REDS LOSE IN DISAPPOINTING PERFORMANCE 

Considering the two sides are regarded as being among the elite in the league, this was a desperately poor game and must have made for a watching-paint-dry experience for the live TV audience.

Far too many balls were aimlessly pumped forward in the hope they would lead to some sort of successful conclusion, resulting in few goalmouth incidents, the nearest coming from a Craig Moses close range header which was somehow kept out by The Saints keeper Paul Harrison, and then deep in the second half Moses failed to finish when on a one-to-one with the goalkeeper.

Rhys Griffiths made a welcome return for the home side following his lay off with a calf injury, but looked some way off being match fit, a situation which hopefully will be rectified in the next few games.

A largely uneventful opening forty five minutes was only memorable for the Harrison save from Moses when he connected with a Craig Williams cross, while the visitors had a half-hearted penalty appeal turned down following a Craig Jones delivery to the near post which led to Greg Draper go down under a challenge.

Ashley Morris safely grasped a long range effort by Steve Evans, before a midfield scuffle involving the Reds Ashley Evans, and The Saints Aaron Edwards and Evans led to all three players being shown a yellow card just before the break.

All square at the interval, the visitors went ahead five minutes following the restart when the Reds failed to deal effectively with a corner kick allowing Draper to rifle the loose ball into the top corner.

Moses did eventually manage to get the ball into the net when Chris Venables played him in, but an offside flag ruled out the effort.

The Reds were still struggling to get out of second gear with far too many passes either not reaching their intended target or being conceded to the opposition, and they had to rely on The Saints for almost gifting them an equaliser when a careless header intended for Harrison caught him flat footed, and he had to be alert to just push it to safety before the danger was cleared.

The home side made a number of changes with the game entering its closing stages, with Chad Bond, Antonio Corbisiero and Jordan Follows replacing Jason Bowen, Evans and Williams, but in the time available they made little impact.

Ironically, the best chance of securing at least a point fell to Moses when a superb ball by Venables inside the defender set up the chance, but again he failed to apply a decisive finish with only Harrison to beat, and this just about summed up the Reds overall performance.

Deep into stoppage time, the visitors were reduced to ten men following the dismissal of Matthew Williams for a second caution, but this had little effect on the overall result and the Reds will have to now pick themselves up for their next two matches at Carmarthen Town and home to Newtown, as only maximum points will suffice to get a so far disappointing opening to the season back on track.

MATCH STATS

LLANELLI; Morris; Thomas; Grist; Jones ©; Surman; Venables; Bowen (Bond, 71);

Evans (Corbisiero, 80); Griffiths; Moses; Williams (Follows, 80); Subs. not used;  Holloway; Llewellyn, Davies.

SCORER; The New Saints – Draper, 50.

YELLOW CARDS; Llanelli – Venables; Evans; Griffiths.  The New Saints – Edwards; Evans; Williams; Marriott.

RED CARD; The New Saints – Williams.

LLANELLI STAR MAN; Ashley Evans.

REFEREE; Mr. Dean John (Swansea).

ATTENDANCE; 163.