Six of the best, as The New Saints return to winning ways in emphatic fashion

Match Report

 

Goals: D. Davies (10), Bradley (40, 68), Oteh (63), McManus (80), Bodenham (86)
Substitutions: Brobbel for D. Williams (76), Clark for Holden (76), Wilson for Bradley (76), McManus for Oteh (76), Doforo for Redmond (84)

Match report by Sam Wood
Lead image: Brian Jones

The New Saints got back to winning ways in emphatic fashion with a 6-1 victory over Newtown.

Danny Davies, Sion Bradley, Remi Oteh, Declan McManus and Jack Bodenham were all on target at Latham Park, as the JD Cymru Premier champions put their recent bad form behind them.

It was almost the perfect start from The New Saints, as they could’ve opened the scoring with less than three minutes on the clock.

After receiving the ball from Dan Williams inside the penalty area, Remi Oteh failed to hit the target however, and the Robins survived the early scare.

But Craig Harrison’s side didn’t wait too long to make the breakthrough, with the JD Cymru Premier champions finding the back of the net in the 10th minute.

After Alex Swindell failed to deal with Sion Bradley’s inviting corner, the ball bounced loose, giving Danny Davies the opportunity to volley home from the centre of the box.

With 16 minutes gone, The Saints could’ve doubled their advantage, but Oteh was twice denied by Robins goalkeeper, Swindell.

In the 33rd minute, there was a scare for the visitors following an inviting cross from Oliver Sharp in the direction of Jason Oswell.

The Newtown number nine couldn’t connect with his head though, and the ball was scrambled behind for a corner.

Five minutes before the half-time break, The Saints took control of the game, as Sion Bradley scored his second goal in as many matches.

After a helping touch from Jordan Williams, Josh Daniels’ cross reached the former Caernarfon Town man 12 yards from goal, and he made no mistake in firing home at the first time of asking.

Despite TNS starting the second-half brightly, it was the home side who almost pulled a goal back in the 51st minute.

Running onto the end of Oswell’s flicked header, Aaron Williams attempted to beat Connor Roberts with a chipped effort, but the ball bounced back out off the far post.

That sparked a sustained period of pressure for Scott Ruscoe’s side, but they failed to take advantage, and The New Saints took compete control in the 63rd minute.

A superb pass from Danny Redmond split the Newtown defence, giving Oteh the opportunity to slide the ball beneath the outrushing Swindell to score his first TNS goal.

Four minutes later, Harrison’s side were celebrating again, as Sion Bradley tapped home at the back post after another superb Daniels cross to make the score 4-0 to the visitors.

Sixteen minutes from time, the home side could’ve scored a consolation goal, but a good effort from George Hughes was met by an equally good save from Roberts.

From the resulting corner, however, Ruscoe’s side did find the back of the net, as a header from Shane Sutton went in off the crossbar.

Making a quadruple substitution immediately after the Newtown goal, two of the TNS changes saw both Ryan Brobbel and Declan McManus introduced following their return from recent injuries.

And it was that duo who combined in the 80th minute to score The New Saints’ fifth.

After a pinpoint cross from the Northern Ireland U21 international, McManus powered home a header from the edge of the six-yard box to mark his return in style.

The goals didn’t stop there either, because there was still time for Jack Bodenham to get in on the act.

Getting his head to Adam Wilson’s corner, the summer signing turned the ball past the goalkeeper in the 86th minute to score The Saints’ sixth goal of the night.

After a couple of difficult results, Harrison’s side made a strong return to winning ways, and built some much needed momentum ahead of their UEFA Conference League tie next week in Italy.

Following their historic qualification against FK Panevėžys five weeks ago, The New Saints finally make their debut in the league phase of the competition next Thursday when they take on Italian giants, Fiorentina.

Their opening game takes place at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, with kick-off set for 8pm BST.