Cymru North: Brookwell brace ends Port misery after nine straight defeats, Prestatyn win away

CYMRU NORTH REPORTS – SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17

Caersws 1-2 Porthmadog

Two-goal hero Danny Brookwell was the toast of the Traeth after his double halted Porthmadog’s barren run of nine successive league defeats.

Caersws were the last team Port had taken a point off, and Stephen Williams’ side gladly claimed three more at Latham Park.

The Eifionydd outfit had not won in the league since recording a home triumph over Prestatyn Town back in October.

Saturday in Powys promised to be as tough an assignment as any of Port’s recent tests, but on this occasion they got the desired result, although they remain in the Cymru North bottom three.

After a fairly uneventful opening quarter, Caersws presented the visitors’ rearguard with two very anxious moments.

Firstly, a shot from just outside the box took an awkwardly high deflection which was expertly tipped over by the alert Ollie Farebrother, and then the busy Port custodian did very well to dive low to his left to parry another effort.

Then, a firm header had Farebrother well-beaten before cannoning off the crossbar.

There were all of 48 (45+3) minutes on the clock when Port made the breakthrough with their first on-target attempt.

Brookwell glided past two defenders before unleashing a tremendous left foot drive which burst through keeper Steffan Jones’ hands and into the net.

Port are not traditionally regarded as counter-attackers, but they played this tactic well after the break as they successfully repulsed wave after wave of Caersws pressure.

The hosts hit the woodwork twice, while Farebrother made several excellent last-ditch saves and dealt admirably with crosses to keep Port in the game.

Port`s second net-finder arrived shortly before the hour.

The ever-improving Gethin Thomas broke quickly in midfield before releasing the mercurial Brookwell down the right flank.

The Anglesey ace was driven wide by three defenders but still found space to angle his low shot past Jones to make it 2-0.

It was now Caersws` turn to truly test the visitors` defence and they duly reduced the arrears on the hour.

Another cross was headed against the post, but this time Rhys Hesden was on hand to bundle a left-footed volley past Farebrother.

Suddenly, all Port fans had to endure flashbacks of the previous weekend’s extraordinary comeback by Llandudno at Y Traeth, where the visitors trailed 2-0 on 84 minutes, but ended up winning 3-2.

During the last few minutes. the Port defence was under sustained pressure but Farebrother came to the rescue with a superb point-blank save.

Port held out this time and the hard-working visitors went home with all three points.

Chirk AAA 0-3 Prestatyn Town

A welcome first league win for Prestatyn under Matty Roberts’ managership kept them above the bottom three.

All the goals came in the final 15 minutes of the first half as Seasiders midfielder Luke Wiltshire scored his second league goal of the season before captain and man of the match Tom Kemp doubled the advantage.

Striker Tyler Joyce rounded off an impressive first half from the Seasiders by adding a third with a composed finish beyond young goalkeeper Jack Edwards.

Chirk remain bottom after a sixth straight defeat.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16

Ruthin Town 5-4 Llandudno
Llanidloes Town 1-5 Mold Alexandra

Reports on both of these matches were carried by Grassroots North Wales on Friday night