THERE will be a hint of jealousy as Huw Griffiths takes Cefn Druids to Newtown tomorrow night.

Rewind 12 months and it was the Ancients who were preparing to embark on the league’s top-six with the Robins scrapping it out in the bottom half.

This season, Druids will head to Latham Park looking over their shoulder at the relegation zone, while Newtown sit fourth and with top-six qualification secure.

“The pressure is off them, like it was for us last season,” said Druids boss Griffiths. “They can just go out and play after the split. They can try things out and prepare for the play-offs.”

That luxury is not one afforded to Druids this term, Griffiths eager to sign off a testing first part of the campaign with a morale-boosting three points.

“I said we needed to win one of our last two matches before the split and after losing to Barry it’s got to be this one we win,” continued Griffiths. “We will pick an attacking team, like we did against Barry.

“The aim is to try and drag the teams above us closer before the split, but we need to pick up three points to stand any chance of doing that.

“We’ve got to be better and we’ve got to start winning.”

Druids followed up 7-0 and 3-0 home and away defeats to The New Saints over Christmas with a 5-2 loss at the hands of visiting Barry Town United last weekend.

And Griffiths knows his side have to improve defensively after shipping 15 goals in three games - a far cry from just 24 in their opening 18 outings.

“Some of the goals we are conceding are very poor,” said Griffiths, who could hand new signing Jack Kenny a start if he receives clearance in time.

“We are not a million miles off, but we can’t keep saying that.

“We are conceding goals and we’ve got to start looking after our goal difference, which could be important at the end of the season.”

Newtown, meanwhile, want to head into the second part of the campaign on a winning note.

Boss Chris Hughes, who saw his team beaten 4-0 at The New Saints last week, said: “We’ve got 11 games left and the next one is against Cefn Druids, which we want to win.

“Every game we are in we want to win, that’s the attitude we’ve got at this football club.

“We can take the positives out of TNS and move onto Druids, which will be another tough game, and try to finish the first phase off on a high.”