On the day of the passing of Manchester United and England legend, Bobby Charlton, Porthmadog chalked up their fourth win of the season, a result that took them up to ninth place in the table, writes Treflyn Jones.

Porthmadog 3 Prestatyn Town 1, JD Cymru North

It was also a day of several postponements in said league, courtesy of Storm Babet and it is to the club’s credit that Y Traeth was in such fine condition on Saturday.

Port almost had their noses in front in the opening minute when two chances in quick succession fell to Danny Brookwell and Rhys Alun respectively. However, barely a minute later, thanks to a woefully misplaced pass on the edge of the home box, the visitors took the lead as Ben Jones calmly rounded Alex Ward-Jones before tapping into the empty net.

Port were not too down-hearted as they endeavoured as ever to play good, constructive football and Tom Mahoney shot just over the target at the end of an intricate move prompted by Brookwell. Another half-chance fell to Morgan Owen as he brilliantly dispossessed a defender on the right flank before keeper Mike Jones saved with his right boot and Rhys Alun then shot narrowly wide as he cut in from the right wing.

On 23 minutes, however, Port achieved a deserved equalizer and a very fine goal it was too. Tom Mahoney went on a strong run down the left flank and his pinpoint low cross into the box was confidently converted by Rhys Alun as he shot wide of Mike Jones’ right hand to make it one-apiece.

Both teams then came close before the interval. Cai Jones was unlucky as his strong shot on the turn brought out the very best in keeper Mike Jones and then it was Ward-Jones’ turn to breathe a sigh of relief at the other end as a Prestatyn attacker blazed wide from close range. The one-one scoreline at the end of the half was fair enough overall.

Well, well, well, would you believe it? Port scored almost immediately after the re-start to take the lead for the first time in the match. Brookwell received the ball on the right of the box, drifted past two defenders before finding Shaun Cavanagh who shot superbly into the roof of the net. 2-1 to Port.

The game then became an energetic end-to-end affair as Preststyn fought tooth and nail in a vain search for an equalizer. Prestatyn were convinced that they had equalized a few minutes later when an attacker latched on to an excellent defence splitting pass but the ‘goal’ was ruled out for offside and then the visitors shot wide from close range.

There then followed an excellent half volley from 20 yards by Port’s Morgan Owen which went straight into the grateful arms of the keeper before Prestatyn came desperately close to an equalizer as they were foiled by a fine block on the line by Ward-Jones in the Port goal and the home custodian then did very well to narrow the angle as a visiting striker bore down on goal.

He drifted just about past Ward-Jones but the angle by then was too narrow and the shot went into the side-netting.

Port nerves were finally settled five minutes before the end of the 90.

After excellent work by Morgan Jones down the left flank, some patient holdup-play by Brookwell yielded a chance for the hard-working Anglesey striker which he gleefully took as he tapped into the goal with the keeper out of the picture. 3-1 and some breathing space for the hosts.

There were a few further anxious moments for the Port faithful to endure but the defence held firm and the three points were safe.

• I shall end with a point of discussion. According to the excellent Cymru Football app, not a single one of Prestatyn’s 16 man squad is from Wales. In fact, if the app is entirely accurate, it appears that all players in the starting line-up are from England. Whereas it is commom knowledge that Port and Blaenau were guilty of such selections during the 1970’s, you just have to question the wisdom of all this within the context of a Welsh league.

Surely, a few lads from the North Wales coast could do an adequate job for the Seasiders, thereby attempting to foster local talent.

Port travel to Rhuthun for another league encounter withon Friday with a 7.45pm kick-off. Not ideal but I`m sure we’ll see a good few Port supporters there.

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