Porthcawl Town AFC welcomed Garw BGC to Locks Lane on Wednesday night in the first of many local derbies of the upcoming season. Both sides came into the fixture on the back of a victory - the home side following an away South Wales Alliance League Division 1 win at Butetown, and the visitors following a 3-2 cup win. The fixture drew a huge crowd of home and travelling fans, as well as a few local rivals scouting out both sides.
Town made three changes to their starting XI; with Brad Robinson making his return in goals, Jon Challis coming in at left back, and Mark Brett making his competitive debut at centre half. The Seasiders boasted another strong substitutes bench with local youth product Tom Wright featuring for the first time.
To a huge roar, the game got underway on a perfect pitch at Locks Lane, the intensity you'd expect of a local derby clear to see from both teams. After an even opening twenty minutes, Porthcawl stepped up to take the game by the scruff of the neck in a breathless spell of dominance.
They opened the scoring, with Jorge Crofts slipping Morgan Thomas in behind the defence, his composed curling finish and first of the season sparking pandemonium in the stands. Within five minutes, the home side had doubled their advantage, Crofts this time turning goal scorer after a whipped cross from Andrew Fisher on the right hand side and some lacklustre goalkeeping.
A rare chance for Garw from a corner saw a header drift narrowly wide of Robinson's far post, a wake up call for the hosts. They responded well and were unlucky to go in without a bigger lead - more fine work from Fisher in the right channel saw a low cross diverted onto the post by a scrambling defender, before Fisher himself had the ball in the net after fine work from Hayden Lau, only to be flagged offside. 2-0 at the break.
Porthcawl picked up where they left off after the interval, the desire of midfield duo Matt Ellis and Tom Davis and the solid defending of the back four giving Garw little to work with. Building from the platform provided by their team mates, the front three of Fisher, Crofts and Thomas continued to torment the visitors, and within a few minutes of the restart they extended The Seasiders' lead.
Crofts bagged the third - his speculative strike from range taking a cruel flick off a defending head, looping into the top corner leaving Garw's keeper with no chance. If the third was chalked up to luck, no such criticism could be made of Porthcawl's fourth. Crofts at the heart of it again, whipping an inch perfect cross from the left for Fisher to guide home expertly.
With it looking like a case of 'how many?' for Porthcawl, the game was turned on its head on the hour mark. After reacting to a challenge that went unpunished by the referee, striker Fisher responded with a strong tackle in front of the Garw bench - sparking a melee that took a few minutes to settle. Inevitably a red card followed - but to everyone's surprise it was for Fisher, with Garw's defender only receiving a yellow.
It resulted in a nervy final thirty minutes, with Porthcawl looking resolute but seeing little of the ball. Garw got on the score sheet courtesy of a soft penalty for handball, but despite the setbacks it was to be Porthcawl's day. Cheers greeted the players at the final whistle, a 4-1 win richly deserved and continuing Town's strong start to the season. Next up, Llangynwyd Rangers in the JD Cup first round.
Starting XI
Brad Robinson
Joe Downes (MOTM)
Mark Brett
Tom Warren
Jon Challis
Tom Davis
Matthew Ellis
Hayden Lau
Jorge Crofts
Morgan Thomas
Andrew Fisher
Subs
Thomas Wright
Tom Marlow
Callum Endicott
Rob Davis
Jordan Marks
