Neither The New Saints nor Connah’s Quay flinched in the latest round of their title run-in shootout in a mid-week show of strength in the JD Cymru Premier.
The two pacesetters racked up six-goal wins in dominant displays against helpless looking Barry Town and Caernarfon Town, to keep the sides level on 60-points at the top of the table with The New Saints’ plus-21 goal differential proving increasingly significant with eight rounds remaining.
Connah’s Quay refused to be caught out again following their surprise defeat to Penybont on the weekend and flexed their muscles with a 6-1 win at Caernarfon Town.
The Nomads never looked back after Michael Wilde’s diving header restored their lead after a cool finish from impressive Caernarfon youngster Jacob Bickerstaff had cancelled out Declan Poole’s opener.
Danny Davies struck twice in the second-half with a Cai Jones own goal and George Horan to put the result beyond doubt.
Down in south Wales, The New Saints flexed their muscles in an even more one-sided encounter against Barry Town.
Ryan Brobbel has been in devastating form since returning from injury and fired in four in the Saints’ 6-0 win over Barry, with Adam Roscrow and Ryan Astles also on target.
Since returning to action three weeks ago, Brobbel has netted eight goals in his first four matches, making up for lost time to give The New Saints a huge boost in their title push.
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With Barry Town dropping points, Bala Town were able to regain their three-point lead in third, the final automatic European place, after a brace from Anthony Kay helped them overcome Penybont with a 3-2 victory.
Kay scored his second of the night early in the second-half to give the Lakesiders a 2-0 lead before Kostya Georgievsky halved the Lakesiders’ advantage with a looping header back across goal that was adjudged to have cross the line. A curling free-kick from Steven Leslie’s restored Bala’s lead but Lewis Clutton again replied for the hosts with three-minutes remaining.
In the bottom-six, the race for the seventh-place play-off spot appears all but over after Haverfordwest – who are ineligible to compete in the play-offs – moved eight-points clear.
Haverfordwest’s strong foothold at the top of the Play-Off Conference (seventh) makes it increasingly likely that the end of the season play-offs will only consist of the three teams finishing between fourth and sixth in the final table.
Ben Fawcett’s 56th-minute close-range finish was enough for County to see off Aberystwyth Town while eighth-placed Newtown were forced to share the points after being held to a 2-2 draw by Cardiff Met.
The Archers twice fought back to deny the mid-Walians maximum points with Chris Baker and Liam Warman cancelling out Keiran Mills-Evans’ powerful header and a thumping finishing from Lifumpa Mwandwe.
Flint Town continued their recent upturn in form with a convincing 5-0 win over bottom side Cefn Druids. Late goals from Ben Maher and Jordan Buckley wrapped up a second win on the bounce for Neil Gibson’s men.
Barry Town United 0
The New Saints FC 6 Ryan Brobbel 27′ 35′ 49′ 59′ Adam Roscrow 32′ Ryan Astles 52′
Barry Town United: 1 Michael Lewis (19 Lee Idzi (gk) 14′), 3 Chris Hugh, 4 Luke Cooper (6 Robbie Patten 65′), 7 Kayne McLaggon (32 Jamie Bird 65′), 11 David Cotterill (18 Rhys Abbruzzese 74′), 12 Luke Cummings, 14 Curtis Hutson, 16 Curtis McDonald, 22 Rhys Kavanagh, 29 Clayton Green, 33 Evan Press
Subs not used: 23 Ryley Allen (gk), 9 Nat Jarvis
Red Cards: None
Yellow Cards: None
The New Saints FC: 1 Paul Harrison, 2 Simon Spender ( 4 Keston Davies 59′), 3 Chris Marriott, 6 Jon Routledge (44 Tom Holland 72′), 8 Ryan Brobbel (21 Leo Smith 60′), 10 Daniel Redmond, 11 Adrian Cieslewicz (14 Jamie Mullan 72′), 12 Blaine Hudson, 17 Ryan Astles, 19 Ben Clark, 20 Adam Roscrow (9 Greg Draper 82′)
Subs not used: 13 Robbie Williams (gk), 47 Beau Cornish
Red Cards: None
Yellow Cards: None
Attendance: 0 Referee: Dean John
Caernarfon Town 1 Jacob Bickerstaff 24’Declan Poole 16′ Mike Wilde 32′ Cai Jones 54′(og) Danny Davies 73′ 90′ George Horan 79′
Connahs Quay 6 Declan Poole 16′ Mike Wilde 32′ Cai Jones 54′(og) Danny Davies 73′ 90′ George Horan 79′
Caernarfon Town: 1 Joshua Tibbetts (13 Tyler French (gk) 83′), 4 Gruffydd John, 7 Sion Bradley (12 Sam Jones 74′), 8 Paulo Mendes, 9 Michael Hayes (10 Darren Thomas 74′), 14 Noah Edwards, 17 Ryan Williams, 19 Telor Williams, 20 Cai Jones (27 Cian Evans 90’+1), 35 Jacob Bickerstaff, 36 Max Cleworth
Subs not used: 18 Mohammed El-Arab, 32 Daniel Jones
Red Cards: None
Yellow Cards: Edwards 31′
Connahs Quay Nomads: 13 Oliver Byrne, 2 John Disney, 6 Daniel Harrison (5 George Horan 55′), 8 Callum Morris, 9 Michael Wilde (19 Craig Curran 75′), 10 Jamie Insall (21 Aron Williams 76′), 11 Neil Danns, 12 Declan Poole, 15 Daniel Holmes, 17 Kris Owens (4 John Hunt 59′), 22 Daniel Davies
Subs not used: 58 Cameron Darling (gk), 18 Douglas Tharme, 55 Sam Rickett
Red Cards: None
Yellow Cards: None
Attendance: 0 Referee: Rob Jenkins
Cardiff Met University 2 Chris Baker 22′ Liam Warman 57′
Newtown AFC 2 Kieran Mills-Evans 14′ Lifumpa Mwandwe 42′
Cardiff Met University: 25 Alex Lang, 3 Kyle McCarthy, 4 Bradley Woolridge, 7 Eliot Evans, 8 Chris Baker, 10 Charles Corsby, 11 Harry Owen (28 Thomas Price 1′), 12 Oliver Hulbert, 15 Joseph Evans, 19 Liam Warman, 20 Matthew Chubb
Subs not used: 1 William Fuller (gk), 18 Rhydian Morgan, 24 Samuel Pashen, 26 Thomas Craig Davies, 29 Mathew Jones
Red Cards: None
Yellow Cards: Warman 64′ Woolridge 80′
Newtown AFC: 1 Dave Jones, 5 Kieran Mills-Evans, 7 Neil Mitchell (10 Jordan Evans 84′), 8 Nick Rushton, 19 Craig Williams, 22 Tyrone Ofori (9 Jamie Breese 65′), 24 George Hughes, 26 Shane Sutton, 27 Alex Fletcher, 29 Lifumpa Mwandwe (11 James Davies 76′), 33 Callum Roberts
Subs not used: 2 Jake Phillips, 6 James O’Neill, 13 Kham Steventon (gk)
Red Cards: None
Yellow Cards: Ofori 53′ Evans 84′ Davies 90’+1
Attendance: 0 Referee: Ryan Kenny
Flint Town United 5 Mark Cadwallader 9′ Conor Harwood 19′ Josh Amiss 67′ Ben Maher 86′ Jordan Buckley 90′
Cefn Druids 0
Flint Town United: 1 Jon Rushton, 2 Samuel Hart, 3 Edmond Clarke , 5 Ben Nash, 6 Kai Edwards, 9 Joshua Amis, 10 Mark Cadwallader (23 Thomas Weir 77′), 14 Callum Bratley (22 Ben Lockley 90′), 15 Ross Weaver (8 Richard Foulkes 83′), 20 Conor Harwood (18 Jordan Buckley 77′), 24 Ben Maher
Subs not used: 13 Ryan Woods (gk), 16 Evan Gumbs, 29 Jake Hampson
Red Cards: None
Yellow Cards: Edwards 17′ Buckley 90’+1 Gumbs 90’+1 (bench)
Cefn Druids: 1 Michael Jones, 3 Naim Arsan (20 Jonathon Taylor 46′), 5 Phillip Mooney, 6 Aaron Simpson, 7 Ethan Cartwright (28 Ryan Kershaw 46′), 10 Alex Darlington (21 Josef Faux 69′), 14 Sam Phillips (24 Harry Fuller 90’+1), 15 Niall Flint, 16 Iwan Cartwright (29 Jacob Wise 72′), 22 Kieran Smith, 33 Stefan Edwards
Subs not used: 31 Ben Edwards (gk), 39 Charley
Red Cards: None
Yellow Cards: Mooney 30′ Kershaw 65′ Jones 66′ Simpson 78′ Wise 90’+1
Attendance: 0 Referee: Huw Jones
Haverfordwest County 1 Ben Fawcett 56′
Aberystwyth Town 0
Haverfordwest County: 13 Wojciech Gajda, 2 Daniel Summerfield, 5 Alaric Jones, 6 Scott Tancock, 8 Corey Shephard, 9 Ben Fawcett (10 Marcus Griffiths 59′), 11 Cameron Keetch, 14 Kurtis Rees, 15 Elliot Scotcher, 16 Kieran Lewis, 19 Daniel Williams (3 Trystan Jones 90′)
Subs not used: 20 Joshua Le-Grice (gk), 4 Sean Pemberton, 26 Daniel James
Red Cards: None
Yellow Cards: Tancock 24′ Rees 77′
Aberystwyth Town: 13 Alex Pennock, 2 Louis Bradford, 4 Lee Jenkins, 6 Harry Franklin, 7 Mathew Jones, 8 Jamie Veale, 9 John Owen (23 Dan Cockerline 73′), 10 Marc Williams (20 Owain Jones 73′), 15 Jonathan Evans (19 Steven Hewitt 82′), 27 Jack Thorn, 32 Jack Rimmer (31 Geoff Kellaway 88′)
Subs not used: 11 Rhys Davies, 18 Richard Ricketts, 21 Joseph Saunders
Red Cards: None
Yellow Cards: Franklin 63′
Attendance: 0 Referee: Alex McInch
Penybont FC 2 Kostya Georgievsky 49′ Lewis Clutton 87′
Bala Town 3 Antony Kay 40′ 47′ Steve Leslie 76′
Penybont FC: 33 Ashley Morris, 3 Kane Owen, 4 Ashley Evans, 5 Daniel Jefferies, 6 Mael Davies, 7 Kostya Georgievsky (19 Lewis Clutton 72′), 8 Lewis Harling (12 Oliver Dalton 80′), 9 Ben Ahmun (14 Samuel Snaith 62′), 10 Nathan Wood, 16 Billy Borge, 20 Matthew Harris (22 Connor Davies 72′)
Subs not used: 40 Sam Goodwin (gk), 21 Mason Jones-Thomas, 24 Ioan Emanuel
Red Cards: None
Yellow Cards: Georgievsky 55′ Davies 66′ Snaith 80′
Bala Town: 1 Alex Ramsay, 3 Sean Smith, 5 Anthony Stephens, 6 Jonathan Spittle, 8 William Evans, 9 Raul Correia (21 Jack Mackreth 80′), 14 Steven Leslie, 15 Antony Kay, 20 Lassana Mendes, 23 Ryan Pryce, 25 Chris Venables
Subs not used: 30 Harri Lloyd (gk), 4 Nathan Peate, 10 Henry Jones, 17 Daniel Gosset
Red Cards: None
Yellow Cards: Leslie 87′
Attendance: 0 Referee: Thomas Owen
Featured image courtesy of John Smith/FAW