With A Lack Of Challengers, The New Saints Reassert Their Grip On Domestic Game

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The New Saints are worthy winners of the Cymru Premier league title this season, as Welsh football’s most successful club regained its place at the summit of the domestic game.

Despite the best efforts of Penybont to stall their inevitable proclamation, the Oswestry side claimed the point they needed on Saturday to be crowned champions for the 14th time.

The title is Saints’ first since then-manager Scott Ruscoe steered them to the double in 2018/19. The following season the club were denied what would’ve been a ninth-straight championship, after it was determined that the Covid-shortened 2019/20 season would be decided using a points-per-game method, which handed Andy Morrison’s Connah’s Quay their first league title.

Last season saw Australian Anthony Limbrick installed as The New Saints manager as Morrison’s Nomads successfully defended the title. In his first full season in charge, Limbrick has enabled Saints to rediscover their winning formula to the extent that the rest of the league barely managed to land a blow on them all season.

Having wrapped the Cymru Premier title with seven games to spare, the tone of The New Saints’ unstoppable campaign was set from the off, as they began the season with four-straight league wins that helped them establish an early four-point lead over title rivals Connah’s Quay.

That promising early start from The New Saints extended into an unbeaten sequence that saw a return of 25 points from a possible 27, by which point they were already 16 points clear of the Nomads, who were effectively out of the title race by mid-October, paving the way for Saints to claim the title.

No other side has looked remotely close to producing the level of form required to threaten The New Saints. Bala Town, Newtown and Penybont currently complete the top-four with the latter two, in particular, enjoying notable respective campaigns. But looking ahead to next season and beyond, you wonder where the threat to The New Saints’ crown is going to come from?

Last month’s controversial announcement to dock Connah’s Quay 18-points for player ineligibility has not only forced the Nomads to swap battling European qualification for a relegation scrap, but also rules them completely out of obtaining UEFA prize money.

Now led by Craig Harrison, who guided an all-conquering Saints squad to six-straight league titles and a world record for the longest winning streak in top-flight football, Connah’s Quay are still the best-equipped club to challenge but without European money, it might be some time before they flex the same financial muscle as they did in their ascendancy.

Haverfordwest County are another emerging club who are yet to release the ambitions of owner Rob Edwards. The club are still feeling their way in the Cymru Premier in just their second season back in the top-flight, but the ambitious appointment of Belgian coach Nicky Hayen earlier this season points to a brighter future for the Pembrokeshire outfit. Their aspirations are still in their infancy and any challenge towards the top end of the table will be a gradual process.

Anthony Limbrick meanwhile, can enjoy becoming the first overseas coach to win the Cymru Premier title, and he might be able to celebrate a few more before The New Saints are realistically challenged again domestically.

Featured image courtesy of Brian Jones / The New Saints 

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