By Ashley Cox

BARRY Town's winning run came to a crashing end on Tuesday, as JD Cymru League leaders The New Saints tore up the record books at Jenner Park and inflicted a sobering 6-0 defeat.

Brilliant Ryan Brobbel led the way with a four-goal salvo for the Saints, while striker Adam Roscrow and defender Ryan Astles added to Barry's misery, on what was the first visit for new TNS manager Anthony Limbrick.

With the visitors firing on all cylinders and Barry's home support still locked out of the ground, the result was Town's worst defeat at Jenner Park in JD Cymru Premier history.

Barry had entered Tuesday's Championship Conference clash in high spirits, after Curtis Hutson's last-ditch effort clinched a 1-0 win at Caernarfon Town's Oval, three days earlier.

With the frustration of a Saturday stalemate on the cards, Hutson's 92nd-minute finish from a Jordan Cotterill assist spawned wild celebrations in the travelling Town camp, giving Gavin Chesterfield's squad a third win in three and a second in succession sealed in stoppage time.

However, the ensuing task of toppling 13-time Cymru Premier champions TNS was Barry's toughest challenge since the restart, underlined by the Saints having won their last eight competitive visits to Jenner Park and having not been beaten at the stadium since 2002.

The opening 20 minutes was a back-and-forth affair, its most noteworthy incident coming on the quarter-hour mark when Barry goalkeeper Mike Lewis, in visible discomfort, had to be helped off the Jenner Park turf, shortly after emerging from his box to win a header.

Lewis' misfortune gave January signing Lee Idzi his first football of the season and the former Carmarthen Town stopper soon saved to deny Adrian Cieslewicz from distance.

However, the visitors were not to be denied for long and Brobbel opened the scoring in the 26th minute, capitalising on some ping-pong in the Barry defence to put the Saints in front.

Barry's Hutson almost replied instantly, running with the ball and unleashing a confident, long-range drive that, regrettably for the enterprising Town winger, soared teasingly wide.

Ruthless TNS though would quickly double their advantage, as former Cardiff Met menace Roscrow side-footed home on 31 minutes to complete a routine but deadly attacking move.

Ex-Middlesbrough, York City and Hartlepool man Brobbel then made it 3-0 ten minutes before half-time, cutting inside and scoring a peach of a goal from the edge of the area.

It took just three minutes of the second half for Brobbel to complete his hat-trick and by the time Astles made it 5-0 on 52 minutes, Saints had hit the side netting and the stanchion too.

Brobbel then made it 6-0 after 57 minutes, leaving Barry staring at their heaviest defeat in years, though they worked hard to minimise the damage in the closing half hour, as Saints boss Limbrick brought high-calibre substitutes like marksman Jamie Mullan into the fray.

In the latter stages, a seventh from a corner was mercifully ruled out, while Hutson blared one high and handsome in one of Barry's few clear advances on goal of the second period.

A whopping defeat on paper, Town will have actually played worse and won matches; the insatiable Saints simply subjecting them to the full, in-form force of their attacking arsenal.

With champions Connah's Quay Nomads winning 6-1 themselves at Caernarfon, the Championship Conference is already a two-horse race for the title, with a 15-point gap between third-placed Bala Town and the top two, both of whom on 60 for the season.

Bala's 3-2 victory at Penybont on Tuesday keeps fourth-placed Barry a point ahead of the Bridgend-based upstarts, yet likewise restores the Lakesiders' six-point advantage in the battle for third and automatic European qualification.

This Saturday, Barry go to Connah's Quay, as Bala tackle Caernarfon and TNS entertain Penybont, with all games 5.15pm kick-offs, behind-closed-doors, the latter live on S4C.

As the Championship Conference rolls on at pace, Penybont head to Jenner Park this coming Tuesday (20th April), while Nomads host Bala and Caernarfon do their best to suppress TNS.