Shaun at the double as Port roll on
THIRD-PLACE Porthmadog will aim to stretch their unbeaten run to seven matches this Saturday when they visit Guilsfield for a Huws Gray Alliance League clash, reports Gareth Williams.
Craig Papirnyk’s side remained on the winning trail with a 2-0 home victory over Ruthin Town last weekend, Shaun Cavanagh scoring both their goals.
An excellent first-half performance, with Port playing some quality football and dominating possession, should have resulted in more than a single-goal lead at the interval.
The second half, where the visitors upped their aggression, was more even but a second goal after 70 minutes eased the tension and, by the latter stages, Port were looking comfortable again.
Port started strongly with manager Papiirnyk opting for pace at the front, with Tomos Emlyn and Ryan Taylor in the wide positions and Cavanagh operating in the middle.
Each responded with strong performances, stretching the visitors’ defence.
An early break from Tomos Emlyn took him to the byline and his dangerous cross was cleared for a corner, from which Ceri James tested the keeper from 18 yards out, but Ryan Goldston scrambled the ball away under pressure,
Though Ruthin were being forced back on the defensive, a 17th minute break from Craig Wilkinson caught out the home defence and his angled shot from 15 yards curled narrowly wide of Paul Pritchard’s far post.
On 27 minutes, Port took a well- deserved lead when a James assist found Cavanagh in behind the Ruthin defence.
He still had much to do and raced on. Though the advancing Goldston got a partial block on his initial effort, Cavanagh recovered for a second bite which saw him drill home from 15 yards.
Another good Port build up involved several players combining well to create a shooting chance for Jay Gibbs, whose low shot went narrowly the wrong side of the post.
The visitors emerged a bigger force for the second half but, despite having a greater share of the play, were only able to threaten Pritchard’s goal with shots from distance.
The introduction of Sion Edwards, just before the hour mark, impacted on the game in Port’s favour as he found space and time to threaten the Ruthin defence with several dangerous runs.
Then, on 70 minutes, Port gained a breathing space with an all-important second goal.
Iwan Lewis found space to burst through on the right, his cross to the far post was headed back across goal by Taylor and on hand to finish off the move was Cavanagh with a close range header to make it three goals for him in the past two games.
On 87 minutes, Port could have made it 3-0 when Dan Dascalu was brought down in the box and a penalty was awarded. Goldston, however, pulled off a great save to deny Gruff John from 12 yards.