NEVILLE Powell says his Aberystwyth Town side will keep believing in themselves as they prepare to face Newtown in a crucial mid Wales derby at Park Avenue on Friday (ko 8pm).

After being beaten 2-1 by resurgent Bala, Aber have dropped back into the bottom two in the Welsh Premier League, and are now three points adrift of the Robins after their 3-0 win over Barry Town United.

After a good home gate of over 600 last Friday, the club is hoping that another bumper crowd will get behind the Seasiders this week - and self-belief will be crucial in the big mid Wales showdown.

“The lads are confident, and I’m confident in every game we go into,” said Powell. “I thought we were going to win against Bala tonight, but it hasn’t worked out that way.

“We need to stay confident, because we’ve got some good players in this squad. We’ve got to believe in ourselves, and show that on the pitch.”

Two second half goals from Mike Hayes sentenced Aber to back-to-back defeats, after a 3-2 loss at Bangor City, but Powell could take positives from another spirited performance from his side.

“It was a good end to end game, with plenty of chances,” said Powell.

“I don’t know how many times the bar was rattled, and they’ve missed a penalty. But we are disappointed to have lost the game, even though I thought the performance was good.

“Bala are a strong side and good at what they do, and they punished us tonight. There were chances at both ends, but unfortunately we’ve come away with nothing from this game.

“The lads are desperately disappointed, but we’ll now move on.”

With Prestatyn also climbing three points clear of the Seasiders with a 3-0 win over basement side Carmarthen, points will clearly be the priority for Powell’s men against Newtown.

The Seasiders have only won once in seven league matches at Park Avenue this season, but they will be determined to close in on the Robins.

“It’s a results business, and I’d rather have three points and maybe not play so good,” said the Aber boss.

“We deserved something from the last two games, but we can’t be too disappointed about it. We’ll work hard in training, and it’s going to be a big, big game against Newtown.”

The Robins were 4-0 winners in the reverse fixture at Latham Park, and manager Chris Hughes is hoping that his side have now turned a corner.

“People might think that our win against Barry was a fluke, but it wasn’t,” said the Robins’ manager.

“The results have been coming for us, and we’ve been playing like that for most of our games this season, but today I thought we were excellent.

“When the opportunities came we took them, and to score three goals against Barry and also to keep a clean sheet is a tremendous result for us.”

He added: "Now we have a couple of wins and we want to keep the momentum going.

"Things have gone for us in the recent weeks which is pleasing, because it hasn’t prior to that. We’re playing well and we want that to continue on Friday.

"It will be a good game, under the lights at Aber, an evening derby, and there will be a big crowd in.

"It is going to be a different test than previous weeks, but we’ve prepared well and we’re looking forward to it."

• After the Newtown match, Aberystwyth will have just seven matches to play before the league split, in which they have to face champions The New Saints away and Connah’s Quay Nomads, both home and away.

There are also key matches against Prestatyn Town at home on Saturday, 16 December, and the festive double-header against basement side Carmarthen Town away on Boxing Day, and at home on New Year’s Day, before then travelling to Cardiff Met.