COLWYN BAY were beaten 4-1 at home by The New Saints on Friday night, after holding their own for an hour.
With a number of players unavailable, including Rob Hopley, Lewis Callaghan and Paul Roberts, Colwyn did well in the first half with Dean Canning proving a handful for the Welsh Prenmier side's defence.
He was pulled down from behind when breaking clear on goal in the opening 10 minutes and although Colwyn Bay played on and got the ball in the net, the referee had already blown for the foul.
The Seagulls forced four corners to one, and were unlucky when TNS keeper Andy Mulliner palmed the ball against a post, but the visitors led 1-0 at half-time with Craig Whitfield getting in front of Neil Coverley to divert a right wing cross past Matt Parry.
Parry had earlier saved well at Whitfield's feet but did not have that much to do with John Davies taking the eye at the back for Colwyn Bay alongside the dependable Tim Brandreth.
The New Saints got a second goal just before the hour through Steve Beck following a break down the right and with Colwyn Bay making eight changes in the second half to give a number of trialists a go, it was inevitable that they became less affective.
Scott Roscoe got a third goal for TNS with a deflected shot that wrong-footed Matt Parry, and although Colwyn Bay pulled one back with a cross from Dave Hughes that dropped over keeper Andy Mulliner into the far corner of the net, TNS got a fourth goal 10 minutes from the end with a header by Alex Darlington after Colwyn Bay had given the ball away on the edge of their own area.
The Bay management team of Steve Pope and Paul Ogden will have taken some pluses from their side's first competitive game against a full-time side whose preparations are far in advance of Colwyn Bay, but there is clearly much work to be done in the coming weeks before the start of the league campaign.

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