Monmouth Town 2-2 Ton Pentre

Any realistic hopes of Monmouth winning the Welsh League were extinguished over two games at the Sports Ground last week.

Last Wednesday (17th April), an equaliser deep into injury time by man-of-the-match Rob Laurie stole a point from Ton Pentre, who had looked certain to gain all three, but Town again finished goalless as they were soundly beaten 3-0 by new title favourites West End in a game marred by a series of refereeing decisions that tipped the balance to the Swansea side.

Against Ton Pentre, Town completely dominated the opening 15 minutes as Ton Pentre slowly creaked into motion.

During this period the Kingfishers could have had the match completely wrapped up as they missed chance after chance by hitting the post and missing open goals.

With Monmouth rueing missed chances, the Bulldogs then went on to score against the run of play when they forced forward with a rare attack.

After the ball was presented to Josh Powell, the Ton Pentre midfielder stabbed a shot through a crowded penalty area to wrong-foot Tom Pass in the Monmouth goal and give the away team a 0-1 lead.

Following the goal, the match evened itself out with both teams creating an abundance of chances but Pass and Howe both denying various efforts hit from outside the box and via free kicks.

Moments later Ton Pentre did increase their lead when a defensive error allowed Jaymie Wearn to capitalise on his hard work by closing the defenders down, when he was allowed to go one-on-one with Pass.

That two-goal cushion wasn't to last long as the Kingfishers immediately hit back. MacDonald unleashed a thunderous shot at the goal which forced Howe into making a superb save but it was impossible for him to hold onto the ball and with a Monmouth player being the first to react to the loose ball, the score was 1-2.

As the second-half progressed it looked increasingly unlikely that the Kingfishers would be able to find an equaliser as Ton Pentre confidently defended against any threats, however, the Bulldogs were to suffer a cruel blow, when in the third and final minute of injury time, Monmouth worked the ball out to their right.

When the ball was crossed into the box it avoided the attempts of the Ton Pentre defenders to head it away and instead found its way to Laurie, who ran onto it and nodded in an equaliser to the delight of the home crowd.

Monmouth Town 0-3 West End

A similar pattern emerged last Friday as Town were much the quicker out of the blocks and looked to score an early goal.

Palmer, Harrhy and MacDonald went close but again the game settled into a more attritional affair with both sides looking to play the ball on the floor.

The intrigue was developing as both sides could still claim a first title and either would be good value.

Then came a refereeing decision that all but ended the game as a competition.

Ford was blatantly hacked down outside the Town penalty area and as the crowd and players anticipated the free kick it never came.

Instead the West End midfielder was allowed to continue get a shot away which was handled on the line by brother Ashley Ford. Penalty; red card; 1-0.

From there it was going to be a difficult task as Town had to try and retrieve the reverse and defend against the title challengers.

That they made a good fist of it was a credit to them but a late interception from a cross field ball by Guy allowed the West End striker to run unmolested and slot past Blackburn for 2-0.

There was no late fight back this time but as town once again tried to force at least a consolation it was a another breakaway from West End in the dying minutes that killed the game and the title hopes off.

The Kingfishers can be proud of a great season and can still upset a few parades in the final two home games this Saturday (27th April) as they host fourth-placed Haverfordwest (2.30pm kick off) then top-of-the-table Taffs Well next Tuesday (30th April) at 6.30pm, bringing the curtain down on the home fixtures.