Flashback – 15 years ago: Porthmadog hit back with five-star performance

CPD Porthmadog 5 (Gareth Caughter 41, Gareth Roberts 43 OG, Lee Webber 46, Rhys Roberts 60, Carl Owen 68)
NEWI Cefn Druids 0
Welsh Premier League – Jan 14, 2006

Fifteen years ago this week Porthmadog bounced back in style from a 7-0 hammering at The New Saints by caning Druids 5-0 at Y Traeth seven days later.

The fact Port were playing bottom-placed Cefn did not deflect from this significant victory.

It was important, following the recent run of four straight league losses, to re-establish the clear water between them and those in the lower reaches.

It is also relevant to note that Druids had drawn three of their last six games and the others were only lost by the odd goal.

The game was decided during a five-minute period either side of half-time when the home side scored on three occasions.

The first came after 41 minutes following a period of Port pressure. Druids keeper Phil Cross came out well to block Carl Owen’s shot but the ball only went as far as Gareth Caughter, whose well-judged 15 yard looping header found the net.

Within two minutes the home side were two ahead when Mike Foster’s excellent flighted corner troubled the Druids defence and Gareth Roberts’ header ended up in his own net.

The Ancients could count themselves unlucky to be two goals down at the interval as they had looked the more likely to score and held the edge for most of the first half.

However, they only created one real opportunity after 24 minutes when Mike Heverin should have done better with a far post heading opportunity supplied by Osian Jones’ excellent long cross.

During this period the nearest the home side came to scoring were a couple of off-target headers by Ywain Gwynedd early on and one via Lee Webber from a corner.

Half-time: 2-0

The second half was only a minute old when Webber took advantage of some slack defence to turn Foster’s penetrating free kick over keeper Cross for Port’s third goal.

Cefn did not crumble and threw themselves into vigorous attack, forcing Richard Harvey to produce a good save from Paul McDonnell’s flick.

On the hour mark yet another Foster free-kick opened up the visitors defence and following a succession of headers in and around the box Rhys Roberts matched his fellow centre back and scored the fourth with a lob from 12 yards.

Eight minutes later and Port had more than sealed the game when it was that man Foster again who started the move emphasising the influence he had on this encounter.

This time it was with a well-directed pass from midfield enabling Les Davies to head into space for the hard working Carl Owen to run on and score his 10th Welsh Premier goal of the season with a low shot from 15 yards.

The game was now well and truly over and the home side coasted to victory troubled only by a few stiff tackles which produced a series of yellow cards and a couple of good runs by Osian Jones.

The industrious Gareth Parry came close near the end when he burst into the box but his shot was blocked for a corner.

The small crowd was a disappointment but those who decided to stay away after the 7-0 disaster at TNS missed a performance full of character. In addition to the goals Port also produced their first clean sheet of the season.

Port: Richard Harvey: Geraint Mitchell (Jon P Jones 81), Lee Webber (Richie Owen 77), Rhys Roberts, Mike Foster: Ywain Gwynedd (Tony Williams 73), Gareth Parry, Danny Hughes, Gareth Caughter: Carl Owen, Les Davies.

Cefn: Phil Cross, Gareth Barton, Chris Roberts, Gareth Roberts, Aled Rowlands, Andrew Edgar, Osian Jones, Paul Mazzarella (Ian Williams 62), Kevin Leech (Darren Williams 51), Mike Heverin, Paul McDonnell (Mark Hobson 65).

Attendance 144

Huge thanks to report-writer Gareth Williams and photographer Iwan Gareth