NEWTOWN’S dream of a final date hangs in the balance, after allowing Abergele back into the game at the Recreation Ground.
Town started brightly only to be frustrated by non-league Abergele, with a solitary Rowan Meek penalty their only reward after the opening 10 minutes.
Abergele underlined their potential for an upset when they responded with an opportunist try from wing Chris Smith.
Newtown soon regained their composure and a flowing team move allowed scrum-half Josh Harris to dart over, with Meek converting.
Meek added a penalty as Newtown threatened to pull clear, only for Abergele to respond with a pushover try from flanker Alun Pritchard, converted by Gareth Evans.
Newtown needed a bright start to the second-half and another flowing move, started from defence, led to Meek breaking upfield and releasing centre Richard Andrews to storm over for a try.
It was backs to the wall for Newtown for the remainder of the cup tie and their cause was not aided by the sin-binning of Steve Watkin.
Abergele finally broke the stubborn resistance with a second try from Smith, setting up an intriguing second leg next month.
NEWTOWN: Heywood, Owen, J Jones, N Jones, Price, Morgan, Lloyd, B Davies, J Harris, Meek, A Evans, Kiely, Andrews, S Harris, Murray. Reps - Blower, Watkin, Bucknall, Maguire