Monmouth Town's dramatic penalties win (From Free Press Series)

Monmouth Town's dramatic penalties win

1:40pm Wednesday 10th October 2012 in Sport

AFC PORTH 0 MONMOUTH TOWN 0 AET (MONMOUTH WIN 6- 5 ON PENS)  - MONMOUTH Town’s Kingfishers showed nerves of steel to clinch a dramatic shoot-out at AFC Porth and secure their place in the second round of the FAWWelsh Cup. Two hours of football couldn’t separate the two sides in a cagey, goalless game with few chances.

Dan MacDonald looked the most likely player to break the deadlock, but most of his best work was too far from goal and any crosses he did get in were tantalisingly out of reach of Head and Ford, who themselves had to make do with scraps and small openings in a solid Porth defence. Fessey, Alderdice and Sam Palmer gave as good as they got and the Kingfishers probably shaded the first half .

Not so the second, as Porth came flying out of the blocks, pushing fullbacks forward to join in more with attacks, but in truth created very little of note, as both sides kept tight as the game neared extra time.

A rasping free kick from MacDonald which drew a good save was the last of the normal time action.

The extra half hour showed the same pattern, as neither side risked opening up too much possibly out of mutual respect, although Porth hit the woodwork and a few crosses caused a little panic in the Monmouth defence.

But Town, sponsored by WyeMedia, are made of sterner stuff these days and saw out the game comfortably enough to secure the lottery of the penalty shoot-out.

And what a competition it was, with all ten of the regular penalty takers scoring and giving neither keeper a chance to shine.

As with these things, there are always heroes and villains and the sixth Porth penalty flew high and wide, leaving 18-year-old Max Fessey (pictured) to etch his name into the Monmouth history books, which he did with aplomb to send the visiting supporters home happy.

Manager Barry Burns was full of praise for his team: “We had a game plan which was a little alien to us and we stuck to it and executed it really well. The team showed great maturity in keeping their shape and discipline and hopefully we can get our rewards with a good run in this cup.”