The Marlins
26 Sep 2009

Local derby decider

With only ten men going into this game, Cynffig were confident of the outcome. During the pre-match warm-ups, the banter was coming over and clearly this was going to be a game of strong minds. Captain Scott Hodgson had already declared the game lost and a serious talking to the boys was in order.
Two instrumentalists out of the game; Connor Jones on a weekend break and Ryan Matthews out with an ankle injury meant that we had to play a 4-3-2 with the midfield doing far more running than they were used to.
The whistle blew for the start of the game and the Marlins were intent on showing their strength early to quell the opposition's confidence. Cynffig were under a lot of pressure for the first ten minutes and seemed to weather the waves of attack from the mid-field and looked comfortable in spoiling the striker’s advances. With nearly fifteen minutes into the first half, the Marlins finally got a deserved break with a fine strike from Dylan Hockeridge to put us onto the scoreboard.
By half time the Marlins managed to extend their lead to 2 - 0 and were getting more confident in their approach and delivery of the ball to the wingers Ryan Haney and Jorge Crofts. Rhydian Nelson did an excellent job at centre mid-field, holding-off Callum Jones and preventing him from making any of his characteristic swerving runs. Ryan Haney struggled to get into the game and, unfortunately for him, had the coach giving him the hairdryer all through the first half. The back four, Scott Hodgson, Connor Hockeridge, Connor Gillinghan and George Beal were undeniably solid; dealing with every probing run that Josh and Callum could engineer from the little possession they were allowed to have.
The second half was an entirely different game and the fitness of the Marlins began to show. An early second half goal put the Marlins 3 – 0 up and there was more to come. Ryan Haney, now free of the shackles of the coach began to show just why he is a winger with a flurry of excellent crosses raining in from the right. Goals went begging from Jorge Crofts, Rhydian Nelson and Dylan Hockeridge before a own goal from Cynffig put the Marlins out of reach.
Callum Jones did create and score in a fantastic individual effort to put Cynffig on the board but by then, Cynffig had run out of steam. A further four goals sealed the game off completely and Cynffig were sent home wondering why they couldn’t capitalise on their one man advantage. Credit to Connor Tantum for his dogged determination to close out our strikers and Josh and Callum for their tireless running; but well done Porthcawl for believing in yourselves and playing with such composure.
Scorers - Porthcawl: Jorge Crofts (2), Ryan Haney (2), Dylan Hockeridge (1), Jak Robbins (1)
Cynffig: Callum Jones (1) Own goal (1)

Formed in 2007 with managers John Nelson and Mike Crofts, nicknamed the Blue Marlins and sponsored by Kelvin James of the Diamond Centre of Wales, this team started in sparkling form, just like the diamond logo on their new team shirts.

Porthcawl Boys and Girls Club believe in their managers having autonomy when running their sides and equipped the Marlins well with training facilities and have been 100% behind the managers. Success breeds success and soon the Marlins moved from having a bare ten players to having sixteen eager ten year olds!

2008 saw the merger with Porthcawl United and an influx of six additional players. United had no manager in the previous year and were always struggling to catch up. In addition, with only two managers and one working shifts, coaching resources were extremely low. In walked Serkan Askin who accepted the challenge to bring-on the Barracudas and set about his task with relish.

The really big challenge was moving into the competitive eleven a-side U12’s division. To run a full team in this division you realistically need a minimum of fifteen players. Porthcawl town, being isolated from the rest of the Port Talbot catchment area will always struggle to run two full teams unlike the likes of Afan Lido, Port Talbot and Baglan who seem to be able to pick up players as soon as they lose one.

But here we are in the 2009 – 2010 Port Talbot & District League with two teams, The Marlins with twelve players and the Barracudas with fourteen players. The future of the club looks good; Mike, Serkan and I look forward to helping these boys through to senior football and watching their development, both as players and as young men.

We thank the parents for their continued support.