THE New Saints made a stuttering start to life in the Welsh Premier’s championship conference following the mid-season split.
A home draw with Port Talbot could prove a mortal wound in the race for the title, as each of the top six sides plays each other home and away.
Beaten 6-1 on their last visit to Park Hall, the Steelmen were on the back foot for most of the first half and the hosts deservedly led at the break.
Lloyd Grist was yellow carded for a foul on Craig Jones and the resulting Chris Seargeant free kick was headed into the far corner by defender Phil Baker, returning to the side from an injury absence.
Matty Williams had almost opened the scoring for the hosts in the second-minute, but his first touch let him down following good work by Jamie Wood.
Williams then fired over the target a few minutes later, while Richie Partridge came close on three occasions but failed to add to his side’s tally.
Wood was also denied by keeper David Cornell in a one-on-one, while Williams fired wide again before Baker’s goal on the stroke of half-time.
Talbot looked a different side after the break, although Wood netted on 51 minutes from a Tommy Holmes byline cross, only to be defeated by the linesman’s flag.
However, the visitors levelled on the hour when a corner was cleared only as far as Lee John, whose cross was headed towards the far corner by Luke Bowen and helped into his own net by keeper Paul Harrison.
Cornell saved from Partridge and sub Chris Sharp and Jones went agonisingly close in stoppage time when his shot lobbed over the bar.
But Mark Jones’s men almost had the last word when a Bowen effort landed on the roof of the net.