Porthmadog 0 Caernarfon 2nds 10
Admiral National League 3 North West
Porthmadog faced an old enemy in their second game of the year. A side who has historically given them a good old fashioned beating in recent years but the pre-match mood was different for this this time, writes Ioan Gwilym.
Having held league leaders Menai Bridge to a draw the previous Saturday, there was a renewed sense of optimism that Port could finally turn them over.
Again because of pitch conditions at Port, the match was played at Caernarfon even though this was technically a Porthmadog ‘home’ match. Port are willing to give up home advantage to ensure all fixtures are played and credit to Caernarfon for agreeing to host.
Porthmadog were the livelier of both sides in the first five minutes and immediately pinned Caernarfon down in their own 22, but they could not convert early pressure into points as the Cofis started to warm up into the game.
The rest of the first half was a bit of a chess match with neither team clearly exerting dominance in no facet of play but a great piece of individual brilliance from Caernarfon scrum half Caio Price darting down the side of a ruck five minutes before half time meant they went into the break 0-5 ahead. All to play for in the second half!
The stalemate continued well into the second half again, neither team dominating or creating real chances before the thorn in the Port side, Price darted down the blindside to touch down for his second try of the match, neither try was converted because of the strong winds.
Port did have some final pressure on the Cofis with a couple of penalties in the opposition 22 but the quality of the final ball was not good enough on the day to cross the white wash.
Porthmadog could feel hard done by with this result on the whole but considering they lost 53-7 at the same ground only four months ago, this was a vastly improved performance and will only be a matter of time before the new style of play that head coach Neil Williams has the side playing will convert into wins.