“We weren’t at it” was Airbus assistant manager Andy Thomas’ blunt assessment of a 3-1 defeat at Penybont.

The Wingmakers slipped to the foot of the Welsh Premier League standings as The Bont recorded their first victory of the season to leapfrog them in the table.

Airbus fell behind when Curtis Jemmet-Hutson was on hand to notch the opener on 14 minutes.

The hosts held their advantage until just before the hour mark when Airbus restored parity.

Ryan Edwards found space out wide and sent a measured cross into the box, which Alex Darlington headed beyond home keeper Jack Davies.

Airbus pushed hard to take the lead but were pegged back again on 73 minutes when a free-kick on the edge of the Penybont box was cleared upfield and latched onto by Jemmett Hutson who tucked the ball home.

Now chasing the game, the Flintshire side pursued another leveller but were picked off again when Daniel Griffiths found the net with 10 minutes left to wrap up the points for the hosts.

Thomas said:”We just weren’t at it for long periods of the game. I thought we looked sluggish at times and struggled to play the type of football we prefer to play.

“Maybe it was the four-and-a-half hour coach journey it took us to get there, I don’t know.

“But too many of our players just weren’t at their best on the day.

“The fact we lost Curtis Strong to illness overnight didn’t help us and meant we had to change our approach slightly after we’d worked on a system in training this week.

“We haven’t defended that well either and I felt we could have done much better with the goals.”

Despite suffering their sixth league defeat in seven outings, Thomas remains upbeat about the club’s prospects this term.

He added: “There’s no lack of confidence at all from the lads. We had dominated the previous game against Barry and got nothing, but we know we’ve got the quality here to do better.”

Champions The New Saints came back from 2-0 down inside 11 minutes at Carmarthen Town to win 6-2 and stay a point clear.

A Luke Bowen effort and an own goal from Jon Routledge gave the hosts the perfect start but Scott Ruscoe’s side hit back to win with doubles from Aeron Edwards, Greg Draper and Kurtis Byrne.