BOTH teams were playing their final game of the season on Saturday and it was the annoyingly inconsistent Porthmadog who deservedly took the spoils at the end of an entertaining match, writes Treflyn Jones.

The outcome was unimportant to the Hotspurs as they had already secured a play-off place but Port`s win cements for them a third place spot in the final league table.

Things started brightly for Porthmadog. After only five minutes a pass deep from the Port defence arrived at the feet of Rhys Alun in a central position and his glorious pass released Danny Brookwell.

His sprint took him inside the box from whence he made no mistake as he calmly side-footed the ball past the stranded Guto Hughes.

Port continued to attack with pace and Gruff Ellis narrowly cleared the crossbar with a towering header from a Rhys Alun corner.

A few minutes later, however, Hotspur drew level when despite zero appeals from the visitors, referee Craig Griffiths pointed to the spot for an infringement seemingly on the by-line within Port`s box.

Up stepped Cory Williams to side-foot home whilst sending Port keeper Ollie Farebrother the wrong way.

The game now became even more open and a flurry of chances were set up at both ends with Port getting the lion`s share of them.

First up was Rhys Alun who found himself through on goal but a bad bounce got the better of him before blazing over the bar and a real chance had gone a-begging.

Next, Port’s Iddon Price was called upon to make a goal-line clearance after an attempted long kick by Farebrother was charged down.

Port’s Jamie Jones came close to the target with a daisy-cutter before Rhys Alun brought out the very best in Holyhead`s custodian Guto Hughes as his full-length dive enabled him to tip away a strong shot and the same attacker stung Hughes` palms with another long distance effort.

Port were on top at this stage but Iddon Price had to make another goal-line clearance before the half ended 1-1.

Early in the second half, the visitors hit the crossbar with a fine half volley but with 66 minutes on the clock, Port took the lead for the second time.

Following excellent work by Danny Brookwell, Jamie Jones sent a teasing cross into the box.

Cai Jones’ head got to it first and his header looped over Guto Hughes into the corner of the net. 2-1 to Port.

Some eleven minutes later, things got even better for the hosts when an attempted headed clearance outside his area by Guto Hughes failed to reach its target and John Littlemore after regaining the ball with much tenacity, was able to tap into an unguarded net to give the hard-working Port team a 3-1 lead.

Port maintained their composure at the back and there were few further scares.

That’s it for the league campaign. Congratulations to Holyhead on clinching their play-off place and best of luck to them in their final as they carry the flag for the Ardal North West.

As for Port, they can finish the season on a high at the Lock Stock Ardal Northern League Cup Final against Brickfield Rangers on May 17th.