HUW GRIFFITHS has accepted responsibility for Cefn Druids' 7-0 thumping at the hands of The New Saints.

A trip to Park Hall is arguably the toughest in the fixture calendar, and the Ancients came face-to-face with a ruthless home side on Boxing Day.

Druids enjoyed some early pressure, but Ryan Brobbel, Kurtis Byrne and Jamie Mullan had Saints three goals to the good at the break.

Things got worse for Druids after the interval as Brobbel completed his hat-trick with Byrne and Greg Draper completing the rout for Saints, who scored three times in the final eight minutes.

Griffiths said: "It's my fault. I tried to do something a bit different, which we always do against TNS, because I don't see the point in doing the same things.

"We actually had the first three shots of the game, but once we switched off we conceded two quick goals and then the third, which was offside, killed the contest.

"The aim was to try and put them under a bit of pressure. TNS have been a bit up and down this season, while we have been playing really well.

"I looked at a system I thought might cause them some problems, but it didn't work. Maybe I didn't give TNS enough credit because they were on their game."

While Griffiths shouldered the blame, he was disappointed with the performances of some of his side, which had produced a fine display four days earlier when beating Aberystwyth Town 2-0.

"It is only three points and TNS can do what they did to us to any team," continued Griffiths. "But we didn't do ourselves justice with our workrate and desire.

"We didn't work hard enough off the ball."

In the opposition camp, Saints boss Scott Ruscoe was delighted with an impressive performance.

"It was nice to sit back and watch a game of that quality," said Ruscoe. "We see it in training and we see it in certain games, but to see that from start to finish is excellent.

"In between they caused a little bit of trouble from us switching off and from set-plays, but I always felt that we were comfortable.

"To watch football played like that is a joy."

Ruscoe also fired a warning shot to Saints' title rivals. The Park Hall outfit are now just four points off top spot after Barry Town replaced Connah's Quay Nomads at the summit.

Saints followed up a 4-0 win over Llandudno with the crushing of Druids, and Ruscoe said: "They are the high standards we set. When people see us get the odd dodgy result and not quite up to TNS standards, they will say things.

"Everyone wants to look for our result. They will certainly know our results from the last two games, where we've scored 11 and conceded none.

"It gives us a healthy goal difference and with teams playing a lot of games in a short space of time without much recovery, we will see how good they are now."