THIS was a match for the football purists out there, as Mother Nature supplied pretty much all the seasons in 90 mins, writes Rhydian Morgan.

There was howling winds and driving rain, bitter cold yet, at times, blazing sunshine…. there was even some hail thrown in for good measure.

In a game billed as a top of the table blockbuster, with the sides sitting in 2nd & 3rd place respectively, it was Port who started much the better side, though without ever really creating many chances in the opening 10 minutes.

In truth, the only real event of note was the referee having to come to Gruff Ellis’ aid with some tape for running repairs to one of his boots!

The first chance of note arrived soon after though, as a long ball led to some good wing play by Dan Atkins, whose cross landed at the feet of Danny Brookwell, but he never got any good contact on the ball and his shot was scuffed into the arms of the grateful visiting GK.

Prestatyn Town were guilty of trying too many long balls, with every single one of them going too far in the strengthening winds.

In truth, despite Port’s dominance of the ball, there wasn’t much to separate the teams in the opening 20 minutes.

There was a rare chance created, as Gruff John ventured forward from the back and following a good interchange with Jake Jones, his long range effort lacked anything resembling venom, nestling easily into the arms of Reid in the visitors’ net.

It took 25 minutes for Prestatyn to craft anything close to a chance, as a long throw was controlled too easily by their attacking player, but this time it was Josh Cooke’s turn to easily grasp a weak strike.

However, the chances would soon start to flow, as a minute later, a central free kick was floated in by Shaun Cavanagh towards Gruff John, whose header back into the mixer was met by Cai Jones, but his strike from about 16 yards kept rising from the moment it left his boot.

Port’s danger on the counter attack was clear to see, and a joy to watch in all honesty – however, despite all the good approach play, it was the often the final pass that was letting them down.

This time, an effort was deflected into the path of Dan Atkins in the six-yard box, but he unfortunately couldn’t deflect the ball towards the net and it went out for a goal kick.

Danny Brookwell was the next to have an effort on goal, once again following some excellent approach play and his strike from about 20 yards stung the palms of the keeper as it cleared the bar and went for a corner.

Despite Port’s dominance of the ball and the lion’s share of the chances, the final chance of the half would fall to the visitors, as a swift counter attack of their own, thanks to some quality play by Joe Holt and Adam Hold led to strike at goal, but Josh Cooke was there with a strong hand to ensure the sides would go into the dressing room at HT scoreless.

After a bit of a deluge at half time, the sun was shining for the start of the second half and it’s fair to say that whatever Chris Jones had told his troops in the dressing room was working, with Danny Brookwell putting in several dangerous crosses in the opening five minutes and a long ball finally finding Danny Atkins in an onside position, however he missed the chance to open the scoring, as he shot straight at the keeper.

The Traeth faithful wouldn’t be kept quiet for long though, as the deadlock was broken on 50 minutes.

Once again, it was Danny Brookwell, who’d looked menacing down his flank, put another dangerous ball in across the face of goal and Shaun Cavanagh was left with the simplest of tasks to put the ball in the back of the net, scoring his fifth league goal of the season (to go with his eight assists).

Adam Reid, the visiting goalkeeper could’ve been embarrassed soon after as his clearance was charged down, but lucky for him, the ball bounced harmlessly out of trouble and he was able to recover it!

On the hour mark, Port were dealt a blow, when the talismanic Cav went down clutching his hip, following an impact injury after his pass led to another blistering counter attack, which unfortunately led to nothing

He would soon have to be replaced by Johnny Bravo, with the hope being that a week’s rest will ensure he won’t be missing any game time.

Within five minutes, Port had doubled their lead, having won the ball in the centre circle, a superb, lofted pass by Cai Jones saw Johnny Bravo, in his bright pink boots leave the Prestatyn defenders in his shadow, before finishing with aplomb in the far corner.

With a 2 – 0 advantage and in total control, the chances were now coming thick and fast for the home side.

The biggest of them all coming from a Ryan Williams free kick, leading to a header across goal from Gruff John that found Johnny Bravo unmarked in the 6 yard box, but his header somehow was diverted away from goal for a corner.

On the 75 minute mark, the visitors carved one of very few chances thus far, as Holt was put through on goal, but Josh Cooke, who’d had very little to do in truth, was very alert to pull off a strong save to preserve his clean sheet.

Port went straight up the other end and another long ball found the onrushing Johnny Bravo, whose effort was well kept out by Reid and somehow Brookwell was beaten to the rebound by the retreating defender.

On 87 minutes, Cooke’s clean sheet was ruined, as some rather lapsed defending in the sudden hailstorm led to Zebb Edwards burying his opportunity and making it 2-1 with time to spare.

Would it now be panic stations for the home side?

The panic, as well as the hail gave way to rapture and blinding sunshine within two minutes as Port pulled off a rather majestic counter attack, with one sub, Sion Williams, driving through the middle of the pitch and picking out the perfect pass to another sub, Arden Gisbourne, who ran in on goal and finished superbly to seal a much needed three points for the home side – the perfect response following the midweek horror show at Nantporth!

There could have even further late joy for Port, as once again, their counter attacking prowess was clearly on show against an albeit now fully stretched Prestatyn defence, with Johnny Bravo once again leaving the defenders for dead, but this time, his strike came crashing off the bar and to safety.

An important, morale-boosting victory for the home side, who now make the trip to Connah’s Quay Town next weekend, still a solitary point behind leaders, Bangor City 1876.