the home side back into the game, albeit from a generous looking penalty kick given for a Laurie handball.

Just four minutes later the home side scored again. A long ball from the back caught Guy off guard to allow the centre forward in on goal and fire past Blackburn with 12 minutes remaining.

The panic, luckily didn't settle in for long as Macdonald settled the visiting supporters nerves with his second goal of the game, as he fired into the far corner.

West End's heads dropped and frustration started to grow as numerous tackles were punished with yellow cards. The Town kept their heads to hold on for their first win of the campaign and give them a total of four points from three away games at their new level.

Captain Smith was delighted for his teammates at the full time whistle.

"The boys were all superb today and we've proved that we can compete at this level," he said.

"Certain people had written us off after Tuesday's result, which is unbelievable after just one defeat.

"We know we underperformed on Tuesday and we all wanted to prove a point today. It's going to take time for us to adapt to this higher level and we know we are in for a tough season.

"But I back us all the way. As long as we show the fight and desire like today we'll be fine."

Monmouth face their toughest test yet next Saturday when they make the long trip west to former Welsh Premier League side Haverfordwest County, kick off 2.30pm.