ANDY MORRISON saluted his Connah’s Quay Nomads as they beat Aberystwyth Town 2-1 to start the season with a hat-trick of victories.

Two goals before the break from Michael Bakare and Michael Wilde left Nomads in control, but the home side were dealt a blow as Danny Holmes limped off after they’d used all of their substitutes.

With Nomads down to 10-men, Aberystwyth squandered a late penalty as Declan Walker was denied by John Danby.

But Nev Powell’s visitors were able to set up a tense finale as former Nomad, Wes Baynes, fired home with a minute left on the clock.

Nomads held firm to secure a third successive win, much to the delight of boss Morrison.

He said: “It’s a fantastic performance and win. It’s (the difficultly of the game) largely down to the fact that they owed their manager a performance, which he got for them.

“We’ve come back into the game on the back of two fantastic performances, so it’s a slightly different way to win.

“We went 2-0 up and we were cruising and Bak’s (Michael Bakare) has hit the post on the stroke of half time, which would have made it three.

“Going into the second-half you think you are in a real comfortable position, but losing the two full-backs really upset us and we completely lost our shape and organisation.

“It was just about being dogged then and it’s the 91st minute when they got a goal.

“It’s three wins on the spin, it’s nine points from nine.

“Of course I’m disappointed to concede a goal – I always am – but it was really important to get the three points because they were always going to be a tough team to play against.”

Morrison was disappointed as his team conceded a first goal of the season, but he understood that there were mitigating circumstances.

He continued: “We had 20 minutes with 10-men, Bak’s is playing at left-back which is not familiar to him and I’ve just said to Michael that if it’s a left-back in there they don’t score the goal because the lad who has played a forward pass on the edge of our box shouldn’t be allowed to do that.

“A full-back would be in tight and make sure the pass went backwards, but that’s Bak’s as a winger.”

Asked about Danby’s penalty save, Morrison added: “It’s a great save from John. But let’s look at the game, they’ve scored a goal and John has saved a penalty and that’s it.”

In the build up to the game Nomads confirmed the signing of former Bury wideman Craig Jones.

Jones, who has Welsh Premier League experienced with Airbus, TNS, Rhyl and Aberystwyth, said: “I chose to join Connah’s Quay because the manager showed a keen interest to sign me.”

Morrison said: “Craig adds experience and quality to our squad and we are looking forward to working with him.”

As Jones signed, Noah Edwards left Nomads to join Caernarfon Town.