PORTHMADOG boosted their hopes of a top two Huws Gray Alliance finish with a hard-fought 1-0 home win over Conwy Borough.

Craig Papirnyk’s side were made to work hard for another three points by the newly promoted Tangerines to move within one point of Flint Town United having played a game more ahead of their tricky trip to Ruthin Town on Saturday (2.30pm).

With blustery conditions playing a huge factor in the contest, Port almost opened the scoring on three minutes when Julian Williams played in Sion Edwards, but Boro’ stopper Ben Heald reacted well to the opportunity and diverted the ball to safety.

Second tier top scorer Corrig McGonigle fired a long-range free-kick narrowly over the bar on 11 minutes, and Bryan Roberts rattled the post for the visitors soon after following a slick passing move down the left-hand side.

This miss proved to be telling as Port broke the deadlock on the quarter hour mark when Ilan ap Gareth turned in a Rob Evans delivery for his first goal since arriving at the club on loan from Cefn Druids.

Gruff John almost doubled their advantage soon after when his header was well saved by Heald, but the away side were not without their chances and had the ball in the net on 28 minutes only for the effort to be chalked off for offside.

A clever low free kick from McGonigle on 40 minutes brought the best out of home custodian Paul Pritchard, with Dean Seager also narrowly failing to level matters shortly after the restart.

Yet another McGonigle free-kick was diverted by Pritchard, and a period of heavy pressure from the Tangerines also saw midfielder Leigh Craven drill a shot inches’ over.

The away side spurned two good chances late on when McGonigle’s effort was deflected wide and a looping touch from the same player dropped over the bar.