ANDREW THOMAS branded Airbus’s 12-0 thumping at the hands of The New Saints a “tough day” that the Wingmakers need to “forget about quickly”.

A young Airbus team without the experience of Steve Tomassen and Ryan Edwards as well as George Hughes, Joe Palmer and Alex Darlington were cruelly exposed by the reigning champions, who inflicted a heaviest ever top-flight home defeat on Steve O'Shaughnessy's men.

Adrian Cieslewicz helped himself to four goals and Greg Draper hit a hat-trick after coming on at the break, while Aeron Edwards (2), Blaine Hudson, Ryan Brobbel and Kurtis Byrne all got in on the act.

The 28th minute dismissal of Jake Phillips only added to Airbus’s woes and assistant boss Thomas is keen to look to the future.

“It was a tough day,” declared Thomas. “They are a good team and going down to 10-men made things really difficult.

“It’s a game we need to forget about quickly.”

Thomas, who revealed a sickness bug had swept through the Airbus camp, continued: “There were things we weren’t happy about.

“We switched off and allowed them to score after just six minutes and the game plan we had goes out of the window.

“We need to move on quickly and we will have plenty of experienced players coming back.”

There was one bright note for Airbus as teenager Ellis Hickey made his debut as a second-half substitute.

“Ellis is only 16 and he did really well,” said Thomas. “We didn’t have any midfielders and it was tough for him coming into that type of game, but he played well.”

Former Wrexham winger Cieslewicz was pleased with both his and the team’s performances.

“You can’t not be with a clean sheet and 12 goals at the other end with plenty of different faces scoring,” he said. “I’m delighted for myself. I got a chance to come in and hopefully I’ve shown the manager that I deserve a place in the team. It’s my first hat-trick for the club after being here for a few years as well.”