It was a case of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory for Porthmadog as they let slip a 2-1 advantage held with only 8 mins left. It appeared that the visitors were going to break the sequence of poor results when disaster struck twice in the space of only four minutes. First Mark Williams gave the ball away in midfield with a downward header which ran into the path of Hayden Fleming, for the home side, and he took full advantage of the error, drilling a clean 25 yd effort low into the net. Before Porthmadog could utter the words "We'll settle for a draw", Mark Dodds collected wide on the right and held off a challenge by Lee Webber before breaking into the box and settling the match with a clinical finish.

Despite their lowly league positions both sides turned in good performances and provided the crowd with a thrilling end to end game. Mark Williams, for Porthmadog, tested Rayner in the 2nd min with a flicked header from Dafydd Evans' early free-kick. While at the other end Craig Hughes shot narrowly wide and Dodds gave McGuigan an early taster following Cockings free-kick from the right. John Gwynfor provided Carl Owen with an useful ball but the striker was forced wide and only succeeded in winning a corner. Then with Porthmadog applying the pressure the home side turned defence into attack in the most decisive fashion. A quickly taken long free-kick caught out the visitors defence allowing Mark Dodds to get behind them and scoring with a low shot from the edge of the box which gave McGuigan, in goal, no chance.

Port soon replied with a good three man move involving John Gwynfor, Mark Williams and Carl Owen but the latter's shot was well saved by Raynor. At the other end McGuigan made a scrambled save after Johnson had turned well in the box and soon after Wayne Savage was only narrowly wide with his 25yd effort. Towards the end of the opening half Gareth Parry, for the visitors, let fly a powerful 20 yd effort following good work by Carl Owen and Mark Williams.

The visitors started the second-half strongly and after only 3 mins Gareth Parry whipped across a good ball from the right and it took the full 6ft 5ins of Simon Raynor to touch Gareth Caughter's header over the bar. Soon a good three man move involved Dafydd Evans, Danny Hughes and Carl Owen for the latter to test Raynor again. On the hour mark Porthmadog introduced the width that had so obviously been lacking in the opening half when Pugh and Tony Williams replaced doubtful starters Carl Owen and Gareth Parry.

A minute later and they almost found a way through when Ritchie Owen's free-kick, initially misheaded by Mark Williams only for Caughter to head over when well placed. Then on 68 mins came the breakthrough when Ritchie Owen's free-kick from the right was headed on by Mark Williams finding Lee Webber unmarked in front of goal and the defender made no mistake from close range. Five minutes later and the visitors, now well on top, took the lead when Mark Williams took advantage of another set piece to flick Dafydd Evans right wing free-kick curling it over Raynor's outstretched arms and into the net.

Having gone ahead Porthmadog made the crucial error of sitting back and trying to sit on their lead when they could have gone on to win the game. They now yielded possession and Johnson and Fleming started to control the midfield. Port Talbot then with two goals in the last eight minutes snatched the victory which had earlier seemed out of their reach.

Porthmadog will rue the failure to clinch the victory in a game where the very least they deserved was a draw. They will however be pleased with the two goals after such a barren period. Their general play also showed considerable improvement on recent performances again underlining the fact that they play best when they use wide players.

Port Talbot: Raynor, Cockings, Gurney(Casey), Carter, Hancock, Fleming, Savage, Johnson, Dodds(Driscoll), Craig Hughes, Matthews(Wigg).

Porthmadog: McGuigan, John G. Jones, Emrys Williams, Lee Webber, Ritchie Owen, Danny Hughes,(Harrison), Dafydd Evans, Gareth Parry(Steve Pugh), Gareth Caughter, Mark Williams, Carl Owen(Tony Williams)

Report by: Gareth Williams.