Seven-goal Saints silence Canaries
MARC Lloyd-Williams became the first player to score 200 goals in the Welsh Premier League as seven-goal TNS demolished woeful Caernarfon at The Oval.
Home manager Wayne Phillips said he was expecting a backlash after Saints' New Year's Day defeat at Welshpool and he didn't have long to wait.
A three goal burst in the opening 13 minutes put TNS in total command, with Mike Wilde starting the rout in the third minute with a six yard shot from Martin Naylor's cross.
Five minutes later, Lloyd-Williams was on hand to head past keeper David Walsh from close range after Stevie Evans had headed on a cross from man-of-the-match Barry Hogan.
Scott Ruscoe provided a through ball for Wilde to beat Walsh on 13 minutes, but although Saints were in the ascendancy there were no further goals until the second-half.
Jiws fired over the bar from the edge of the box from another Hogan pass and Walsh saved well at point blank range from Wilde.
TNS had the ball in the net on the half-hour from an Evans flick-on, but it was mysteriously ruled out by referee Jones.
The Canaries' first goal-bound effort of the match was a weakly struck shot from Wayne Phillips.
Goals started to arrive again in the 54th minute and it was Jiws' 200th, a virtual tap-in after Walsh had misjudged a lobbed Naylor right-wing cross.
Young midfielder Hogan, who was in the thick of most TNS attacks, provided the pass for Naylor to crash in the fifth from the edge of the box.
Substitutes Nicky Ward and John Toner then joined in the action, Ward's surging run setting up Lloyd-Williams for a trademark turn and shot to seal his hat-trick.
Toner had been on the field just 41 seconds when he scored with his first touch from Wilde's through ball, to seal a convincing victory that gives Saints renewed confidence for their crucial clash with Rhyl next week. |