Basement side beaten (From Barry And District News)

Basement side beaten

BARRY TOWN 4, OSWESTRY 0

IT WAS never going to be easy for bottom of the league Oswestry to contain a Barry side which had gone nine games unbeaten, scoring 20 goals against 5.

Two goals up after eight minutes meant that Kenny Brown's men were always in the driving seat and they never really needed to move into top gear.

Andy Grainger again had little to do and only a dropped ball gave Dave Norman's men even a sniff of a chance.

Defending in numbers, particularly in the second half, the visitors were intent on damage limitation. They had conceded 13 goals on their last two visits to Jenner Park and seemed determined to at least better those results.

Fielding two former Barry players in Dave Norman and Phil Johnson, the visitors were soon reeling from a third minute goal.

Nathan Cotterill seized on a poor clearance and crossed neatly for Nicky Burke to head home.

Five minutes later it was 2-0 when Cotterill fired through a ruck of players to put the game out of reach.

The game went a bit scrappy with the referee booking players on both sides, including Richard Kennedy who was fortunate to get just one yellow card.

On 34 minutes, it was 3-0 when Nicky Burke curled an unstoppable shot into the corner of the net.

Lawrence Davies hit a shot on the turn just before half-time but there was no further score.

The second half saw Burke fire in a tremendous drive just over the bar, whilst the only chance for the visitors came on 57 minutes.

A free kick reached Andy Grainger who dropped the ball and there was a danger it would go over the line, but Lee Jarman was quick to clear the danger.

Cotterill was sharp to spot the goalkeeper off his line but the keeper back pedalled quickly to tip the dropping ball over the bar, and was in action again to save from Jamie Jenkins and Dave Toomey.

Fire over

Tom Ramasut had an unbelievable miss minutes later.

Skipping into the box, his sharp interchange with Moralee saw him fire over the bar from five yards out.

Just when it seemed that Oswestry would keep a clean sheet in the second half, Gary Curtis tripped the tricky Cotterill in the box and Dave Toomey converted the spot kick.

Barry team: Grainger, Phillips, Jarman, Morgan, Lloyd, Jenkins, Kennedy, Ramasut, Cotterill, Burke, Davies. Subs Moralee, Pratt, Toomey.

TNS stay top after their narrow victory over Cwmbran, sharing 29 points with Barry, but playing two games less.

Barry have suffered two defeats, 1-0 to TNS and 1-0 to Port Talbot, whilst TNS are unbeaten and have conceded only three goals in these 12 games, an incredible start to the season.

Barry, to their advantage, have played only six games at home, whilst TNS have played seven of their 12 games at home but their five away games have been against bottom clubs.

Two difficult away games will test Ken McKenna's men, this week, against Newtown on Tuesday and Bangor on Saturday.

Barry have to overcome a difficult hurdle this Friday with the trip to Aberystwyth.

The green and blacks always give Barry a tough game and they will want to take maximum points from the Champions in front of a crowd likely to be around 800.

Last week they beat Haverfordwest in front of a 500 gate, and against Barry they will let their considerable student following in free.

Frustrating

Barry will have to defend well against set pieces and also keep plenty of possession. There is nothing more frustrating for a home side than to be denied the ball.

Kenny Brown can select from a full complement of front runners with Nicky Burke, Lawrence Davies, Jamie Moralee and Dave Toomey seeking the two striking roles.

Burke with two goals on Saturday is almost sure to start whilst Kenny Brown could consider pushing Davies back to a midfield role where he has had success in the past with his strong running.

The coach leaves at 4.30pm for a 7.45pm kick-off tomorrow (Friday). Ring Tim on 734050 to book. Seats are £10 adults, £5 children.