PORLOCK Reserves played their first 2024-25 pre-season match when they hosted Taunton Saturday League Division One side Exmoor Rangers - and the game ended in a thrilling 5-4 victory for the visitors.

Fielding a side that was missing a couple of likely regulars the home side punched well above their weight and in the opening 15 minutes managed to deal with Exmoor’s counter attacking style football.

Porlock reaped the rewards for it when they were handed an early penalty which Connor Hawley stepped up and slotted it into the bottom left corner. 

After suffering that setback Exmoor seemed to gain more confidence and were soon back level as Adam Barker smashed the ball in at the near post beating stand in keeper James Griffiths. 

Only minutes later the visitors took the lead with a goal when Aaron Scott slotted home beating Griffiths in a one to one. 

In what was an end to end match from start to finish Porlock got the rub of the green when a big kick down field from ‘keeper Griffiths found front men Tyler High and Ollie Morris, the situation was misjudged by the Exmoor defence and the ball trickled into the back of the net to get things back all square. 

Griffiths recognised the unease within the Exmoor back line and went long again and this time Ollie Morris latched on to the ball over the top and punished some sloppy defending to put Porlock back ahead going in to the final five minutes of the first half. 

However Exmoor were not finished yet, as Aaron Scott pressed the back line and nicked the ball to slot home for his second of the evening to put the teams in at the halfway stage 3-3. 

The second half saw Griffiths and Shopland rotate their squads and put some fresh legs on to gain valuable minutes on the field before the upcoming season. 

Exmoor started to play with a lot more freedom in the second half which Porlock for the most part coped with but it was only a matter of time before the pace of Danny Lynam broke through the defence to put Exmoor 4-3 ahead. 

It was nott long before Lynam’s lightening pace caused more problems as he was brought down on the edge of the area which saw Harry David step up at curl the ball in to the top corner to give Exmoor some breathing room. 

Porlock made the last 10 minutes more interesting as some good link up play between Karl-Middleton Smith, Ollie Morris allowed Tyler High some room to rifle the ball home. However the final while blew and the game finished Porlock Reserves 4 Exmoor Ranger 5.