Didcot Town 0 Portishead Town 4

By Matt Gillett / 13th December

Jingle bells – oh what fun it is to see Posset win away! Portishead Town’s 4-0 victory at Didcot Town sees them second in the Southern League table at the halfway point of the season.

Despite the convincing final scoreline this was a well-earned result on a tricky surface. Didcot Town, scrapping for points at the wrong end of the table, are hard running and present a strong physical challenge. But Portishead are never afraid to put in the hard yards and they closed, tackled and, with the ball frequently in the air, contested more headers than they’re probably used to.

Darren Vowles

Didcot’s preference was to quickly get the ball forward to the final third, looking for big No9 Owen James. In the 12th minute Portishead keeper Ryan Thacker reacted to head clear on the edge of his penalty area, Aron Robbins blocked a follow-up.  

Clear chances were at a premium but Lucas Vowles, a resilient attacking focal point, was holding the ball up well for teammates to join. Jack Thorne saw his shot saved low by Didcot keeper Leigh Bedwell after a one-two with Vowles.

Tom Llewellyn was everywhere in midfield, Jay Murray cropped up between the lines, Mitch Osmond and Jamie Adams drove forward as the visitors wrested control. They went ahead on 43 minutes. Thorne found overlapping left back Jordan Williams, his low cross nestled in the bottom corner for his first Portishead goal.

Posset extended their lead after 53 minutes. From Kyle Egan’s floated free-kick Vowles bravely headed on in front of the keeper and Ollie Woodhouse nodded in. A 66th minute Egan break forward ended with substitute Ethan Feltham cutting inside and firing a low shot that Bedwell finger-tipped away. A minute later it was 3-0, Egan’s corner was kept alive by Feltham and Woodhouse pulled it back for Vowles to stab home.

In game that never looked dirty the referee kept himself busy. Perhaps it was the lead up to Christmas, he certainly appeared determined to dish out as many cards as possible.

In the 74th minute Woodhouse strode confidently from defence, dribbled past three opponents and found Adams out right. Adams crossed with Woodhouse just failing to get the right connection in the box.

Darren Vowles

Portishead wrapped up the scoring in style on 84 minutes: Robbins made a trademark dash down the left before passing to Egan, he cut inside and found sub Callum Eastwood. Quick feet by Eastwood who opened up his body up and stroked the ball past Bedwell.

On an afternoon when Posset became the first team in the division to pass the sixty-goal mark, Thacker’s 87th minute stretching palm away also ensured a ninth league clean sheet. Job well done all round.