The New Saints 4-1 Aberystwyth Town: Draper inspires Saints to second-half victory

The New Saints remain top of the league and unbeaten as they defeat the Seasiders 4-1 at Park Hall.

Substitute Greg Draper scored a hat trick to deliver three points for TNS as Dean Ebbe scored the other.

The Black and Greens goal came from Steven Hewitt with the away side slipping down to 9^th in the table.

In just the 4^th minute a ball got whipped into the box from TNS which Dean Ebbe headed into the back of the net past Pennock to give the Saints a 1-0 lead.

A few minutes later Routledge caught Pennock away from his line and had a go from 40 yards out with the chance going over the crossbar.

The Seasiders had their first decent chance of the game in the 19^th minute when Adam Davies had a shot on target as Paul Harrison collected the ball comfortably.

Five minutes after TNS had an opportunity to double their lead when a corner was swung in as Astles got his feet on the ball, however it flew over the crossbar.

The Black and Greens equalised in the 34^th minute as Adam Davies crossed the ball into Steven Hewitt who headed the ball past Harrison into the back of the net to make it all level.

TNS looked to get back into the lead ten minutes later with Clark heading the ball to Ebbe with striker shooting at goal, however Pennock made a fine save.

In first half stoppage time Cieslewicz got on the end of an over the top ball as the Polish forwards chance just went wide of the post.

Into the second half, Harrington had a shot from range for Ruscoe’s team that went over the goal.

Just over the hour mark, minute Greg Draper tapped home a Jamie Mullan cross to make it 2-1 to the home side.

Moments later Owain Jones had a header at goal, the chance just went over the crossbar as Aber sought an immediate response.

In search of more goals, Draper passed the ball to Leo Smith who shot a goal as Gavin Allen’s defence cleared away from the line.

A minute later Danny Redmond crossed the ball to Draper with the number nine tapping the ball into the net, however the flag went up for offside.

In the late stags of the match, Routledge crossed the ball to Draper as the New Zealander scored past Pennock to get his second of the game and made it 3-1.

The number nine substitute got his hat trick in the 88^th minute as Redmond got a fantastic cross into the box which Draper headed home to make it 4-1.

The New Saints will now go onto play Cefn Druids away on Wednesday.

Meanwhile Aberystwyth Town will play Haverfordwest County away on Tuesday.

The New Saints: Paul Harrison, Jonathan Routledge, Dean Ebbe (Greg Draper,63), Danny Redmond, Adrian Cieslewicz, Blaine Hudson, Ryan Harrington, Ryan Astles, Louis Robles (Jamie Mullan,56), Ben Clark (Tom Holland,63), Leo Smith.

Goals: Dean Ebbe 4, Greg Draper 65, 84, 88.

Aberystwyth Town: Alexander Pennock, Lee Jenkins, Jamie Veale, Rhys Davies, David Evans, Adam Davies (Shama Bako,63), Steven Hewitt, Jonathan Foligno, Matias Etchegoyen (Owain Jones,29), Jack Thorn (Mark Williams,76), Thomas Rimmer.

Goals: Steven Hewitt, 34.

You can look how TNS defeated Aberystwyth in the blog below: