Goalkeeper gets the plaudits for TNS

An early penalty from Chris Seargeant separated the sides at the break before Chris Marriott sealed the points two minutes from time with a thumping free-kick.

But Harrison pulled off a terrific save in the first half to keep his side ahead at the break, with his manager Craig Harrison stressing the importance of the club's skipper.

Harrison said: "He had a tough week with a bereavement in the family, and it showed the character of the man to come in and perform like he did.

"He is a top professional, and made one important save in the first half when we were 1-0 up.

"Had Bangor scored then, it may have kicked them on, but as the second half wore on I was confident of getting the three points with the fitness of our lads.

"Defensively we have been fantastic with five clean sheets in our eight league games this season, and 'H' deserves all the praise he gets."

He added: "It was a tough game as Bangor are certainly one of the better teams we have played.

"Although they have lost striker Les Davies in the summer, they have brought in three or four good footballers with pace and they are a very, very improved team."

The defending champions were up and running after just 11 minutes when Simon Spender was adjudged to have been brought down in the box.

Seargeant confidently stepped up to send City keeper Connor Roberts the wrong way.

The Saints were enjoying most of the early play, and almost doubled their lead 10 minutes later when Greg Draper's superb turn and shot was well saved by the stretching Roberts.

But Bangor were proving a handful and sounded a warning when Porya Ahmadi latched on to a Phil Baker miss-kick before firing inches past the post, and Sion Edwards flicked just over moments later.

And the visitors went close to levelling when keeper Harrison pulled off a terrific scrambling save to keep out Ahmadi's overhead kick from six yards.

Despite Bangor's efforts, the Saints were back on the front foot early in the second half with Matty Williams' curling effort flying inches over the bar from the edge of the box.

Ryan Edwards' terrific strike was then tipped round the post by the diving Roberts, but the Citizens were very much in the game.

They pushed for a leveller with Ahmadi again denied by Harrison in another promising raid, following good work by Christian Langos.

Substitutes Alex Darlington, Jamie Mullan and Adrian Cieslewicz all appeared off the bench and, within moments, the changes nearly worked.

Seargeant found himself unmarked in the box but his curling shot was brilliantly palmed out by Roberts.

With five minutes to play, Aeron Edwards' cross was cut out by Roberts as Mullan looked poised to secure the points.

Victory, however, was eventually secured two minutes from time when Marriott powered a 20-yard free kick past Roberts to keep the unbeaten Saints flying high.

They share pole position with Bala Town, who were dramatic 3-2 winners at Newtown thanks to two injury time goals.

Meanwhile, TNS' second-choice goalkeeper Chris Mullock, meanwhile, has been given a chance of first team action after joining Welsh Premier rivals Aberystwyth Town on loan.