Holyhead Hotspur 1 Porthmadog 0

Ardal North West

PORTHMADOG’S woefully ineffective performances away from home continued on Saturday at the New Stadium, writes Treflyn Jones.

The game in some ways was a carbon copy of the last defeat at the hands of Pwllheli, especially in terms of the winning goal.

The hosts started marginally the brighter of the two sides and it took a good one-handed save by Ollie Farebrother to keep out a firm shot by Cory Williams before Tomi Llywelyn shot wide with a low left-footer some 12 yards out.

Port settled thereafter and a good pass by Ryan Williams found Danny Brookwell free in the box but his hard shot from a tight-ish angle was blocked by keeper Guto Hughes’ legs.

There then followed a passage of play in which both sides were guilty of adopting an ‘anywhere will do’ policy.

On 35 minutes , there occurred a moment of controversy when a great through ball put Brookwell clean through on goal before he appeared to be pulled down by a tug on his arm.

Port justifiably appealed long and loud for a penalty but the referee waved play on.

After the incident, the alleged perpetrator turned to a Port supporter to utter with a wry smile ”I got away with one there, didn`t I?”

There then followed a promising right wing cross by Brookwell which was skewed high and wide from a Cai Jones volley as the half came to an end at 0-0.

The second half opened with a speculative long-range effort by Cai Jones which flew well wide and this was followed at the other end by a good point-blank stop by Farebrother at the feet of a Hotspur attacker.

Then came the goal. A slip (yes another one !!!!) by a Port defender ensured that Shay Murphy had a clear run on goal.

His initial close range shot was well-saved by Farebrother but the rebound fell kindly for Murphy to tap home to the delight of the home fans.

Port were then guilty of two very bad misses.

The first chance fell to Brookwell who, with the goal at his mercy, puzzlingly elected to pass inside the box but the ball went behind the onrushing Cai Jones to audible groans from the Port faithful.

Next, it was substitute Rhys Alun who completely mis-kicked a volley with only the keeper to beat.

Had he hit it any harder, it would have ended in the main stand! We have got to take chances like these.

Had we taken both chances, as we should, the three points would have been ours.

Port put the Holyhead rearguard under huge pressure for the last 10 minutes or more, forcing a flurry of corner kicks to no avail.

It wasn`t quite all doom and gloom. New signing Jack Rimmer shaped up well and it was great to see Jamie Jones coming on as a substitute after a very lengthy injury lay-off.

In all honesty, the form which we showed at the start of the season appears to have deserted us.

We look slow and unfit as a team and we are every inch a Tier Three side.

On Tuesday night, we welcome Trearddur to Y Traeth with a 7.45pm kick-off. Come on….prove us all wrong!