ANDY MORRISON saluted his “relentless” Connah’s Quay Nomads as they extended their lead at the top of the table to four points with a 3-1 home success over Newtown.

Sean McAllister drilled Newtown into a surprise lead midway through the first period, but Michael Wilde and Jamie Insall netted to give Nomads a 2-1 advantage by the break.

And Michael Bakare sprung the offside trap to collect a pass from Danny Holmes and make the game safe five minutes from time.

“It was and that’s showing the upmost respect to the opposition,” said Morrison with regards a comfortable three points.

“Once we got our shape a little bit better, the margins between the lines and people knew their roles and responsibility clearly we comfortable.

“Against the wind in the first half an hour was very hard, so we swapped things and went to a back four to try and get through to half time - of course they scored a goal - but I always felt we were very much in the game.

“We got in down the side of them and they were gambling on offsides, which I don’t know was worked on, and sooner or later we were going to get in.

“The key was the midfield. We boxed off the midfield and stopped anything probing through the middle.

“When you’ve got Danny Harrison and George Horan dominating at centre-back and the two full-backs are dealing with their widemen, the game is dead because there was nowhere for them to go.

“I thought the lads were terrific, it was a fantastic response to going 1-0 down and I’m really pleased.”

And October manager of the month Morrison, who went to watch forthcoming Welsh Cup opponents Abertillery Bluebirds on Saturday, always felt confident his side would recover from their setback at the hands of McAllister and win the contest.

“We’ve been 1-0 down four times this season and come back and not lost,” he continued.

“When we’ve gone ahead we’ve tended to go on and win the game.

“I’ve got full belief in them, but with the wind the way it was we needed to batten down the hatches and get through to half-time.

“But in the second-half, we’ve hit the post, we’ve had corners, throw-ins, we’ve been relentless and eventually you are going to wear teams down.

“I felt very comfortable at 2-1, but you always need a third goal.

“At 2-1, Lewis has not had a shot to save, we’ve been very solid and organised.”

Striker Insall, named October’s Cymru Premier player of the month, felt beating Newtown was a must after picking up four points from a possible six in matches against title rivals The New Saints and Barry Town United.

“It was important to beat Newtown,” said Insall.

“The four points minimum we were aiming for from Barry and TNS would have counted for nothing if we didn’t turn up and beat Newtown.”