Connah’s Quay Nomads became the first side to blink in the race for the JC Cymru Premier League title as they dropped a point at Penybont.

ANDY Morrison is hoping Byron Harrison can provide the finishing touch his Connah’s Quay Nomads side is currently lacking as they attempt to make it a hat-trick of JD Cymru Premier League titles.

The 26-year-old former Scotland U21 striker struck three times to give his new club, The New Saints, an incredible 4-2 win over the Czech Republic First Division side Viktoria Plzen in the first leg of their Europa Conference League third qualifying round at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Having hammered five goals past the Lithuanian side BC Zalgiris in their opening leg to register the biggest victory by a Welsh League side in Europe, they finished off the job with a 5-1 home win to go through with an aggregate score of 10-1.

They may be five goals to the good, but Anthony Limbrick won’t let The New Saints go off the boil when they welcome FK Kauno Žalgiris to Park Hall for their return-leg second qualifying round of the Europa Conference League.

Anthony Limbrick’s side scored twice in as many minutes in their first game at home in front of fans for 16 months and not only had a win over the Irish league big-spenders, but also bagged an extra 300k euros to go on top of the 250k euros they received for qualifying.

Last season was the Nomads’ first foray into the top tier of European football and they were beaten in the first qualifying round by Sarajevo. They took their home game last year to Cardiff City Stadium and this time Morrison has elected to take the Armenians to Aberystwyth.

Wilde’s ruthless finishing before the break allowed his team to come away with three points on the road, which puts Andy Morrison’s side in the box seat for title glory.

With 10 games to go to decide who wins the title – phase two sees the top six sides split from the bottom six to play in the Championship section – Morrison believes his team can hang onto their crown.