Caernarfon 1 Newtown 0

NEWTOWN stumbled in their bid to climb into the top six with a poor display punished at Caernarfon Town.

Former Newtown youngster Jamie Breese returned to haunt his former club with a lofted finish into an unguarded net after seizing upon a sliced clearance from goalkeeper Dave Jones.

Caernarfon fully deserved their victory in front of a bumper Friday night crowd with Newtown putting in their worst performance of the season on the infamous slope of the Oval.

Darren Thomas' early strike was ruled out for offside and the hosts continued to dictate the game.

Sion Bradley and Danny Brookwell offered no end of problems to the Newtown defence with their marauding runs while Thomas forced a smart save from Jones after 20 minutes.

Jones was again called into action four minutes later with a save at the feet of Leo Smith.

Newtown chances remained sparse though Neil Mitchell almost caught the hosts by surprise when his shot from a narrow angle was pushed onto the woodwork by goalkeeper Alex Ramsay.

However Caernarfon ended the half firmly on top with Thomas and Breese joined by Smith and Noah Edwards in testing their luck only for the sides to remain goalless at the break.

Caernarfon led 10 minutes into the second-half with Jones' sliced clearance falling into the path of Breese who calmly lofted his shot into the unguarded net from 18 yards.

Newtown finally worked their way back into the game and enjoyed their best spell with Lufimpa Mwandwe forcing a fine reflex save from Ramsay with 20 minutes remaining.

However Caernarfon regained their superiority and ended the match on top with Thomas and Cai Jones both going close to extending their lead in the latter stages.

NEWTOWN: D Jones, McAllister (Flint 76), Mills-Evans, Denny (Harry 70), Mitchell, Rushton (Kenton 70), Mwandwe, Williams, Fletcher, Kelly, Barnes. Subs: Steventon, Sheridan, Morris, Thorn.

Att - 803