IT was the proverbial game of two halves at Gala Parc on Saturday as Porthleven rescued what could be an important victory from the jaws of what could have been a terrible defeat.

Co-manager Graham Blake described it as a ‘first half to forget’, with his Porthleven side repeatedly giving the ball away under little pressure, which led to both Tom Tallis and Derrick Lucas scoring for the 18th-placed Sticky inside 20 minutes.

But Joe Wright’s fine header just before half time gave the hosts something to work with after the break, and they put in a much-improved performance to turn the tables, with Wright levelling the scores before Kyle Fraser fired home the winner with a couple of minutes remaining.

Although Porthleven are starting to put the results together once again, with their dire run of three months without a win now firmly in the rear-view mirror, the performances aren’t quite there yet.

A lack of games hasn’t helped, with this the first outing for due to yet another enforced weekend off thanks to Storm Dennis.

Neither has a lack of players, with key trio Dan Richardson, Kirk Davies and Charlie Young all missing for the Fishermen on Saturday.

With or without them, an always improving Sticker side were never going to make it easy for the Fishermen, and they were much the better side early on with Ash Winkworth and Lucas coming close inside the first ten minutes.

Those early chances showed that Steve Flack’s side were keen to punish Porthleven’s early sloppiness, and they did just that with Tallis and Lucas both capitalising on the hosts’ errant passing to fire the Sticky into a two-goal lead.

Had this display come against the likes of Saltash United or Helston Athletic, the Fishermen would probably have been down and out by the half-hour mark, you felt.

But the home side woke up towards the end of the half and, after a sustained period of pressure, in the form of a wonderful bit of skill from Wright, who rose to meet Fraser’s cross with a wonderful cushioned header into the far corner.

Blake admitted after the game that he felt his side would have levelled had the first half lasted a few minutes longer, such was the momentum the hosts were gaining.

Whatever was said at half time clearly had an effect as, slow start to the second period aside, the rejuvenated hosts were soon on level terms, with Wright racing through, rounding Anton Lake and rolling the ball home.

That said, a winner was proving elusive until Fraser’s free kick evaded everyone and flew into the far corner with three minutes of the 90 remaining to the sheer relief of the home side.

It was not pretty – especially the first half – but the Fishermen, after going seven games without a win, have now won three on the bounce and are back up to eighth in the South West Peninsula League Premier West table.

A difficult and demanding schedule of 17 games in the next two months will mean that the likes of Young, Richardson and Davies will be a welcome return for Blake and fellow co-manager Jamie Thomson.

A tough trip to Mousehole awaits on Wednesday night, but with six of the following eight games against sides in the bottom half of the table, there is the opportunity for the Fishermen to put a proper run of positive results together for the first time since October.

A top-half finish should be deemed a success for Port in their debut SWPL Premier campaign, so putting points together in this upcoming run of games could ease the pressure on having to do so in April, by which time the punishing fixture schedule could be taking its toll.

Porthleven: M Webster, C Wormington, M Fox, L Hunter (J Thomson 82), H Howlett, J Harrison, D Stidwell, H Dark (M Everard 55), J Wright, G Molcher (W Brown 75), K Fraser.