Welsh Cup

Quarter-final

The New Saints 6

Newtown 1

An OUTSTANDING display by The New Saints, lead by forward Dean Ebbe, saw Scott Ruscoe’s side send Newtown crashing out of the Welsh Cup as they booked their place in the semi-finals.

Irishman Ebbe scored four times in fewer than 40 minutes in the first half, sending his side in 4-0 up at half-time.

Newtown pulled a goal back after the break, but Danny Redmond restored the four-goal advantage just one minute later, before Kurtis Byrne rounded off the display with a sixth goal in the 90th minute.

The result puts an end to a winless streak of three matches for TNS, who are yet to record a win in the JD Cymru Premier phase two.

Ruscoe will have wanted his side to turn things around with a standout performance against the Robins, and they made the perfect start after taking the lead within the opening nine minutes.

Aeron Roberts’ delivery was met by the head of Ebbe who beat Dave Roberts for the first time during the afternoon.

The dream start continued for Saints and for Ebbe who doubled his side’s lead in the 18th minute. The number seven caught the ball nicely on the volley and watched the ball sail past Roberts and into the net.

And after 31 minutes, Ebbe had his third of the afternoon, completing an impressive hat-trick in almost half-an-hour. This time, the forward received the ball on the edge of the penalty area and fired low and hard into the bottom corner.

But Ebbe was not finished there, and got the better of the Newtown defence once more in the 38th minute – Jamie Mullan found space to deliver a cross towards the in-form striker who again met the ball with his head and guided it past Roberts to give his side a huge advantage heading into the break.

Chris Hughes must have given his Newtown side a stern team talk during the interval, as they came out of the blocks fast in the second half to pull back a goal.

A cross from the left of the pitch made its way towards Joe Kenton who kept calm and finished well to reduce the deficit to three goals.

Before the visitors had barely stopped celebrating however, TNS scored again to restore the four-goal difference between the sides.

Although not the scorer of the fifth goal, Ebbe was involved again providing Redmond with a good delivery and allowing him the simple task of heading the ball home with a volleyed effort from outside the penalty area.

The final goal of the afternoon came late in the game when substitute Byrne rounded off the game with a neat finish after meeting Adrian Cieslewicz’s cross.

The goal was the last action of note during the game and secured the win for Saints.

Ruscoe’s side will be hoping to carry their performance back into the league when they take on Barry Town United on Friday (kick-off 8pm).