Comfortable cup win for Porthcawl

PORT TALBOT & DISTRICT LEAGUE CUP

FC PORTHCAWL made cup progress on the back of this comfortable Rest Bay victory over Margam Youth Centre, writes Tony Poole.

The wet state of the pitch in Groeswen led to the venue being swapped and the Green Machine paraded their transfer deadline day signing Matthew Rowley.

Manager John McCarthy felt that Rowley could add pace and power to the frontline – and that proved spot on.

Though the Green Machine almost gifted Margam a lead goal inside a minute, a goal was soon crafted at the opposite end.

From the defensive howler, the ball was swept out to Rowley, who found Joe McCarthy lurking in a wide Rest Bay channel.

The Green Machine top scorer then planted a shot cum cross into the net to move on to 17 goals for the season.

That all transpired inside first minute and during the remainder of the half while Margam won more possession, Porthcawl were more dangerous via on-song James Brown and Jordan Pugh.

These players were at the heart of the second Porthcawl goal with Rowley finishing things off with aplomb for number two.

Captain Evan Jones along with back-four colleagues Steve Davies, Andrew Bowden and Pugh were solid as a rock and half-time arrived with the score on 2-0.

The goal that killed the tie off then came on the hour with Joe McCarthy whipping a free kick into the box for Pugh to collect a fourth goal of the season.

McCarthy musical chairs then led to Harry Nicholls, Zak Furness, Robbie Ivin, Josh Matthews and Hywel Roberts having a run, but despite fresh legs the scoreline remained stagnant.

Captain Jones and goalkeeper Brett Davies were delighted with a seventh clean sheet this winter going into a trip to Newton Wanderers last night (Tuesday) while on April 26 they are away to championselect Cwmavon.