PORTHMADOG bowed out of the Welsh Cup at the fourth round stage following a narrow defeat at the hands of Tier 2 Rhyl 1879 on Saturday, writes Treflyn Jones.

The defeat was disappointing in view of the hosts` fine first half performance and more so as the winning goal arrived agonisingly during injury time after Rhyl had upped their game quite significantly during the second period.

Port started very promisingly and went close to opening the scoring during the first minute when after fine work by Rhys Alun, a low cross only just evaded the right foot of Cai Jones as he came sliding in.

Then after 12 minutes, a dangerous cross by Port`s Sam Reynolds had to be palmed away by a diving Alex Swindell.

Port were playing very well at this stage with Sam Reynolds, Rhys Alun and Osian Evans looking particularly threatening down the flanks.

Rhyl came close in the 28th minute when Reece Fairhurst headed just over from an inswinging corner kick.

Port were rewarded for their enterprise on the half hour mark with a great opening goal.

Osian Evans, playing his first competitive game since sustaining a bad injury in pre-season, gathered the ball in the box after great work by Sam Reynolds.

He evaded two defenders and rounded the keeper with aplomb before tapping home to the delight of the Quarry-enders.

Five minutes before the interval, Rhyl came very close to equalizing when a ricochet arrived at the feet of James Farr but, with the goal at his mercy, his sidefooted shot evaded keeper Josh Cooke as well as his upright and the half ended with Port still seemingly in the driver’s seat.

Rhyl showed more attacking intent after the break and Reece Fairhurst again headed over the bar from a corner kick.

Rhyl were by now mounting some swift counter-attacks but Port`s Sam Reynolds almost extended Port’s lead when his firm angled drive was blocked in the nick of time during one of Port’s best attacking moves.

Rhyl’s attacks increased in tempo and frequency as the half wore on and Port’s keeper Josh Cooke pulled off a very fine save to foil a well-placed header by Rhyl’s Ben Lightfoot.

A few minutes late, however, Rhyl’s equalizer duly arrived as Port, for the second Saturday in succession, fell victim to that terrible ailment called ourlegsstarttogowithfifteenminutesleft-itis.

Morgan Murray’s cross into the box was expertly controlled on his chest by Jack Parry before dispatching a glorious volley past Cooke’s despairing dive. (1-1).

The game drifted into injury time with penalties looming when Ben Lightfoot broke Port hearts.

A close range shot by substitute Damase Kiwanda was well blocked by Sion Williams but the ball dropped kindly for Kiwanda to to find Lightfoot unmarked for a tap-in and 1-2 was the final (cruel) score.

On the positive side, Osian Evans looks one heck of a prospect for us. Let`s hope that Lady Luck will smile upon him for the remainder of the season at least and keep him well clear of injuries.

As for next Saturday, the game at Llanrwst has been postponed and this means that Port’s next fixture will be on 27 December when Y Traeth will stage the big holiday derby against neighbours Pwllheli with a 2,30pm kick-off.