Welsh Premier League

The New Saints 3

Caernarfon Town 1

Two second-half strikes from sub Greg Draper and Kurtis Byrne sealed a fine win for The New Saints as they lifted the Welsh Premier League trophy.

Byrne gave Saints the lead before Darren Thomas scored a fine equaliser, but after he smashed the post in the second half, Draper gave TNS the lead and Byrne finished the job a minute later.

Saints took the lead in the 12th minute when Byrne, who had earlier fired a header straight at Alex Ramsay, steered Jon Routledge’s cross home.

Billy Whitehouse, making a start as Ruscoe rested much of his stars, showed his early promise when he controlled a long pass but could only fire wide on 15 minutes.

However, Park Hall was rocked by a fine strike from Thomas on 19 minutes, whose effort rattled the left-hand post before settling into the right-hand corner.

Dean Ebbe, making a rare start in recent weeks, missed two big chances on the half hour mark as he failed to connect onto a cross before his effort one-on-one with Ramsey was saved.

Minutes later, Simon Spender had the chance to mark his recall with a goal but again, Ramsay was out to stop the danger when the full-back was clean through.

A minute before the break, Byrne came close to his second of the game when he was put through from Whitehouse’s fine cross-field ball but Ramsay made a great save.

Excellent work down the left from Danny Redmond and Routledge on 48 minutes saw the former squeeze the ball across the box but Ebbe failed to convert.

The turned scrappy in the second half as neither side could gain any momentum, with Saints boss Ruscoe ringing changes midway through the half.

But it was Town who came closest to breaking the deadlock as Thomas embarked on a superb run from 70 yards, only to see his 25-yard crash against the upright with Harrison beaten.

And it was sub Draper on 78 minutes who punished Caernarfon as he timed his run to perfection and poked home his 35th goal in all competitions.

And minutes later Byrne grabbed his second with a superb finished form the edge of the box as latched onto superb build-up play from Routledge and Whitehouse.

TNS: Harrison, Spender (Clark 53), Marriott, Bodenham, Redmond (Nembhard 54), Routledge, Holland, Cieslewicz, Ebbe (Draper 66), Byrne, Whitehouse

Subs not used: Dutton, Mullan, Brobbel, Lewis