Welsh League Division One - Monmouth Town 1 Caerau Ely 0

AFTER a disappointing midweek scoreless draw against relegation rivals Aberdare, Monmouth Town were looking to rejuvenate their fight to stay up against Cardiff based side Caerau Ely.

The Kingfishers sat thirteenth in Welsh League Division One with their opposition in seventh place. Manager Andrew Smith made four changes to his side that struggled to get past Aberdare, handing a start to youngster Luke Cleaves for Alex O’Leary as well as bringing in Kazeem Kareem for Callum Porter. Smith also brought Dan Macdonald back into the starting eleven for the injured Aaron Davies as well as the returning Kieron Blackburn who came back into the side for Lee Williams.

Before the game started a minutes silence was observed by everybody in the ground for Kingfishers supporter Duncan Powell, who sadly passed away days before the game. Powell was a lifelong Kingfishers fan who will be missed by everyone at the club.

The home side started the game positively, keeping the ball well and showing much more creativity and style than their previous game. The Town could have found themselves one up in the third minute when Sam Palmer played a short corner to Nick Harrhy. With Harrhy running at Caerau Ely’s defence he eventually cut in on his right foot and shot but his shot went just wide of the post.

Harrhy had another golden opportunity minutes later when he played a one-two with Dan Macdonald and went one-on-one with Caerau’s keeper, however, Caerau’s keeper made a magnificent diving save and tipped his shot around the post.  

Caerau Ely managed to weather the storm and had numerous chances of their own. The first came in the 21st minute when their winger beat his man and went down the by-line, eventually squaring it to his striker who hit his shot first time over the bar. The visitors should have broken the deadlock on the half hour mark when their winger played a one-two with his teammate and went one-on-one with Kieron Blackburn, but the winger blasted his shot over the bar.

The Kingfishers managed to resist the pressure and could have gone into half time one up when Kazeem Kareem floated a cross into the box and found Harrhy but his header went agonisingly wide of the post.

Monmouth started the second half like they ended the first, showing much more passion and desire than they did in their previous game. They should have been rewarded for their hard work in the 52nd minute when Dan Macdonald whipped a ball into the box finding Rob Laurie at the back post. Laurie’s header beat the keeper, but a defender was there to block it off the line.

Monmouth continued to dominate and again should have found themselves one up when Dan Macdonald picked up the ball on the edge of the box and shot but MacDonald’s shot lacked any accuracy and conviction and went over the bar.

Despite some missed chances, Monmouth continued to press Caerau Ely and finally got their reward in the seventy fifth minute when Harrhy was fouled on the edge of the box. Dan Macdonald whipped the free kick into the box and found centre half Jacob Guy who headed in, with the ball somehow creeping into the back of the net.

The home side defended well in the latter stages of the game with both teams having to battle through the elements due to the bobbly pitch. Caerau Ely could have found a late equaliser when their player beat his man and went one-on-one with Blackburn. Blackburn made an outstanding diving save which came out to a Caerau Ely player who hit it first time but Luke Cleaves was heroically there to block it off the line.

Manager Andrew Smith was happy after a “pleasing” win. He said: “It goes to show again that work rate and desire beats talent, every game you have got to defend properly to give yourself a chance of winning any football match and we did that today”.

The Kingfishers are away to Briton Ferry Llansawel next week in what could be another relegation decider.