PORTHMADOG’S stand-in manager Trystan Davies bravely shuffled the pack for Saturday’s Welsh Cup second qualifying round at Amlwch Town, writes Treflyn Jones.
There were starts for John Littlemore, Sion Williams, Jack Gibney and Jake Jones as well as two players from the Development Squad namely Mabon Owen and Zac Pike with all of the aforementioned producing very creditable performances in a one-sided cup tie at a sunny Lon Bach ground.
It is fair to say that Port dominated the entire match to the extent that Amlwch’s forays into the Port penalty area were very rare events. Indeed, it took all of 46 minutes for the hosts to get their first corner.
Port’s first goalscoring chance came after nine minutes when a glancing header by Littlemore from a Tom Hilditch cross narrowly missed the target.
Wave after wave of attacks were then set up by the visitors and goalkeeper Patrick Wright had to make an excellent double save when Jack Gibney let fly from distance followed by an even better point blank stop from the follow-up by Littlemore.
A couple of minutes later, Port took the lead when a low 25-yard free kick by Hilditch flew into the corner of the net for a memorable opener.
Then, shortly after the quarter hour mark, the same player blasted home with a tremendous long distance looping shot to give the visitors a 0-2 cushion.
Port continued to probe patiently as Amlwch were content to defend and there were narrow misses by Hilditch, Pike and Owen before Littlemore made it 0-3 with a strong left-footed drive from 12yards after excellent work by Williams.
Just before the interval, Littlemore completed his double with a towering header past Wright from a trade-mark left foot cross by Josh Banks to give Port an unassailable 0-4 lead at the break.
In the second half, Port continued to attack with accuracy and patience but were thwarted by a combination of rather wayward finishing and brave defending by the hosts.
Amlwch were now seeing a little more of the ball and forced a few corners without ever seriously troubling Ollie Farebrother in the Port goal.
Finally, on 85 minutes, Port got the goal to underline their overall dominance when an inswinging corner was seemingly parried into his own net with the help of the upright by keeper Wright, who then atoned for his error with an excellent diving save from a Littlemore shot.