By Gareth James
When you are battling for a starting place against the Golden Boot winner for the last two seasons in the JD Cymru Premier, your first hat-trick in professional football certainly helps your cause.
Brad Young’s trio of goals in The New Saints’ 6-2 win at Barry Town United not only pushed his claim, but also gained revenge for the 2-2 draw their hosts had squeezed out of their earlier meeting at Park Hall.
Former Aston Villa youngster Young put the league leaders 1-0 up after 20 minutes but it was nip and tuck until well into the second half and former Newport County youth product Evan Press teed up Ollie Hulbert to equalise for the hosts on 61 minutes.
But Barry couldn’t capitalise on that leveller and, crucially, Daniel Davies restored Saints’ lead five minutes later.
Barry Town United 2 The New Saints 6 || Brad Young scores his first hat-trickhttps://t.co/I0s9k11w7L
— The New Saints FC (@tnsfc) October 21, 2023
Young grabbed his second of the game to make it 3-1 on 73 minutes and that goal opened the floodgates as Barry were swept away in the closing stages.
Josh Daniels got the fourth, Ryan Brobbel got his seventh of the season to make it 5-1 and a Troy Hiscock Greening own goal made it 6-1 before Hulbert grabbed his second goal – a mere consolation – in stoppage time.
“It was nice to get my first professional hat-trick, even though it wasn’t the best of team performances. It took while for me to get going, but the goals are begging to come,” said Young, who now has seven goals in seven games.
“It has been a case of getting used to the astro turf and the style off the play at TNS. I feel I’m getting started and feeling ready to go.”
Second-placed Connah’s Quay Nomads stay three points behind their arch-rivals after a 3-0 win at Pontypridd United.
Jordan Davies gave the visitors the perfect start with the opening goal after just four minutes – his 11th of the season already to take him join top of the scoring charts with Penybont’s Aaron Williams. Callum Morris doubled the Nomads’ lead with a penalty on 28 minutes and Ben Nash wrapped up the scoring and the three points before half-time.
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“We’re playing in a different style this season and we are trying to evolve the group. There is no right or wrong way to play football but we feel this is the best for this group of players,” said Nomads boss Neil Gibson.
“For 35-40 minutes we were very, very good, and when we play like that we are very hard to play against. We were full value for our three goal lead at half-time and the only criticism would be that we didn’t convert more of our chances in the second half.”
Caernarfon Town took advantage of Newtown’s Friday night fixture at Aberystwyth Town being postponed, to move into third position with a comprehensive 5-1 home win over Cardiff Met University.
Sion Bradley was the star man with a superb hat-trick – two clinical free-kicks and a brilliant curling effort from the edge of the area.
He opened the scoring in the seventh minute with a free-kick low into the corner of the near post, and he added a second half an hour later with a mazy run and a composed finish to put the hosts in charge.
Adam Davies made it 3-0 just four minutes into the second half and, though an own goal from Dion Donohue briefly gave Met hope of a comeback, normal service was quickly resumed.
https://twitter.com/CymruLeagues/status/1715768861658693819?s=20
Bradley completed his hat-trick just before the hour mark with a stunning set-piece that gave the goalkeeper no chance.
And Zack Clarke added a fifth on 69 minutes to take his season’s tally to eight goals.
Chris Craven picked up a second yellow late on to add to the visitors’ misery.
The New Saints will hope to extend their lead at the top next weekend when they host Bala on Saturday after the second-placed Nomads host third-placed Caernarfon on Friday night.
With Penybont’s trip to Colwyn Bay also falling foul of the weather yesterday afternoon, Town moved up to fifth in the table thanks to a 2-0 home win over Haverfordwest County.
George Newell got both the goals. He broke the deadlock in the third minute of first-half stoppage time, after being teed up by Aeron Edwards, and added the second from the penalty spot on 62 minutes.