Haverfordwest County 0 Porthmadog 0

IT turned out to be a very frustrating Saturday afternoon for Haverfordwest County who dropped points against visiting Welsh Premier draw specialists Porthmadog, writes Gordon Thomas.

The visitors have finished level in six of their seven league outings and once again this clash produced another stalemate.

Not many chances were created by either side in the opening 45, with most of the action mainly played in the middle of the park.

On a positive note this was the Bluebirds' first clean sheet in the Welsh Premier, while on the downside it's the second time that they have failed to score.

Player/manager Deryn Brace will feel a little disappointed that they didn't take all three points but at the end of the day they didn't lose.

Currently lying in ninth place in the table the Bluebirds will hope to make the most of their games in hand to climb back up the ladder.

The home side started the match without defender Wayne Jones who'll be out for a lengthy spell after dislocating a shoulder.

Lee Hudgell has also picked up an injury, which gave youngster Lee Waters an opportunity to play on the left side of midfield.

Bluebirds' young strike partnership of Niko Algieri and Tim Hicks lacked the quality service that they were both craving.

Throughout the 90 minutes neither keeper had a real save to make which didn't go down too well with both sets of supporters.

The visitors could have taken the lead around the 15th minute, when player/manager Brace made an uncharacteristic mistake at the back, allowing visiting striker Tom Richards to fire dangerously across the face of goal.

On the whole the Bluebird's three man defence, consisting of Brace, David Barnhouse and Wyn Thomas, were immaculate.

Bluebirds' keeper Lee Kendall had a quiet afternoon but he did everything which was required of him.

Nicky Palmer, Dean Rossiter, Hicks and Algieiri all had efforts at goal during the first period but none of them mounted to anything.

Eleven minutes after the break and the Bluebirds missed a golden opportunity to break the deadlock.

Good work on the left wing from Waters saw his inch perfect cross into the box fall to Algieri, who amazingly nodded wide from just eight yards, when it looked easier to score.

Three minutes later and Algieri was substituted by vastly experienced midfielder Colin Loss, and Palmer moved up front to partner Hicks.

The Bluebirds pushed hard to try and break the deadlock but the North Walian outfit defended resiliently.

Darren Ryan struck a tame 25-yard free-kick straight at keeper Gerrard McGuigan.

Six minutes from full time Rossiter struck a low hard shot from the edge of the area which forced a corner. But that was just about as good as it got and both sides had to be content with a point apiece.

This coming Saturday, October 2, Haverfordwest travel to Troedyrhiw, in the second round of the Welsh FA Cup.