OSWESTRY Town FA Cup goalscoring hero David Price was at Park Hall to watch The New Saints put a difficult week behind them with a 3-1 win over Airbus UK.
Price scored Oswestry’s only goal in their 3-1, 1974 FA Cup first round defeat to Doncaster Rovers, in a Town team managed by Len Kilby who died in February.
The New Saints honoured his presence with a dominant display over the Wingmakers, scoring through Alex Darlington, Matty Williams and Chris Seargeant to move second in the table following Ian Sheridan’s 74th minute equaliser.
“It is great to be back at Oswestry, said Price. “There is a good facility at The Venue and I am really impressed with the standard of play.
“The early 70s is a long time ago and we were up against some really tough players, but it’s nice to have scored for the Town in such a famous competition,” he added.
Price saw Craig Jones force a smart early save from goalkeeper Niki Lee-Bulmer when he fired one in at his near post.
That post prevented TNS taking a 24th minute lead when Steve Evans knocked Seargeant’s free-kick into the path of Darlington, whose volley rebounded back into play.
Darlington then headed narrowly wide and Evans saw his shot smothered by the goalkeeper, while Bulmer also tipped Barry Hogan’s deflected strike over the bar two minutes after the interval.
But Darlington got the breakthrough on 51 minutes, sending a loose ball into the bottom corner from 20-yards for his seventh goal of the season.
Bulmer’s double save denied both Darlington and Williams as Saints looked for a second but Airbus levelled when former TNS favourite, Tommy Holmes, crossed for Sheridan to drift a header into the top corner on 74 minutes.
Williams flicked the ball beyond Bulmer when he latched onto Simon Spender’s near-post cross to restore Saints’ lead four minutes later however and Seargeant hit a rasping 85th minute third that crashed in off the underside of the bar to put the game beyond the visitors.
Saints coach Carl Darlington said: “It’s been a difficult week and Mike Davies leaving put a big dent in our preparations, but the reaction was great.
“With and without the ball we were superb. It was a fantastic performance and our character came through,” he added.