ABERYSTWYTH Town were blown away at blustery Park Hall as Welsh Premier League leaders, The New Saints, breezed into the fourth round of the Welsh Cup with a very comfortable 3-0 win on Saturday evening.

The depleted Seasiders, who travelled with just 13 players, never looked like recovering after keeper Mike Lewis had gifted the hosts a ninth minute lead - and the margin of victory could well have been more.

Without loan striker Jamie Reed against his registered club, defender Lee Surman through suspension, and Jack Rimmer though illness, Aber could only name two players on the bench, in veteran assistant boss Wyn Thomas and youngster Thomas Jones.

Sion James moved across to partner skipper Jones in the heart of the defence, whilst Rhys Griffiths was the lone striker in front of a five-man midfield included young Liam Jaques.

It took the holders just nine minutes to open the scoring, in bizarre fashion, as Chris Marriott whipped in their first corner of the game from the right and with the wind changing the ball’s direction keeper Mike Lewis deflected the ball into the net off his shoulder

The Saints saw their patient build up play further rewarded when Spender’s strike from 20 yards out was flicked home by Scott Quigley to double their lead after 26 minutes.

The outcome was settled on 67 minutes, when the full-timers netted a killer third goal, when Spender neatly lifted the ball back to Williams, and he got in front of defender Stuart Jones to score with a header from six yards.

Read the full report in the Aberystwyth edition