DIRECTOR of football Mike Davies was forced to admit that the Saints were second best as they slumped to a 3-1 Friday night defeat at Afan Lido.

"It’s always a difficult place to come but we never turned up tonight," Davies said.
"We scored an early goal and would like to have kicked on from there but we got punished all over.
"We just didn’t win any first or second balls, we didn’t get the ball down and play and there are no excuses really.
"We were just second best."
Greg Draper’s first minute goal had given Saints a dream start before they imploded, with a Carl Payne double and a goal from Jonathan Hood providing a miserable return to Oswestry for a TNS side that has conceded 10 goals in their last four games.
Draper struck after only 19 seconds when he sidefooted the ball home from 12-yards following Alex Darlington’s chip into box, but from there on in TNS were a shadow of the side that forged a 13-match unbeaten run prior to defeat by Bangor in their previous outing.
Lido equalised on 19 minutes when Payne interchanged with Mark Jones before being played into a gaping hole in the defence by Hood.
He fired into the top corner to stun the abject New Saints and it was only a poor finish from Daniel Sheehan that deprived the home side from doubling their lead.
That miss was forgotten when Hood smashed a 30-yard free-kick beyond the flailing Paul Harrison three minutes before the break, and slack marking almost let Afan Lido in for a third with Jones heading just over the bar.
Matty Williams saw his long-range effort smothered by Chris Curtis as Saints made a rare second-half attempt on goal, but another defensive lapse saw them concede a third as Payne grabbed his second of the match.
Hood saw his 20-yard strike saved by Harrison as TNS continued to wilt in the face of the Afan Lido attack, and he went close with another free-kick that just missed the top corner.
Draper’s header was cleared off the line as The New Saints countered late on, but they left themselves exposed at the back with Daniel Thomas seeing his shot blocked, saving the visitors any further embarrassment.
Saints' managing director Mike Harris said his side were simply not good enough to take anything from the game, and management duo Davies and Carl Darlington are now faced with rejuvenating the squad in time for the home fixture with Airbus UK this Friday. Kick-off is at 7.45pm.
Photo: Leon Jeanne celebrates with Lido's double goal scorer Carl Payne [Gareth Elms].