Four goals from Dan MacDonald – making it 10 in just three games since his return from Merthyr – inspired the Kingfishers to a fine victory against last season's runners-up in front of a good sized crowd at Pen y Pound last Friday evening (19th September). The win took the champions to the top of the table for the night but Haverfordwest County reclaimed top spot with a thumping win of their own the following day, setting up a delicious first versus second encounter at the stadium this Saturday (2.30 kick off). Town were missing three or four key players for the visit of Taffs Well with inspirational skipper Jack Alderdice and Abergavenny-born striker Nick Harrhy on holiday, while flying winger Chris Ham served the second of a three match ban. In the opening 10 minutes the pattern of the game emerged as Monmouth ceded possession and large amounts of territory, defended deeply hoping to strike on the break. Despite not seeing much of the ball, Taffs for their part were relatively wasteful with it as defender Danny Clare and co restricted the visitors to a few hopeful strikes from distance by Welsh Futsal international Zulkarnien and generally marshalled the visitors in front of them. The speed of Monmouth's attacks has been a feature for a number of seasons and manager Smith has clearly honed that attribute with orders to capitalise on any mistakes. Despite all of the danger being at Monmouth's end of the pitch  MacDonald did exactly that on 14 minutes, advancing quickly and striking a superb effort in off the post. It seemed barely believable but the game then opened up a little more. Taffs once more had the better of possession and worked some good openings down the flanks but Guy was outstanding in clearing danger, Blackburn unruffled and Clare dominant. If Taffs' orders were to get to the by-line and fizz crosses in, the strategy was successful although it seemed the information had not been relayed to the main strikers, who were spectators as the ball passed harmlessly across Blackburn on  a number of occasions. Taffs had better luck with set pieces and Small should have done better with a header at the back post, but again Monmouth managed to hang on and clear the danger. At the other end, when Town did break Bull worked tirelessly again and had a good penalty shout turned down as he was bundled down in a rash challenge. A couple of other breaks could possibly have added to the scoreline but as it was, Monmouth went in at half-time 1-0 to the good to set up an intriguing second half. The game had the same pattern as the first half. Taffs with the ball looking to work openings, Town looking to counter. Taffs were slowly committing more people forward and then it was 2-0. Another swift break caught out the visitors defence, Bull put in Evans (pictured scoring) whose strike from an angle found the corner of the net. Minutes later Bull was set free and he held off the Taffs defender in a foot race, slipped the ball past the advancing 'keeper and was brought down. Penalty to Monmouth, red card for the 'keeper. MacDonald made it 3-0, although stand in 'keeper Williams did get a strong hand to the attempt. Taff hit back, perhaps fired on by some sense of injustice and as the game got stretched on 70 minutes they got one back to give them a lifeline. As the crowd were bracing themselves for an exciting last 20 minutes MacDonald struck direct from kick off, lofting the ball high into the Abergavenny night air, over Williams and into the empty goal. The hat-trick goal was met with an eerie silence as everyone at the ground, players included, digested the audacious strike. Andrew Smith, Town's manager, said: "To have the cheek to think about that is one thing, to be able to do it is quite another. Luckily Macca has both." In fairness to Taffs they kept plugging away with the same result. Promising situations unfulfilled, Monmouth break. Evans had a glorious chance on 77 minutes to make it five but delayed his pass and Ford's effort was disallowed for offside. Then it was MacDonald again. Going one-on-one with the Taffs left back, his step over devastated his opponent and his low shot beat Williams all ends up. 5-1. Taffs did get one back near the end as Topper finished his own good work with a great finish but it was far too little and far too late for the Wellmen as they went down to their fifth successive defeat while Monmouth could enjoy top spot for 24 hours. Smith was delighted after the game. "The score line may have flattered us but the game isn't won on how much possession you have, it's the number of times you put the ball in the net. "Taffs are probably the best footballing side in the division in terms of retaining possession, so to play high and leave space would have been suicidal. "When you have the attacking options we have, we don't have to go constantly pushing on and leave ourselves open. "I don't like to single players out, whether winning or losing, but Macca was unplayable at times. "To score 10 goals in three games just shows how special and how lucky we are to have him at this football club. "You can count yourselves lucky to get the opportunity to watch him too. His third goal on Friday is one that many people never see in their life time."