TWO goals from Nick Harrhy and a Dan MacDonald penalty were enough to see Monmouth Town through to the quarter finals of the Welsh League cup in a stodgy game at Penypound against third division Pontypridd Town.

Town, playing for only the second time in four weeks, looked by far the more accomplished team in the early parts of the game which only survived a week of rain thanks to some sterling efforts by the Abergavenny grounds men.

Monmouth took the lead with a superbly finished first goal after only five minutes. A string of passes opened up the Dragons defence and Harrhy ghosted in to finish calmly.

Then things started to get a bit messy, not in the diminutive Argentine maestro sense, but with the number of misplaced passes and hacked clearances as Pontypridd started to come to terms with the occasion and the pitch.

A couple of times Ford was exposed down the right flank but Matty Johns, standing in for the travelling Keiron Blackburn, was equal to the test.

Ben Evans had replaced Jacob Guy in the Town defence returning from a transfer to Cardiff Met and looking like he'd never been away. On the half hour mark Harrhy was shoved in the back in the penalty area and predictably MacDonald did the rest from the spot to put the tie within reach.

Harrhy also had a good effort chalked off for offside just before half time. Inexcusably Town switched off from a free kick and let in Ponty to pull more back and set up an intriguing second half.

 For long periods the Rhondda outfit were the more composed without really getting a clear chance, but as the pressure increased it looked likely that they would equalise.

A little lack of composure and know how made them force situations and, as so often if you don't make the pressure tell, the chance will go.

Sure enough as the game moved into the last quarter of an hour Harrhy found another piece of magic and smashed in his shot just moments after clipping the bar with another fizzed effort.

Worryingly Town lacked the composure to see the game out and an offside looking effort got Pontypridd back to within a whisker of a shock result, but Town held on to secure a quarter final game against second division Llanwern at Newport Stadium.

Once again Town are without a game this weekend due to a fixture clash with Abergavenny but will surely want to build up a head of steam in the coming weeks as they seek to mount a serious defence of their Welsh league title.

(Pictures by Steve Hughes)