RHYS HUGHES had to admit his fine strike in Connah’s Quay Nomads’ win against Briton Ferry Llansawel wasn’t intentional!

Midfielder Hughes, preparing for tonight’s big match at home to defending champions The New Saints, broke the deadlock in a 2-1 home triumph on Sunday.

He told S4C’s Sgorio: “I’d love to stand here and say I did (mean it), but no!

“I’d been putting a few balls in, so I just thought I’ll put another one in. Put a bit of whip on it and I was thinking ‘oh, it’s gone over’.

“Some of the lads said they turned around! But, yeah, it’s nestled in the top corner.

“So, a goal’s a goal, isn’t it? Some people probably won’t think I meant it and, to be fair, I didn’t!”

Noah Edwards’ strike came a couple of minutes after Quay had taken the lead through Hughes, but Nomads had to remain strong in the second period after Kian Jenkins pulled one back for the visitors.

“All credit to Briton Ferry,” said Hughes. “I thought we’ve done really well first half, you know, controlled the game.

“Going in 2-0 up and we knew that we’d get a reaction from them. But, credit to them, they got back in it with a goal.

“Sloppy on our side and then we made it hard for ourselves.

“So, we got the three points, so we’ve got to be happy with the three points and, hopefully, kick on.

“But, we know we can be better than that in the second half.”

Nomads’ boss Billy Paynter admitted it was a tough encounter ahead of tonight’s big clash with Craig Harrison’s side.

“We knew that it was never going to be an easy task today,” he said.

“Given the league position of them, they’ve asked questions of teams and put pressure on teams late on, and sometimes they have got a shock result.

“So, it was important that wasn’t the case today and we were professional enough to do the job and, yes, we have to hold on towards the end, but I felt my lads did that really well.”

The New Saints have been here, there and everywhere of late, with tonight’s match coming in the midst of a spell of four games in the space of nine days.

Last time out, the Saints claimed a 4-2 win at Aberystwyth, which came just three days after they had stunned Astana 2-0 in Europe.

Boss Harrison (pictured right) has had praise for the backroom team and he told the club’s X site: “I think just as much, if not more, (praise) the staff, because the staff go again.

“The players have had a bit of a recovery, because they’ve not always played. There’s only been two or three players that have played again; Connor (Roberts), Jack Bodenham. I think that was it.

“But, the staff have all gone again. The staff have worked hard.

“We’re not leaving the ground until 11, 12 o’clock on Thursday night. We’re back preparing for this game straight after, where everyone else has got a day off.

“So, I think huge credit has got to go to the staff... because we don’t have days off.”