November 24, 2019 - 1777 views
Colwyn Bay saw their seven-match winning run brought to an end with a 2-1 home defeat to Porthmadog.
Hit by a pre-match blow when skipper Tom McCready failed a late fitness test on a knee injury suffered in midweek training, the Seagulls struggled without him to produce the form they have shown in recent weeks and looked well off the pace after two weeks without a game.
They took the lead against the run of play through Mitch Bryant, but Andy Coughlin had pulled off three or four excellent saves prior to that to deny the visitors, and Porthmadog were deservedly level by half-time before winning the game with a second half penalty.
Porthmadog posed a threat from the kick off with Coughlin having to make a fine diving save in the opening minute to push a shot from John Owen round the post for a corner.
Coughlin then had to turn a shot from Iwan Lewis over the bar and did really well to get down to turn a low shot from Mel McGuiness round the post.
It was certainly against the run of play when Mitch Bryant put Bay ahead with a close range effort from Daz Thornton's low cross and they almost doubled their lead when Alex Downes hit the bar from 30 yards.
Mitch Bryant had another shot deflected just wide for a corner, but Porthmadog equalised on 38 minutes when an angled free kick was turned in at the far post by Iddon Price.
Porthmadog went close to second before the break but the shot went just wide with Coughlin beaten.
The Bay brought on Joe Chaplin at half-time for Damien Ketley, but it was Porthmadog who continued to threaten and they were awarded a penalty on 54 minutes when their player went down in the box, and Ilan ap Gareth stepped to score from the spot.
Porthmadog were happy to sit back and attack on the break after that and had two or three good opportunities to extend their lead. Colwyn Bay threw more men forward, but struggled to break down a disciplined visiting defence.
Joe Chaplin did have a late chance to rescue a point, after good play down the right by Alex Downes, but fired his shot wide from 12 yards.
Andy Coughlin was named Colwyn Bay's SoccerMillion Man of the Match.
Manager Craig Hogg commented: "We got what we deserved.
"I was very impressed with Porthmadog who have been galvanised by their new manager, but we didn't perform anywhere near the level we are capable of. Over 90 minutes we probably played well in patches for about 15 of them.
"We had a good crowd again and the frustrating thing for me is that although there were some good individual performances, we had players with a lot of ability who didn't turn up today and as a team we just didn't do ourselves justice."
Reproduced with thanks to Colwyn Bay FC.
