There was little resemblance from The New Saints’ performance against Bala on Saturday afternoon to the one which were soundly beaten 5-2 by Bangor City on the opening weekend of the new season.
Scott Ruscoe recorded his first league win as manager and he would’ve enjoyed it as The New Saints convincingly saw off a Bala Town side, who’re fancied as one of the frontrunners to challenge the Saints this year.
Colin Caton sprung a surprise in his starting line-up naming Andrai Jones up-front ahead of Les Davies, an odd choice given how vulnerable the Saints looked defending a week ago and Bala never truly threatened or looked like hurting The New Saints at any point.
Saints established control from the start and Ashley Morris was called upon with just two minutes on the clock to deny Jamie Mullan who’d nipped in past the Bala defence to give an early warning. But the first half was a sterile affair and it would take until the second half for the deadlock to be broken.
The manner in which it was broken and how The New Saints forged the lead will have left Colin Caton and his coaching staff furious.
Bala were set-up to man-mark on corners but Stuart J. Jones – one of the league’s better central defenders it should be said – failed to track his man following a routine delivery and towering Blaine Hudson was left unchallenged to comfortably head home, with Ashley Morris opting to remain stationary on his goal line.
Gôl Hudson i’r Seintiau Newydd. | Blaine Hudson's goal for @tnsfc to make it 1-0. pic.twitter.com/kyPpTgFhFH
— Sgorio ⚽️ (@sgorio) August 19, 2017
It’s not commonplace for Bala to concede such soft goals but to do so against The New Saints would’ve hurt, especially as it swung the balance of the game completely into the Saints’ favour.
It would take six-minutes for the hosts to strike again and Wes Fletcher took his chance wonderfully to effectively seal the result.
Fletcher made a good run across the face of the goal as Aeron Edwards poked the ball through into the danger area before turning a half chance into a decisive one with two instinctive touches that gave us a rare glimpse of his true quality.
With a deft touch on his right foot Fletcher teed the ball up and angled himself to shoot before seamlessly and instantly striking the ball with his left-foot high into the roof of the net. A moment of real individual quality in a game which had lacked guile and creativity.
Gôl Wes Fletcher i'r Seintiau Newydd! | Wes Fletcher makes it 2-0 to The New Saints. Great strike from the @tnsfc man. pic.twitter.com/NH4WRXGqZa
— Sgorio ⚽️ (@sgorio) August 19, 2017
Fletcher’s day wasn’t done and as he wrapped the game up with another composed finish in which his good awareness and technique were again evident.
The excellent Aeron Edwards was once again the provider, this time hitting a probing ball from deep into the Bala box. Fletcher got himself onto the receiving end of it, steading himself and coolly lifting the ball over Ashley Morris, who was in no man’s land.
https://twitter.com/sgorio/status/898968185386536961
Fletcher’s career with The New Saints has been start-stop ever since he joined the club a year ago from Motherwell.
With just one WPL goal to his name last season and Greg Draper and Scott Quigley previously ahead of him in the pecking order, it’s been easy to question whether the 26-year-old is the calibre of player the Saints need from a ‘number nine’ who can take them onto the next level – but with renewed confidence and a run in the side, can he be the figurehead of what is a new post-Craig Harrison era at Park Hall?
Although subtle, there are signs that the Saints are making progressive changes. The early indications are that Fletcher has the backing of Scott Ruscoe to be the side’s focal point in attack now that Scott Quigley has moved on. There were also encouraging signs from young midfielder Tom Holland, who’s had little chance to impress since his move this summer from Swansea City.
It was noticeable in the second half against Bala, just how much Holland was quarterbacking play, sitting the deepest of the three central midfielders, allowing Jon Routledge to dictate and Aeron Edwards to get forward.
Edwards is the best ‘two-way’ midfielder in the league in my view and although partly enforced due to Ryan Brobbel’s injury, Edwards does appear to bring a fresh impetus to the Saints attack when he has a licence to get forward and will cause problems.
The Saints have typically rotated Ryan Brobbel, Chris Seargeant and Alex Darlington in the ‘number 10’ role but if young Tom Holland is able to establish himself in his first season in the league, evergreen Aeron Edwards might yet be their best option.
Should that be the case and Wes Fletcher is able to reproduce the sort of form he showed this weekend again Bala, Scott Ruscoe’s The New Saints V2.0 will very much be up and running and it will be up to the rest of the JD Welsh Premier League to find a way of stopping them
Elsewhere, Cardiff Met, Connah’s Quay and Llandudno are the only teams to have taken two wins from two.
Cardiff Met recorded the result of the weekend as Bangor City were brought back down to Earth, following their opening win over The New Saints, as the Students ran out 3-1 winners at Cyncoed.
Another strong showing from Connah’s Quay at the Deeside Stadium saw them see off Carmarthen Town, who remain without a point from their opening two games.
Gavin Chesterfield might well be feeling aggrieved for a second week in a row as late controversial referring decision again went against his Barry Town team on what was the manager’s 350th game in charge.
Fellow newcomers Prestatyn Town recorded their first points of the season at the expense of the visiting Dragons, but only after there appeared to be a handball in the build up to Michael Parkers’ 92nd-minute goal.
Monday night’s highlights should prove an interesting watch as Barry Town were denied a win last weekend after Aberystwyth’s equalising goal stood despite not completely clearing the line.
Results:
Aberystwyth 0-2 Llandudno, Cardiff Met 3-1 Bangor City, Connah’s Quay 3-1 Carmarthen Town, Newtown 1-1 Cefn Druids, Prestatyn Town 1-0 Barry Town, The New Saints 3-0 Bala Town
Featured image courtesy of Brian Jones / The New Saints FC / JD Welsh Premier League