MIKE Davies hailed Alex Darlington's 82nd-winner for The New Saints as a reward for the player's patience in playing second fiddle since the arrival of Matty Williams at Park Hall.

"I'm just pleased for Darlo to get the goal because he's been very patient, Matty's done well so far, but Darlo's had his chance, come on and taken it," said the manager after the 2-1 victory over Bala Town.
"We knew it was going to be tough, Bala are a good team, they've got off to a poor start by their standards, so we knew they were going to come at us today and make it difficult for us," he continued.
"Coming back from the European adventure it was always a worry at the back of my mind just to make sure the lads were up for it.
"I think they were up for it, but we were just sloppy, we conceded a silly free-kick that's resulted in a corner and they've got the goal from it.
"Set plays, it's just not good enough and there's a few things we need to be working on there, but we'll just take the three points and move on."
Davies refused to comment on the 52nd-minute dismissal of Chris Sharp, apparently for foul and abusive language, saying: "I've got my own views, we'll take a look at it and I'm a bit disappointed for the lad really.
"We were comfortable with 10 men, we played five or 10 minutes in the first half when Matty Williams went off with his eye injury, we keep the ball well and make it difficult for the opposition to get the ball back.
"Credit to our lads, I thought it was a very professional performance and they can be proud of that."
See the full post-match interview on The New Saints TV
Photo: Tommy Holmes joins Alex Darlington in celebrates the winner [Phil Blagg].