PORLOCK Reserves travelled along the A39 to face their Nether Stowey counterparts looking for their second victory of the season and despite fielding a slightly depleted side it was the visitors who ran out 3-1 winners in Division Two of the Taunton Saturday League.

The home side started the better of the two but it was the visitors who dealt the first blow. A scrappy period of play ended when the ball fell to the feet of skipper Dave Furse who from just inside the penalty box tucked the ball away well to open his account for the season.

Being a goal down seemed to wake up Nether Stowey who then resorted to route one football with multiple balls over the Porlock back line. Finally their tactics paid off as a rebounded shot fell to an unmarked striker and he tucked the ball in at the far post.

Porlock were yet to find their top gear in the match but despite this almost from the kick off they went straight back into the lead. A lovely cross field ball from Karl Middleton-Smith found the feet of paceman Oliver Heathfield and he slotted it past the Stowey keeper to send the Porlock lads into the half time break with a 2-1 lead.

The visitors knew that they had to wake up if they wanted to take something from this match and they did just that. Porlock came out of the blocks with all guns blazing and bombarded the Nether Stowey back line.

In the end Porlock got their just reward when Ryan Cape was the recipient of another lovely through ball from Karl Middleton-Smith, and squared the ball to the arriving Oliver Heathfield who tucked the ball in to extend Porlock’s lead.

Going a further goal behind seemed to send shockwaves through the Nether Stowey team because after Porlock’s third goal they never seemed to trouble the visitors back line in the second half.

The visitors remained in control and stood strong to see out the remaining minutes of the match before the whistle went with Porlock deserved winners.

This result sees Porlock Reserves climb to seventh place in the table and this Saturday they are in action at North Petherton Reserves who are one place above them with the same number of points, but have played one more game.

Porlock Reserves:Joe Ferris, Rio Howard, James Griffiths, Karl Middleton-Smith, Stuart Paterson, Declan Paterson, Dave Furse (C), Robbie Hamblin, Ryan Cape, Josh White and Oliver Heathfield. Subs: David Hodgson, Robbie Whitehead and Connor Paterson.

New side Racehorse Rovers are the early leaders of the division. They have won all six of their matches and have a six-point lead over second-placed Dunwear United Reserves who have a game in hand.