LLANGEFNI Town suffered a blow to their JD Cymru North survival hopes as they were beaten 3-1 at home by Llanfair United.

The newly promoted side missed an early penalty during a poor first half that they were unable to recover from, leaving them with plenty of work to do between now and the end of the campaign in order to retain their second tier status.

Chris Roberts’ men could find themselves in the bottom four by the next time they take the field on Saturday at Penrhyncoch.

The home side were presented with a golden opportunity to break the deadlock on eight minutes when they were awarded a penalty, but new signing Mel McGinness was unable to convert the spot kick and the danger was averted.

Things went from bad to worse for Cefni midway through the half when United opened the scoring courtesy of a Gethin Stephens effort on 25 minutes.

Their task to salvage something from the game was made even more difficult on 38 minutes when Gethin Jones despatched another opportunity to double the away side’s advantage at a crucial moment of the half.

After the break saw the hosts come out with a renewed sense of purpose but were unable to take advantage of their improved possession in the final third, and they were made to pay for their lack of creative nous on 50 minutes when Jones broke free and turned in his second of the afternoon to treble the deficit.

Town continued to probe and finally broke their duck on the hour mark thanks to a fine strike from Matthew Jones, but despite their best efforts they were unable to make a fight of things late on and were forced to taste defeat against a side that currently prop up the division.