PORTHMADOG continue to underachieve on the pitch and were given a mountain to climb after the visitors had taken a two-goal lead after a mere 12 minutes of play, writes TREFLYN JONES.

Porthmadog 2 Ruthin Town 3, JD Cymru North

Yes, it`s fair to say that it was our visitors from the Vale of Clwyd who started the brighter. After only six minutes, they were awarded a free kick on the edge of the Port box after a foul by Tom Mahoney. The ball was slickly relayed to Soulayman al Amri who blasted an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net.

Caio Evans, Porthmadog player of the month for December (Teledu Port)

Then, el Amri doubled his account thanks to some questionable defending all round. A Rhuthun attacker waltzed his way with considerable grace and ease into the Port box where, regrettably, home keeper Alex Ward-Jones chose to deal with the danger through the use of his feet rather than his arms and body.

His tackle merely squirmed its way timidly to el Amri who calmly tapped home to double Rhuthun’s advantage.

It was much to Port’s credit that they fought tooth and nail for the remainder of the half to try and gain a foothold in the match and this they achieved courtesy of a great left-footed strike into the top corner of the net by Danny Brookwell who was easily the hardest-working player on the pitch. My word! If we had 11 like him, we would win this league at a canter rather than finding ourselves staring down that nauseous trap-door back to Tier Three.

Following this life-line, the game became a more even affair with Port creating some half-chances including a worthy left-foot drive by Brookwell which was smartly gathered at the foot of his post by Daniel Goldston.

At the other end, the Port defenders had to look to their laurels on several occasions to deal with the superior pace of Ruthin`s attackers. Indeed, there were times when they were out-sprinted by the likes of Llyr Morris and el Amri. However the half ended 1-2 with the hosts very much in the picture still.

Port played very well indeed at the start of the second half and might well have equalised if it were not for that somewhat wayward final pass into the box.

They were also, at times, guilty of delaying the shot and attempting to take on one defender too many.

As the second half entered its final third, Ruthin, rather against the run of play, increased their lead when a misplaced pass by Ward-Jones was efficiently re-cycled by the Ruthin frontmen and that man el Amri completed his hat-trick by slotting calmly past the onrushing home keeper.

With barely six minutes of normal time left, Port gained a deserved second goal when a well-floated in-swinging corner by debutant Gethin Thomas was headed home by Nathan Williams as he out-jumped Goldston in the visitors’ goal. Could Port force a draw? No! It was just not to be.

Port clearly need further signings especially in what we politely call ‘key positions’. Anyway, our fighting spirit in the second half was at least commendable and let’s hope for more of the same along with a dose of ‘lady luck’ at Prestatyn next Saturday (kick off 2pm).

Porthmadog: Alex Ward-Jones (GK), Iddon Price, Telor Williams, Nathan Williams, Gruff Ellis , Caio Evans, Tom Mahoney, Gethin Thomas (Stuart Rogers 89`), Zak Pike (Elis Puw 78`), Cai Jones, Danny Brookwell , Yellow cards :- Iddon Price (50`), Gruff Ellis (60`) Unused subs :- Deion Hughes, Mabon Owen, Aron Catlin Roberts