Welsh League Division One - Monmouth Town 4 Caldicot Town 1

MONMOUTH Town FC recorded their second win of the season after a convincing 4-1 victory over Gwent rivals Caldicot Town.

The Kingfishers, who sat 15th in the league, were winless in four games and needed a result against their opponents who sat bottom of the league.

Monmouth manager Andrew Smith made two changes to his side that were humiliated against Cwmbran Celtic, bringing in full back Rhodri Lewis for Dan Spence, Sam Palmer for his younger brother Mitchell.

The home side started the game positively and pressed Caldicot high up the pitch, troubling Caldicot in the early stages in wide areas through Elliot Ford and Sam Manful. Their positive start to the game was nearly rewarded in the fourth minute when Jake Robinson picked up the ball inside Caldicot’s half won a free kick outside the box, but Alex O’Leary’s effort fizzed just wide of the post.

The Kingfishers continued to dominate and got their reward soon after. Rhodri Lewis played a ball down the line which Elliot Ford ran on to and beat his man. Ford then ran down the by line and squared it to Dafydd Jones on the penalty spot, who shot first time and found the top corner, leaving visiting goalkeeper Gareth Wesson no chance.

Monmouth dominated possession but still looked shaky at the back and were almost punished when Caldicot’s defender played a long ball over Monmouth’s defence. Their striker ran onto the ball and, one on one with Lee Williams, forced the stopper into making a magnificent diving save to his right.

The Town were still too good for Caldicot going forward though and found their second goal of the game after Dafydd Jones’ deflected effort found the back of the net. Jake Robinson fizzed a ball into Jones’ feet, who turned before his deflected shot flew into the top corner.

Despite going two goals down Caldicot had some good spells of their own, looking very dangerous on set pieces. Caldicot capitalised on this when their midfielder floated a corner into the box which found his teammate. He flicked it on and found his teammate at the back post who had an easy tap in. Their goal helped Caldicot grow in confidence and they could have found an equaliser on the stroke of half time but for a goal-line clearance from Ashley Ford.

Caldicot started the second half like they finished the first, looking extremely dangerous on set pieces. They had another golden opportunity to equalise when their played floated a corner in and found his teammate, who was unmarked, and headed goal bound, forcing Mitchell Palmer to emphatically clear the effort off the line.

The visitors continued to trouble Monmouth and again should have found an equaliser, when their midfielder played a through ball, which his striker ran onto and went one on one with Lee Williams who made a fine save, tipping the shot around the post. After a period of dominance from the visitors the game changed in the 70th minute when Caldicot’s striker received a second yellow card for a late challenge on Lee Williams.  

Suddenly the Kingfishers were again back on top, looking more organised and compact at the back. In the latter stages of the game Caldicot continued to press but were vulnerable on the counter attack. Monmouth killed the game off soon after as, after a quick break, Jones’ floated cross into the box found substitute Craig Lewis who headed into the top corner.

Caldicot didn’t give up and continued to attack, but were caught on the break again when Mitchell Palmer played a magnificent through ball which Elliot Ford ran onto and went one on one with Gareth Wesson, slotting it into the bottom corner.

Manager Andrew Smith described the result as “satisfying and pleasing”. He said: “It’s a great result for us and hopefully we can kick on from this now. In truth, we’ve played much better and lost this season, but we’ll take it.

“To the boys’ credit they’ve shown a bit of resilience, we rode our luck at times and then punished them when they’ve chased the game late on. It’s a good win, but it’s an irrelevant win if we don’t back it up with three points next week.”

The Kingfisher’s are home next week to Rhonda-based side, Cambrian and Clydach. Kick-off is 2.30pm at the Sportsground.