Hayes stunner for the Saints

THE New Saints went down to only their second Welsh Premier defeat of the season in a shock reverse to Gap Connah's Quay at the Deeside Stadium.

The Nomads gained their first victory over the Saints in a league fixture for 16 years thanks to a goal after 69 minutes when Mike Hayes seized on a slip by Steve Evans to home in on goal and beat keeper Paul Harrison via the inside of the far post.

And it could have been worse, as Harrison produced a superb diving save to deny Aaron Burns a few minutes later.

TNS thought they had taken the lead on the quarter hour when keeper Terry McCormick could only palm Chris Seargeant's 20-yard shot into his own net. But an assistant flagged Craig Jones offside as he followed-up, even though he didn't touch the ball, and the goal was disallowed.

Danny Holmes had claims for a penalty as he surged into the box, while Aeron Edwards shot straight at McCormick and Steve Abbott's header was saved as the Saints were generally held at bay by the home side.

Nomads survived a couple of second-half scares when Craig Jones was denied at the far post by McCormick, who was fortunate when Abbott fired another effort straight at his chest and the ball was cleared to safety.

New signing Chris Sharp came off the bench for his debut on 71 minutes but had little chance to make an impact and the Saints simply did not produce enough to get anything from the game, although Jones was close to snatching an equaliser late on.

Report and stats courtesy of welsh-premier.com