CINDERFORD Town and Monmouth Town kicked off their pre-season schedules with a competitive run out at Stowfield Park on Wednesday evening, a match jokingly dubbed the unofficial Tindle derby as the two flagship clubs of The Forester and Monmouthshire Beacon went head to head.

Although the match was officially a Monmouth home fixture, it was played at Lydbrook Athletic’s Stowfield Park due to cricket being hosted at Monmouth Sports Ground.

Both clubs arrived at the neutral venue where a healthy crowd was treated to an entertaining encounter filled with early rust, glimpses of sharpness and plenty of trialists, as both sides fielded completely unregistered lineups.

Monmouth, in yellow and blue, almost took the lead inside 20 seconds, flashing an early effort just wide of the upright. The Kingfishers looked the brighter of the two in the opening exchanges but were nearly punished when their keeper was forced to scramble a deflection wide in the fifth minute.

Cinderford, wearing green and black, grew into the contest and began causing problems from set pieces. A clever knock down on eight minutes was nearly finished with an audacious overhead kick that skimmed just over, and minutes later another dead ball delivery forced a strong save from Monmouth’s keeper.

That pressure eventually told in the 26th minute when Cinderford worked their way in behind the Monmouth backline once more, and a low cut back was calmly slotted home for 1–0. A second arrived two minutes before the break, this time from the left flank, as another cross was met inside the box and turned in to make it 2–0 at half time.

Monmouth responded positively after making wholesale changes at the break and began to look livelier, but both sides started to tire around the hour mark with the pace of the game understandably dropping.

The visitors did eventually get their reward midway through the half when fresh legs up front created a turnover in a dangerous area. The Cinderford keeper was closed down and the loose ball was tucked home to reduce the deficit to 2–1.

That goal sparked some renewed energy but Cinderford saw the game out well despite not threatening much going forward themselves. Monmouth’s frustrations began to show in the final 10 minutes as the first yellow card of the match was issued.

With two minutes to go, a misjudged Monmouth header back towards their second choice keeper, who had only just come on, led to a 50-50 challenge which was bravely won by a Cinderford trialist who nodded into the net to restore the two goal cushion.

There was still time for the Monmouth keeper to make a smart stop to prevent a fourth but Cinderford ran out deserved 3–1 winners in a lively and experimental curtain raiser to the summer’s pre-season action.

Monmouth will soon face further Welsh opposition, with their next Lydbrook-based home game against a Merthyr Town XI later this month. Cinderford return to the Causeway to host the likes of Abergavenny and Newport Saints as summer preparations step up.