BARRY Town face Carmarthen at Jenner Park this Saturday (2.30pm kick-off) in a JD Sports Welsh Premier League match.

Nine games into the league season, Barry are currently in fourth place and looking to shore up a top six place that would lead to an automatic European play-off next spring.

So far, six of Barry’s nine league games have been away from Jenner Park.

Saturday’s match against Carmarthen and the following Friday’s home game against Llanelli will help to level the playing field.

Barry did have an outside chance of topping the Welsh Premier if results had gone their way last weekend, but a 2-0 defeat away at Newtown saw them slip to fourth spot, leapfrogged by their mid-Wales rivals.

The highlight of the match was the 250th appearance by long term servant, Lewis Cosslett, his man of the match performance a week earlier at Aberystwyth seeing him rewarded with another starting place in the line-up.

The game itself was a frustrating affair for Barry, who failed to make their mark against a side who have made themselves tough to beat on their home ground and will be live tv opponents at Jenner Park when they make the return trip in December.

The best early chance of the first half fell to Newtown but Barry keeper Mike Lewis made a fine save from a corner.

However Barry fell behind in first half injury time as Newtown cleared a Barry attack. Mike Lewis came out of his penalty area to clear, but misjudged the bounce, allowing Newtown’s Joe Kenton to shoot into an empty net, the despairing attempts of Macauley Southampton-Hales to clear not being enough to stop the ball.

Barry made changes during the second half, bringing on all three substitutes, but failed to find the rhythm that has seen them dominate so many games this year.

In a tight second half, Barry were unable to create clear chances and were caught with a sucker punch once again in injury time, Kenton haring down the Newtown right and shooting past Lewis almost without challenge, to the clear delight of the home support.

So often this season Barry have been the fitter and tougher opponents, scoring late winners and equalisers. This time though, the boot was on the other foot.

Carmarthen, defeated 3-0 by TNS at the weekend, will also be strong opponents and a large and loud crowd will be needed at Jenner Park to support the team.