The New Saints Reserves 6-1 Airbus UK Broughton Reserves
FAW Reserve League North East
Played at Park Hall Stadium, Oswestry
Tuesday 18th March 2025
Match report by Statto
After following up their 7-0 home win over Denbigh Town Reserves on 7th March with a 5-0 away win over Connah’s Quay Nomads Under 18 the previous Saturday, The New Saints Reserves made it three in a row as they hit the goal trail again with a 6-1 home win over Airbus UK Broughton Reserves in their FAW Reserve League North East clash at Park Hall Stadium on Tuesday night.
Saints’ win over Connah’s Quay plus results elsewhere had left them in 2nd place in the table, two points ahead of 3rd placed Nomads but 12 points behind leaders Flint Mountain Reserves, albeit with having three games in hand over Nomads and five in hand over Flint Mountain.
Meanwhile, Airbus had gone into the game on the back of a 2-0 away league win over Prestatyn Town Reserves on 7th March, which was their 4th straight win out of a total unbeaten run of five games since a 1-5 away defeat by NFA FC Under 23s on 30th November.
Airbus went into the game in 4th place, three points behind Nomads with Saints a further two points ahead, albeit with Airbus having three games in hand over Nomads.
George Handley got Saints off to a flying start at the end of the 6th minute, and after Ben Connolly had doubled the hosts’ lead in the 11th minute, Tom Blaze made it 3-0 in the 21st minute.
Blaze’s second of the night made it 4-0 just before the end of the 27th minute before Ryan Astles (starting his second game after his long injury lay-off) made it 5-0 with his 2nd goal in as many games 57 seconds into added time at the end of the first half.
Airbus made a quadruple change at half-time with Tom Doherty coming on to replace Warren Leech, Harry Henderson coming on to replace Lloyd Robinson, Ieuan Jones-Wellstead coming on to replace Jake Jones and Archie Floate coming on to replace Ben Williams.
Blaze completed his hat-trick to make it 6-0 in the 51st minute, and after Saints had made their first change in the 59th minute with Charlie Horton coming on to replace Blaze, the hosts made their second change in the 61st minute with Brandon Wust coming on to replace Astles.
Hugh Holland pulled back a mere consolation goal for Airbus to make it 6-1 in the 77th minute, but the game had been over as a contest long before that.
Saints actually finished the game with 10 men when Connolly hobbled off with 30 seconds of normal time left at the end as a result of suffering from cramp.
Then after an eventual total of two minutes one second of added time had been played, the final blast of referee Morgan Griffiths’ whistle brought the game to a close and confirmed Saints’ winning run had continued.
This latest win leaves Saints in 2nd place, nine points behind leaders Flint Mountain Reserves but with four games in hand.
Saints: Jack Edwards, Owain Wynne, Ryan Astles, Lewis Wynne, Oliver Mirceta-Jones, George Handley, Nathan Doforo, Ben Connolly, Tom Jones, Luca Meek, Tom Blaze. Subs: Charlie Horton (for Meek 59), Brandon Wust (for Astles 61), Simon Spender (not used).
Airbus: Harry Davies, Cameron Meredith, Hugh Holland, Liam Jones, Louis Holden, Jake Jones, Ben Williams, Josh Edwards, Warren Leech, Harris Albiston, Lloyd Robinson. Subs: Tom Doherty (for Leech 46), Harry Henderson (for Robinson 46), Ieuan Jones-Wellstead (for Jake Jones 46), Archie Floate (for Williams 46).
The New Saints Reserves are next scheduled to be in action this coming Saturday (22nd March) when they are away to Llay Welfare Reserves in the league.
However, please note the early kick-off time for this match of 11am.
Lead image: F28.Online
