PORTHMADOG signed off their pre-season with a 2-0 friendly defeat to Welsh Premier side Llandudno as goals in each half from Lewis Buckley and Gaz Evans earned Alan Morgan’s men the victory.

It proved a good workout, however, for Porthmadog, who will start their Cymru Alliance campaign at Mold on Saturday and indeed they had a fair share of possession against the European qualifiers.

Two players returning to the fold, Rob Evans and Gareth Jones-Evans, were prominent in the early exchanges for Porthmadog, but early on Llandudno went close with an effort into the side-netting following a corner on the right.

Slowly but surely Porth got into the game and Julian Williams went close with an effort, which he pulled across the face of Llandudno’s goal after 24 minutes.

Moments later Hamilton headed just over, following a cross from the right, although Llandudno then had a good period and went close following another corner as their centre half almost pounced on a flicked header at the near post.

On 38 minutes the deadlock was broken when an accurate pass from midfield released Lewis Buckley, who scored with a low strike past Harvey from 15 yards.

This spurred Porth on and Iddon Price had a long range effort which flew over the bar, and then Dan Roberts had a surging run through the heart of the Llandudno defence, but his final shot was disappointingly straight at the visiting keeper.

Then, on the stroke of half-time, Gareth Jones Evans fired a great shot just inches over the bar, with the keeper beaten.

The second half was a turgid affair, with few chances of note. Porthmadog probed and moved the ball, but all too often gave the ball away at the crucial moment or failed to capitalise on the half chances.

Llandudno looked dangerous on the break and it was somewhat against the run of play that the second goal arrived, courtesy of a Gaz Evans shot from the edge of the penalty box after 78 minutes.

The lack of a real goal threat ensured that Porth could not find a way back into the encounter and Llandudno saw out the game comfortably. As so often is the case, Porth passed the ball well, but with little final product. This had been a problem all last season as well, and manager Craig Papirnyk will be determined to solve it.