The footballers at Monmouth School for Boys warmed up for the new season with a hard-fought 2-0 friendly victory against The Dean Academy.
Goals from Cian and Henry gave Monmouth’s first team an encouraging win ahead of their opening fixture in the new SWIS League at home to Clifton College on Thursday 20th January.
The SWIS (South-West Independent Schools) League is accredited by the Independent Schools Football Association and will run during the Lent term, involving Monmouth, Clifton College, Malvern College, Sherborne School and Marlborough College.
The school’s win pleased the Master in Charge of Football, Mr Mark Tamplin, who is hoping the boys can fulfil their potential over the coming months.
In the midweek match against The Dean Academy, Monmouth started brightly under the floodlights at Monmouth Schools Sports Club and took an early lead.
Cian applied a neat finish after fine work from Will, who is captaining the first team this season.
The Lydney-based side played some good football and enjoyed their own spell of possession.
However, Monmouth picked up the pace in a scrappy second half, in which strong challenges flew in from both teams, before the hosts sealed the win.
After good work from Oskar, Henry found the back of the visitors’ net with 10 minutes remaining, to complete the scoring.
Captain, Will, said: “Our overall team performance was encouraging, with everyone playing well. It was hard to pick a standalone performance, but Luke played well after he came on as a substitute in the second half.”