HUW GRIFFITHS saluted Cefn Druids' players and supporters as the Ancients ended their long wait for victory.

Druids hadn't registered a win since December 21, and it was the sight of Aberystwyth - the team beaten just prior to Christmas - that sparked Griffiths' men into life as they ran out 3-1 victors.

Dean Rittenberg and Ryan Kershaw, who produced a sublime long range chip over Aber stopper Terry McCormick, scored in quick succession midway through the first-half for Druids.

Former Wrexham striker Marc Williams grabbed his first goal for Aberystwyth prior to the break, but Arek Piskorski eased any nerves for the hosts with a third before the hour.

Druids saw out the rest of the game to open up a nine-point gap between themselves and the drop zone with seven matches remaining.

Griffiths said: "The lads were excellent and the noise from the crowd - which I asked for - was superb.

"We started the game brightly and could have been a couple of goals up before we managed to score our first two.

"We had a third disallowed, which I will need to see back, and then we conceded against the run of play.

"Aberystwyth came into the game, but we were able to go on and score a third goal and that allowed us to see the game out.

"We sat in and gave them little space to use their quick players to get in behind us, because it was a bit too open in the first-half for my liking.

"The players were fantastic and it was great to hear the crowd."

Griffiths called on the Druids fans to get behind his team in the build-up to the clash, and the former Chester City assistant couldn't fault the 280-strong crowd.

"It's as good as I've seen from Cefn Druids' supporters," he continued. "After the game the respect towards the players was fantastic.

"They gave us a little bit extra on Friday night and as I walked off I thought 'that's what real supporters do'. It was very pleasing." Griffiths' appraisal of the crowd was backed up when the coaching staff got hold of the players' GPS results.

He added: "The players really put a shift in. The GPS results we've had showed that just about every player ran over 12K."

The bottom two, Llandudno and Llanelli, both suffered 3-0 defeats at the hands of Cardiff Met and Carmarthen.

Liam Thomas struck a hat-trick as Carmarthen won at Stebonheath Park, while Adam Roscrow (2) and Harry Owen secured Cardiff Met a comfortable home success.

At the other end of the table, Newtown moved up to fourth courtesy of a 3-2 home success over Caernarfon.

Craig Williams' opener for Newtown was cancelled out in style as Sion Bradley and Darren Thomas scored in quick succession early in the second period for Caernarfon.

But the visitors' lead lasted just a minute as Porya Ahmadi levelled, before Alex Fletcher won it for the Robins late on.