PORTHMADOG 2

RUTHIN TOWN 0

NINE man Ruthin Town lost out in an amazing weekend contest in Gwynedd.

Everything seemed to go against Town during their trip to Porthmadog, with the visitors having two players send off, while Ruthin keeper Ryan Goldston caught the eye with a pair of penalty saves to keep his side in the contest.

However, two goals in the space of four minutes eventually did the trick to hand the hosts a belated first win of the campaign.

The opening skirmishes were pretty even, with neither side gaining the upper hand.

Jay Gibbs had the opening chance with his powerful free kick after a quarter-of-an-hour scraping the outside of the Ruthin post.

Port then had Paul Pritchard to thank as Ruthin countered five minutes later.

The experienced keeper did well to hold on to a Tom Sharples shot, which found its way though a forest of legs.

A couple of minutes later and Pritchard was in action again, being forced to palm clear an Alex Webster free kick.

A huge turning point came in the 37th minute.

Tomos Emlyn put in a robust challenge on Ruthin's Dafydd Evans on the edge of the visitors’ box.

Referee Sion Davies ignored cries of a foul from Ruthin, indicating that Emlyn had taken the ball cleanly.

Feeling he’d been fouled, the red mist descended on Evans as he immediately got up to his feet and unceremoniously bundled Tomos Emlyn to the floor.

The official had little choice but to show Evans a straight red for violent conduct.

Six minutes later and things looked even worse for Ruthin.

From a scramble in the box, the ball seemed to be heading goalwards before it was saved on the line by defender Adam Harvey-Davies.

After consulting his linesman, the referee awarded a penalty for handball and an inevitable red card for Harvey-Davies.

Up stepped Jay Gibbs to take the penalty, but his effort was saved by keeper Ryan Goldston.

A minute before the half-time whistle and Port looked to have broken the deadlock as John Littlemore, however the linesman’s flag was up and it was ruled out.

Despite having most of the ball in the second period, it took until the 55th minute for Porthmadog to create the first opportunity of the half.

Mel McGinness' point blank header was saved.

A minute later and Port had a golden opportunity to score as the ref again pointed to the spot after Tom Dyer fouled John Owen.

Again it was Gibbs who elected to take the penalty and unbelievably, Goldston saved it once more.

The breakthrough eventually came in the 68th minute.

Iwan Lewis cut the ball back to Jay Gibbs, who blasted an effort into the net.

Porthmadog made the points safe four minutes later.

Gibbs again grabbed a goal after an intricate one-two with Mel McGinness on the edge of the box.

Despite showing a lot of spirit and effort, Ruthin’s nine men rarely looked a threat to Paul Pritchard’s goal.

At the other end, John Owen went close to increasing the lead with a shot past the post after 78 minutes.