Flashback – 15 years ago: Carl Owen double earns Port a great win at The Oval

Caernarfon Town 1 (Mark Evans 65)
CPD Porthmadog 2 (Carl Owen 6,34)
Welsh Premier – November 18, 2005

Carl Owen was the hero of the night as his two first half goals proved enough to give Porthmadog the three points at The Oval on this date 15 years ago.

The visitors flew out of the blocks as soon as referee Brian Lawlor blew the whistle and this seemed to catch the home side by surprise with their minds perhaps still on the events of a fortnight earlier when they cruised to an easy 3-0 victory at the Traeth.

There was to be no repeat performance with the visitors dominating the opening exchanges and indeed after only six minutes they struck the first blow.

A good exchange of passes between Les Davies and Danny Hughes enabled the latter to break to the by-line and when he crossed low to the near post, Owen got in front of his marker and though keeper Paul Pritchard got a hand to the shot he could not keep it out.

Port could have gone further ahead as they piled on the pressure with Owen hitting the side-netting and a dipping Les Davies shot dropped inches over the crossbar.

Gareth Parry almost struck for the visitors as he fastened on to an Owen flick but his shot flew just over.

With Port for once seeming to resist the temptation to depend on a single-goal lead Neil Thomas, in outstanding form in midfield, put Owen through after 34 minutes with a perfectly weighted pass and the striker fired low past Pritchard.

After Davies had further tested Pritchard with a 15 yard effort, Caernarfon threatened the Port goal for the only time in the half, but no-one was able to get a final touch to sub Steve Watkin’s header to the far post.

Half time: Caernarfon 0 Porthmadog 2

The second half proved to be an entirely different game and six minutes in Canaries right-back Mark Evans found himself unmarked at the far post but fired into the side-netting.

The home side continued to pressure the Port defence with both Gwyn Peters and Rob Williams firing shots off target.

Port were now struggling to recapture their first-half form, but Carl Owen retaliated briefly as he latched on to a Ritchie Owen pass and Lee Webber just failed to capitalise on Thomas’ well-flighted free-kick.

The goal which brought the Cofis well and truly back into the game came on 65 minutes when a Mark Evans shot from 30 yards thundered past Richard
Harvey.

Panic now seemed to grip the Port side as they defended deeply and lost their shape.

Jason Sadler rippled the side-netting and Harvey did well to keep out a Rob Williams close range effort.

It was all hands to the pumps as Ryan Davies cleared near the far post and former Wrexham striker Watkin saw yellow for his dive on the edge of the box.

Carl Owen could have settled the match and completed his hat-trick when after 82 minutes he was put clear by Parry, but keeper Pritchard denied him smartly.

A couple of late corners kept the tension going to the end but after four minutes added time visiting supporters gave a mighty sigh of relief for the first away three points of the season were in the bag.

Caernarfon: Paul Pritchard, Mark Evans, Lee McNulty, Kenny Irons, Eifion Jones, Dan March, Gwyn Peters (Marcus Orlik), Rob Williams, Jason Sadler, Lee Jones (Steve Watkin), Dylan Owen. Sub not used: Waynne Phillips.

Port: Richard Harvey: Rhys Roberts, Ryan Davies, Lee Webber, Mike Foster: Danny Hughes (Ywain Gwynedd), Gareth Parry, Neil Thomas, Ritchie Owen, Carl Owen, Les Davies (Tony Williams). Sub not used. Jason Harvey.

Attendance: 374

Many thanks to Gareth Williams and Emyr Gareth for match information and pictures