Early goals by Rob Laurie and Nick Harrhy, coupled with a super free kick strike from Dan MacDonald on the stroke of half-time, set up a relatively comfortable win for Pick and Burns' Monmouth side, who went second in the Welsh League and stretched their unbeaten run to 12.

Town also have game in hand over leaders Taff's Well, are in the semi final of the Gwent Senior cup, the last 16 of the league cup and pulled a plum draw at home to Welsh Premier side Bala Town in the Welsh FA Cup on 8th December.

Their form and class showed too in the early exchanges of this encounter with Caerleon struggling to cope with the movement and pace of the Monmouth attack.

A number of corners were forced before Laurie leapt best to head in on 15 minutes and give the Town a derserved lead.

Harrhy was leading the Caerleon defence a merry dance with his strong running and movement and with MacDonald pulling strings, Alderdice back to his best and Ford getting some joy on the flanks, it seemed only a matter of time before the Kingfishers scored again.

On 30 minutes a good ball by MacDonald found Palmer on the right hand side and his shimmy shook off his man and he was able to pick out the simple but effective run of Harrhy, who finished easily.

Former Caerleon man Blackburn did have to be on his toes on a number of occasions but in reality Monmouth bossed the game in the key areas and as half-time closed in MacDonald rasped a free kick 25 yards and into the far corner to put the game out of reach.

But Caerleon came out stronger, as expected, and as the pitch deteriorated so did the control in and of the game as tackles flew in and tempers flared.

A flurry of yellow cards, five or six to Caerleon and a couple for Monmouth, added to the temperature of the game and when Brown pulled one back with 25 minutes remaining the scene was set for a Caerleon fight back.

But that would be the Kingfishers of yesteryear as time after time over the past few seasons the Kingfishers have shown that they no longer rely on pretty stuff to get them through games.

They stood up well to the Caerleon attacks and always looked likely to hit back with one of their own.

As the game got more stretched it was breathless and end to end but goals remained at a premium but Blackburn and his defence were definitely the busier without really being troubled.

This Saturday Monmouth, sponsored by Best of Monmouth, WyeMedia and Raduni Restaurant, are in home action in the last 16 of the Welsh League Cup against Gwent  rivals third division Risca United, managed by popular Monmouth Comprehensive PE teacher Paul Michaels, who will surely be looking for a higher division scalp.

Town on the other hand will be looking to  keep their impressive run going.