16.01.009 Carmarthen Town 2 Aberystwyth Town 1

Deryn Brace’s reaction to the goal and to the final whistle showed his obvious delight at the win. “To win any game is what you set out to do and it’s especially pleasing to beat one of the rivals around you adds a bit more spice to the outcome. We always knew it was huge game and over the ninety minutes I felt the result was justified.

Having made some changes Brace explained his selection preferences, “We know Mark Dodds is a fantastic player and he’ll come again and be up for selection next week against Connah’s Quay. But I just felt Liam Hancock had looked good in training and in the couple of practice games we played and I felt that it was right to go with him at centre half.

“Stuart (Roberts) coming in on the right hand side was an easy decision really because Sacha (Walters) hadn’t recovered from his hamstring strain.”

“Obviously we’ve brought Craig Hughes here to play. He’s had a good ten days to bed in which meant that I could start him at the first opportunity. The changes were most probably necessary for us to move on and the squad is looking fairly complete. I think it sends a signal for everybody that we haven’t just got to win to stay in the side but we’ve now got to play well as well”.

Describing his striker’s two goals Brace added. ”Craig’s goals were both a little bit different. The first goal was a touch of genius and his second goal was probably a little bit of instinct. It’s pleasing for a manager to see centre forwards score two different goals like that. Usually it takes two centre forwards to score such differing goals. Overall his performance was very pleasing.

" First signs we couldn’t have asked for it to have gone any better. To have played one of the top sides and to have beaten them and for him to have scored both goals was just great. There’s still some work to do on fitness and explosiveness and it will take a little time for him to understand everybody’s ways, but the signs are really good, really positive”.

“One of the pleasing aspects especially of the first half was the combinations. Before the game we talked about how important it was to get the combinations right. Not just the competitiveness but also the togetherness. When you look at it, Guppy’s two goals have come from Tim Hicks. He’s set him up for both of them. The two lads in the middle (Fowler & Palmer) with the exception to a twenty minute spell worked well together and probably Lee Hudgell played his best game for the club. He’s been great up until now but I always thought there was more in the tank with Lee and I really felt he showed it on Friday night.

Deryn's Dugout