PORLOCK Reserves claimed the bragging rights when they secured a hard-fought 3-2 away victory over local rivals Watchet Town Reserves in an entertaining derby clash in Division Two of the CentregreatTaunton & District Saturday Football League.

Porlock started the game on the front foot and dominated the opening 10 minutes and their early pressure was rewarded when Joshua Baynham reacted quickest to a corner, calmly finishing inside the box to put the visitors ahead.

However, Watchet then began to enjoy more possession, and hesitant defending allowed the ball to break to Watchet’s centre midfielder who took his chance brilliantly to level the scores. Porlock responded well and soon regained control of possession. Joshua Baynham played a superb through ball towards captain Oliver Heathfield, forcing the Watchet centre-back to rush a backward’s pass which ended up in the net for an unfortunate own goal, making the score 2-1 to Porlock at the break. The visitors started the second half strongly, but Watchet found a route back into the game when a quick breakaway saw their striker brought down in the box. A penalty was awarded and despite Connor Paterson’s best efforts Watchet drew level at 2–2.

The derby atmosphere then intensified when a Watchet player was shown a red card, leaving the hosts down to ten men.

From that moment Porlock took control of the match, pushing forward in search of a winner. The decisive moment came when Jack Evans delivered a brilliant through ball that split the Watchet defence. Heathfield ran onto it and calmly slotted the ball past the goalkeeper to restore Porlock’s lead.

Porlock saw out the remainder of the match to secure an impressive 3–2 away victory, with Heathfield’s performance earning him Man of the Match.

The result leaves Watchet lying eighth in the table and Porlock tenth, but with games in hand.