PORT CLAIM DERBY SPOILS TO GO TOP

ARDAL League North-West CPD PORTHMADOG 3 Julian Williams 12’(p) Rhys Alun 17’

Paul Lewis 45’+2’ BLAENAU FFESTINIOG 0

WENNOL o’r gorffennol…… ……a blast from the past……..a rave from the grave …….a playback from way back. Whichever way you may look upon this fixture, you would have to go back to 1985 to find the previous competitive meeting between these two local rivals on Y Traeth,

writes Treflyn Jones.

At the weekend, as befits a local derby, the match attracted a bumper crowd, the likes of which most sides in this league can only dream about, and in that respect at least, it really did feel a bit like going down memory lane.

Port, as so often has been the case this season, were first out of the blocks and Marcus Banks should have done so much better in the second minute when he blasted a close range left footer way over the bar when he should have at least hit the target after good work by Paul Lewis on the left flank.

Then, in the sixth minute, it was Blaenau’s turn when winger Joseph Dukes-Morgan with a determined run worked himself into a goalscoring position but his firm strike was parried away for a corner by Port custodian Paul Pritchard.

Two minutes later, Paul Lewis got on the end of a close-range header but his effort went disappointingly wide of the mark. On 10 minutes, however, Port opened their account in somewhat fortuitous circumstances when Blaenau keeper Cian Williams accidentally brought down Marcus Banks in the box after initially pulling off a good pointblank save. Up stepped our top-scorer Julian Williams to sidefoot the ball home into the corner of the net past the keeper’s left hand.

There then followed a glorious move when a great pass by Marcus put Rhys Alun through on goal but his seemingly goal-bound thunderbolt produced a great save by Cian Williams. Two minutes later, however, Port went further ahead when a Julian Williams free kick came off the defensive wall and broke free to Rhys Alun whose shot this time was unstoppable.

As half-time approached, it was all Port by now. A glorious pass found Rhys Alun on the right wing and his accurate low cross evaded the keeper and located Paul Lewis for the easiest of tap-ins. An easy goal in the end but a superb team effort.

The second period, in complete contrast, was a deadly-dull affair. In fact, it was the most boring second-half seen at Y Traeth in living memory and even the quiet-spoken Iddon Price more or less admitted as much!

It was as if Port had either taken their foot completely off the accelerator or, more likely, were already thinking about next Saturday’s crunch top-of-the-table clash.

Credit to Blaenau, however, as they continued to show grit and determination. Indeed, mid-way through the half, they came close to scoring when a deep cross into the Port area found Gary Hughes in space but his close-range flick beat both Paul Pritchard and the crossbar. Two minutes from time, a well-worked move by the visitors put one of their forwards clean through but his close-range effort was well saved by Paul Pritchard.

It ended in 3-0 to Port, not great after such a promising start but good enough in terms of another three points and another clean sheet. What is more, the result propelled Port back to the summit of the Ardal North-West league on goal difference from next week’s ever-so-tough visitors Mold Alexandra. Be there or be very square!

Porthmadog :- Paul Pritchard (GK), Cai Parry, Josh Banks (Ben Fisher 45’), Euron Roberts (Sol Kempster 84’), Iddon Price, Stuart Rogers, Ifan Emlyn, Marcus Banks (Matty Jones 45’) , Rhys Alun (Cian Pritchard 66’) , Julian Williams , Paul Lewis ( John Littlemore 57’). Unused sub :Bradley Roberts (GK),

Yellow cards: Josh Banks 26,’ Cian Pritchard 76’)

Blaenau Ffestiniog :- Cian Williams (GK), Iolo Thomas ( J. Diamond 67’), O Dukes-Morgan, S. Hughes, G. Hughes (H. Parry 72’), O. Jones-Owen, I. Griffiths (D. Copsey 59’), Iwan Jones,Gethin Roberts, Sion Wyn Jones, J. Dukes-Morgan Unused Subs:- Gethin Williams, David Kian Jones. Yellow cards: I. Griffiths 37’, Garry Hughes 48,’ Oliver DukesMorgan 56’. Attendance: 403. Referee: Karl Berry. Noddwyr/ Match Sponsors: GREY SLATE and STONE. Noddwr y Bêl/ Match Ball Sponsor: Cefnogwr/ Supporter: er cof / in memory of Bernie Smith