Newtown manager Chris Hughes will be hoping last night’s 2-0 victory over Penybont will have given his side a jolt after making a stuttering start to their campaign.
Goals from Tyrone Ofori and Jordan Davies secured Newtown three points as the JD Cymru Premier made its return.
Two wins from 15 was not the anticipated return from the Robins prior to the league being suspended, but even with the top-six likely to be beyond their grasp, Newtown can still set their sights on a play-off spot via seventh place in this unique season.
This win pushes Newtown two places up the table into ninth but it looked although their early season frustrations might continue when they squandered the chance to take the lead from the penalty spot nine minutes into the game.
Ofori stepped up after being wrestled to the ground inside the box, but his finish looked rusty and lacked conviction allowing Penybont goalkeeper Ashley Morris to make a comfortable save.
https://twitter.com/sgorio/status/1366844908343070722
Ofori soon make amends for Newtown however, and the young forward still had a lot of work to do when he connected onto Jordan Evans delivery from the right. Managing to evade his marker, Ofori’s casually flicked on a header in at the back post with Morris left flat-footed.
GÔL! Jordan Evans ➡️ Tyrone Ofori
Y Drenewydd ar y blaen ar Barc Latham.
Tyrone Ofori with a lovely header to open the scoring!17' ⚽️ @NewtownAFC 1-0 Pen-y-bont pic.twitter.com/ez5wjFlO87
— Sgorio ⚽️ (@sgorio) March 2, 2021
Penybont were undone by another cross into the box in the second half with the visiting defence failing to pick up James Davies, who was picked out by returning Newtown midfielder Alex Fletcher, as Newtown doubled their lead.
https://twitter.com/sgorio/status/1366864149209354241
Rhys Griffiths side had established themselves as a potential top-six outfit earlier this season, but on this occasion showed a little ring-rust, much to the frustration of the Penybont manager.
“I was frustrated we didn’t produce enough quality,” said Griffiths, who takes his side to Flint Town United on the weekend.
“It was quite a hard-fought game. Both teams’ intensity was quite high. There wasn’t a lot of quality in the game, just Newtown produced more than we did.
“I’ve said to the players that it has to be a blip, a bit of a speed bump in performance.”
Newtown, now on 14 points, sit seven points off sixth-placed Penybont ahead of their visit to champions Connah’s Quay on Saturday.
Newtown AFC 2 Tyrone Ofori 17′ James Davies 62′
Penybont FC 0
Newtown AFC 1 Dave Jones, 5 Kieran Mills-Evans, 8 Nick Rushton (4 Sean McAllister 86′), 10 Jordan Evans (29 Lifumpa Mwandwe 78′), 11 James Davies (2 Jake Phillips 90’+2), 19 Craig Williams, 22 Tyrone Ofori (9 Jamie Breese 79′), 24 George Hughes, 26 Shane Sutton, 27 Alex Fletcher, 33 Callum Roberts Subs not used: 13 Kham Steventon (gk), 3 Jack Kelly, 25 Jonathan Letford
Red Cards: None
Yellow Cards: Roberts 45′
Penybont FC 33 Ashley Morris, 3 Kane Owen, 4 Ashley Evans (2 Liam Walsh 78′), 5 Daniel Jefferies, 6 Mael Davies, 7 Kostya Georgievsky (19 Lewis Clutton 87′), 8 Lewis Harling, 9 Ben Ahmun (14 Samuel Snaith 66′), 10 Nathan Wood, 12 Oliver Dalton (22 Connor Davies 66′), 20 Matthew Harris Subs not used: 40 Sam Goodwin (gk), 16 Billy Borge, 26 Rhys Griffiths
Red Cards: None
Yellow Cards: Harling 35′ Harris 72′
Referee: John Andrew Jones
Image from Newtown AFC Twitter
