BANGOR suffered another blow to their title defence as they fell to a nine-wicket home loss at the hands of St Asaph.

The North Wales Cricket League Premier Division champions were second best throughout against the Saints in another lacklustre display, and they now sit in fourth spot and 30 points behind Menai Bridge ahead of their tricky trip to Brymbo on Saturday.

The away side got off to a fantastic start when David North caught and bowled opener Sion Evans on four, and the same bowler was on hand to despatch the dangerous duo of Nadeem Rehman and skipper Robbie Marshall for five and six respectively during a devastating spell with the new ball that eventually finished with figures of 3-23.

Matthew Hassall made just 13 before he was trapped lbw by Richard Marsh Evans, and Alex Baker also got in on the act with the quick -fire wickets of Tomos Davies (1), Idrees Ijaz (0) and Jonny Wells (12) to end on 3-30 from a hugely impressive nine-over spell.

The one constant for the home side was David Winter, who continued his excellent start to the season with a half-century knock of 66, but he was ousted by Danny Ryan during a crucial stage of the contest as the hosts set a target of 133-8 from their allotted 37 overs at the crease.

Things did not begin well for the visitors when Chris Dawson clean bowled opener Mathew Ryan on five, but that was as good as it got for the hosts as the in-form pair of overseas star Nathanael Scott and captain Will Ryan produced a sensational partnership that guided the title hopefuls over the line with minimal fuss.

Ryan ended the innings unbeaten on 48 after a number of outstanding strokes, with Scott smashing 11 boundaries on his way to 74 not out from just 85 deliveries.

This enabled the city side to reach their total after 28 overs to condemn Bangor to their third loss in nine league games.