PORT TALBOT & DISTRICT LEAGUE PREMIER

TABLE-TOPPING FC Porthcawl had to work hard for this victory over Croeserw Athletic at a packed Rest Bay, writes Tony Poole.

Weather-wise it was a case of four seasons in one, but the Green Machine played sunny-side up football.

While the visitors were content to counter attack, the home pairing of Karl Cornock and Sam McCarthy pulled the strings.

Andrew Bowden and on-song James Brown set up Ben Bryant to go for goal, and veteran Geraint Ferguson made a smart save.

Ferguson also earned his spurs in preventing both Adam Jones and hotshot Joe McCarthy giving the Rest Bay boys the lead.

Porthcawl skipper William Owen pulled off one key tackle, and it wasn’t until the onset of half time that they went ahead.

Some electrifying Green Machine football then sent shockwaves through Croeserw, as Adam Jones found Cornock on halfway.

Bryant was sent into space and an audacious Brown pass reached Joe McCarthy, who curled it over for Evan Jones to net.

The bumper crowd appreciated the quality and on the restart, Porthcawl were denied a seemingly nailed on handball penalty.

Though Croeserw still posed a threat, it was their goalkeeper Ferguson who was the star performer, pulling off further wonderful saves to deny both Joe McCarthy and Bryant.

Another Porthcawl penalty call was refused – this one when on-song James Brown was man-handled in the box – before manager Jon McCarthy ran the changes.

He brought on James Harris, Matt Laverty and too good to be true Andy Williams.

That produced more home pressure with a Brown volley travelling just outside a post while Fergusson denied Bryant.

And it wasn’t until the dying moments that Porthcawl were assured of all three points.

Joe McCarthy sent Bryant clear and despite being chased by three defenders, he maintained composure to fire in a great goal.

This left leaders Porthcawl with 13 points from five games.