Newtown 5 Cefn Druids 0

JORDAN Evans returned to haunt his former club as Newtown thumped Cefn Druids to climb to the top of the JD Cymru Premier Play-Off Conference.

The resurgent Robins have been the form team of the division over the last month and their dominance was never in doubt against the lowly Druids on a beautiful spring day at Latham Park.

However the Druids defence was stoic early on with Newtown's possession counting for little.

On 21 minutes the visitors offered a reminder of their threat when Joe Faux's left wing cross forced James O'Neill to head over his own bar.

Newtown broke from the resulting corner with Lufimpa Mwandwe outpacing the retreating Druids defence only to curl his shot wide from the edge of the area.

Tyrone Ofori also hooked wide five minutes later as Newtown increased the pressure and on 31 minutes the deadlock was broken with Craig Williams' right wing corner powerfully met by the head of Shane Sutton.

Newtown doubled their lead before the break with Evans opening his account with a low 30 yard free-kick into the bottom corner.

It was virtually all one way traffic after the break with Alex Fletcher releasing Ofori whose powerful shot clattered against the upright in the opening minutes.

Newtown were handed a reminder of the Druids' threat with Bradley Knight getting on the end of Faux's left wing cross but Newtown goalkeeper Dave Jones comfortably gathered.

The introduction of Ryan Edwards proved a masterstroke and Newtown were soon stretching the Cefn Druids defence while Nick Rushton and Jamie Breese also joined the action with the changes soon paying dividends.

James Davies burst through to square for Breese who struck the post with Rushton following up to add a third with 15 minutes remaining.

Former Robin, Iwan Cartwright saw red following a late challenge on Edwards which saw Druids reduced to 10 men soon after.

Newtown immediately capitalised with Evans sweeping home after getting on the end of Jake Phillips' cut back after racing onto a glorious 40 yard throughball from Edwards.

Breese rounded goalkeeper Mike Jones only to be denied by a desperate clearance off the line by Max Pritchard.

There was still time for a fifth and deep into stoppage time the home side struck with Davies finally able to celebrate the goal his endeavour over the last few games have richly warranted.

Newtown AFC

1 Dave Jones, 4 Sean McAllister (23 Ryan Edwards 46’), 6 James O'Neill, 10 Jordan Evans, 11 James Davies, 19 Craig Williams (2 Jake Phillips 77'), 22 Tyrone Ofori (8 Nick Rushton 63'), 26 Shane Sutton, 27 Alex Fletcher, 29 Lifumpa Mwandwe (9 Jamie Breese 65'), 33 Callum Roberts (31 Alfie Jones 87')    

Subs not used: 13 Kham Steventon (gk), 16 Dylan Downs

Cefn Druids

1 Michael Jones, 3 Naim Arsan, 4 Josh Green (22 Kieran Smith 77'), 5 Phillip Mooney (29 Jacob Wise 77'), 6 Aaron Simpson (45 Max Pritchard xx'), 7 Ethan Cartwright (60 Bradley Knight 58'), 10 Alex Darlington (16 Iwan Cartwright 58'), 15 Niall Flint, 21 Josef Faux, 33 Stefan Edwards, 39 Charley Edge    

Subs not used: 31 Ben Edwards (gk), 24 Harry Fuller