Monmouth Town 2 West End 2

MONMOUTH Town dropped two vital points in their hunt for Welsh League honours after being held at home by current champions West End.

With manager Steve Jenkins away on Hereford United duty, it was going to be an interesting test but the Kingfishers conceded two sloppy goals to draw a game that could have been in the bag by half time.

Elliott Evans hit the bar within a minute of the start following a lightening raid and a number of other chances also went high or wide as Town looked to grab a win that would have taken them to second in the table.

West End too could have grabbed a couple late in the half but wasteful finishes let them down before man of the match Evans made up for his earlier bad luck to clinically finish another fine move.

Town were good value for their lead but conceded early in the second half as a raid down the Town’s left was not dealt with. A superb finish flew high into the goal.

For all Monmouth’s possession and territory they could not quite finish off decent moves and the final ball too often was intercepted by a West End defender and they were happy to chase longer balls into space.

The game seemed to swing decisively in Monmouth’s favour as Dean Lee was upended in the box and Dan MacDonald did the rest from the spot.

Barely two minutes later it was Monmouth on the receiving end of a penalty decision as Rob Laurie launched himself to clear but caught the ball with his hand and it was 2-2.

Again Town pressed for most of the half, finding a keeper in fine form and just lacking a real cutting edge and composure when they needed it .

If anything they did not panic enough and kept passing when a cross into the box may have got better results.

With table topping Haverfordwest losing at Aberdare and Taffs also losing in midweek it will feel like two points dropped but with nine games still to go including the visit of Haverfordwest on April 2 there is plenty of football to be played and certainly plenty more ups and downs.

Next week Town are at home again - this time a first ever visit from Caerau Ely of Cardiff. Kick off is at 2.30pm.