A sunny trip to the seaside and three valuable points , it dosnt get much better than that. The last few trips to Porthcawl have been played in monsoon conditions but today was a lovely post summers day.
Despite a disappointing second half performance at Llwydcoed last time out Manager Laurence Owen decided to stick with his previous selection with the exception Craig Margetts making his debut in goal , Leighton Golledge coming in for Mike Binning ( work ) Mike Vaux moving from the striker role to a wide right position and Marcus Power coming back in after missing last time out . On the bench were Matt Pimm , Danny Penn and Matt Smith.
The game opened at a good pace and the home side were the better side for the opening 15 minutes without troubling Margetts. The half was keenly contested with some big tackles from both sides but as the game went on it was the Steelmen with their crisp passing game that began to control possesion , and from a good interchange on 23 minutes Tom Hooper burst into the box past two defenders but slightly delayed his shot before bringing a save from the Porthcawl keeper . It was a good ball from the right from Power on 29 minutes that saw Vaux leap above his marker and head powerfully against the post and the ball fly to safety. Margetts held the home sides best chance on 33 minutes when he got behind a shot from 10 yards. |Unfortunately for the debutee his next involvement ended in injury when he collected a ball on the edge of the box but in doing so fell heavily on his right knee rendering him virtually unable to walk on it , he managed to struggle through to half time

HT 0-0

Centre forward Mike Aviss had to put on the keepers gloves for the second half and Danny Penn replaced him up front . Again the home side started slightly better but aviss was untroubled . The Steelmen as in the first started to get back into the game and the central defensive pairing of Golledge and Palmer had a lot to do with keeping the opposition at bay completely controlling everything throught the middle . On 64 minutes a ball worked to the right hand side to full back Ashley Sully saw the defender superbly pick out Striker Danny Penn 8 yards out and his angled header was brilliantly saved by the Porthcawl keeper but as the ball was parried out to the edge of the box Marcus Power's superb technique saw him volley the ball into the back of the net leaving the keeper no chance for 1-0.
Owen immediately changed the formation to get on top in midfield and Matt Pimm was introduced for Ashkey Sully in a 5 manmidfield . Danny Pennshould have made it 2-0 on 70 minutes but his shot was dragged inches past the post and skipper Richie Shier should have done better from a Tom hooper delightful dink on 74 minutes but his header was straight at the keeper . It says everything about the performance from the back four and the battling midfield that Aviss in the sticks had not one save to make and the game played out for a well deserved 3 points

FT

Porthcawl 0-1 Llanwern

Lot of positives for a change , no dismissals another decent passing performance and a few good partnerships beginning to click. With Mike Binning returnng next week and Luke Fernquest only two weeksaway things are looking a lot more promising going forward but the only negative is the injury sustained by Craig Margetts who started so well on his debut but looks like he could be out for a few weeks ?