CONNOLLY INJURY NOT AS BAD AS FIRST FEARED

THE NEW SAINTS 4 (Abbott 10; Ruscoe 31 pen; Jones 43; Berkeley 49)
RHYL 0
WELSH PREMIER LEAGUE - NOVEMBER 22, 2009
THE morning after the nightmare before there is at least some good news for Rhyl fans.
Top scorer Mark Connolly, who went down in agony clutching his right knee five minutes from the end of yesterday's defeat at Park Hall, is only expected to be out of action for three weeks.
Lilywhites supporters feared the worst when Connolly, who has netted 18 goals in all competitions this term, was carried off on a stretcher and taken to Maelor Hospital in Wrexham.
To lose such a key player for a potentially long spell would be a bitter blow to Rhyl's ambitions of retaining their Welsh Premier title.
But this morning player-manager Greg Strong reported Connolly had "tweaked knee ligaments" and should not be on the sidelines for more than three weeks.
That's the good news, the performance at TNS was certainly the bad.
Rhyl crashed to their heaviest league defeat in over three years - the worst since a 6-0 hammering at Llanelli on September 16, 2006 - some 108 matches ago.
It is too early to talk about title winners yet, but certainly on yesterday's showing TNS are champions in waiting. They were a class above Neath and Llanelli for sure.
What made the Park Hall drubbing even harder to take was the Saints' man of the match was a player Rhyl let go - right winger Craig Jones, who scored one and had a hand in two other goals.
On the plus side, the Lilywhites are still joint leaders of the Welsh Premier, have made it to the League Cup final and are into the last 16 of the Welsh Cup.
With all the pre-season trials and tribulations, had anyone offered Rhyl their current position back in mid-August they would gladly have taken it.
Whether the TNS hammering was just a bad day at the office remains to be seen, but player-boss Greg Strong is still doing a great job and deserves everyone's support.
As for yesterday, TNS led 3-0 at half time, Steve Abbott opening the scoring with a 10th minute header from a Jones cross after James Coates had parried a Scott Ruscoe shot.
It could have been a different story had Connolly's fabulous 20-yard strike on 24 minutes not come back off the post.
But on 31 minutes a bad tackle by Martyn Naylor on Matthew Berkeley in the box led to a penalty which Ruscoe put away.
Two minutes before the break Steve Evans played a simple ball down the middle and Jones timed his run perfectly to beat the advancing Coates.
It could have been more but for a couple of fine last-ditch saves from Coates.
Any hopes of a remarkable comeback ended four minutes after the break when Jones burst into the box from the right, fed Ruscoe whose shot was saved, but Berkeley's deflected follow-up effort found the net for 4-0.
Connolly, the only Rhyl player who looked remotely like scoring, had one powerful shot beaten away by Paul Harrison, but TNS were in cruise control and so nearly made it five when Jones made a sizzling run at the Rhyl defence but thundered against the bar.
Had that one gone in, it really would have rubbed salt in the wound, but the final score was bad enough.
On a gloomy, rain-soaked afternoon, the one plus point for Rhyl was the excellent travelling support who never stopped singing throughout.
Manager Strong expressed his thanks to all the fans who made the trip to Oswestry and only wishes the team could have provided a better result.

RHYL: Coates, Naylor, Stones, Horan (c), Strong, Leah, C Williams, Connolly (Dowling 85), Hunt, Owen (Doran 60), Kirk (M Williams 46).

MATCH FACTS
GOALS - TNS 4 RHYL 0
ATTEMPTS - TNS 15 RHYL 8
ON TARGET - TNS 10 RHYL 5
CORNERS - TNS 5 RHYL 0
YELLOW CARDS - TNS 0 RHYL 0
RED CARDS - TNS 0 RHYL 0
ATTENDANCE - 503
LO MAN OF THE MATCH
Craig Jones (TNS)
No Rhyl player really worthy of it on the day.

RHYL FC RESULTS 2009/10
Aug 15 - Carmarthen Town (WPL - home) 2-1 (Strong, M Williams)
Aug 21 - Airbus UK Broughton (WPL - away) 2-2 (Hunt 2)
Aug 25 - Airbus UK Broughton (LC - a) 2-1 (Hunt, Owen)
Aug 29 - Port Talbot (WPL - h) 2-0 (M Williams, Hunt)
Sep 1 - Prestatyn Town (LC - h) 2-1 (Naylor, Connolly)
Sep 5 - Gap Connah's Quay (WPL - a) 2-0 (M Williams, Connolly)
Sep 11 - Bangor City (WPL - h) 5-1 (Hunt 2, M Williams pen, C Williams, Connolly)
Sep 19 - Newtown (WPL - a) 4-2 (M Williams 2, Strong, Connolly)
Sep 22 - Airbus (LC - h) 4-0 (Connolly 2, Kirk, Doran)
Sep 26 - Porthmadog (WPL - h) 4-0 (Connolly 3, Kirk)
Oct 3 - Llanfairpwll (WC-a) 3-1 (Connolly 2, Smith)
Oct 6 - Prestatyn Town (LC-a) 3-0 (Connolly, Hunt, C Williams)
Oct 9 - Bala Town (WPL-a) 4-0 (Smith, Doran, Horan, Hunt)
Oct 17 - Neath (WPL-a) 0-2
Oct 23 - Elements Cefn Druids (WPL-a) 1-1 (M Williams)
Oct 27 - Porthmadog (LCQF-a) 4-1 (Connolly 2, M Williams 2)
Oct 31 - Bridgend Town (WC-h) 4-2 (Connolly, M Williams, Strong, C Williams)
Nov 7 - Llanelli (WPL-h) 0-0
Nov 10 - Gap Connah's Quay (a-LCSF 1st leg) 1-2 (Connolly)
Nov 14 - Caersws (WPL-h) 3-1 (Connolly, Hunt 2)
Nov 17 - Gap Connah's Quay (h-LCSF 2nd leg) 4-0 (Connolly, Hunt, Smith 2)
Nov 22 - The New Saints (a-WPL) 0-4

GOALS (56): 18 - Mark Connolly; 11 - Lee Hunt; 10 - Matthew Williams; 4 - Paul Smith; 3 - Greg Strong, Chris Williams; 2 - Tyrone Kirk, Phil Doran; 1 - Gareth Owen, Martyn Naylor, George Horan.