NEWTOWN 2

BALA TOWN 0

UNBEATEN at Maes Tegid this season, Bala Town are still seeking their first Welsh Premier League point away from home.

Colin Caton's charges travelled to Latham Park on Saturday afternoon to tackle Newtown, but an average performance from the the visitors saw them slump to a second successive away loss.

Despite the eventual outcome, Bala started well and they looked very bright in the opening 10 minutes.

Anthony Miley glanced wide from a free kick, Henry Jones fired over the crossbar from range and Kieran Smith also blazed an effort over.

However, Town were handed an early blow when Kieran Smith left the pitch with a hamstring injury.

As a result, Bala’s gameplan seemingly took a knock, with Newtown taking a hold of the game.

Pressure had been coming from the home side for around 10 minutes before they took the lead.

Kenton released Nick Rushton down the left and he controlled the ball brilliantly before curling home a shot into the far right hand corner with 22 minutes on the clock.

Bala number one Ashley Morris had a quiet afternoon on the whole, but he was called into action to save well from Leslie’s free kick.

Bala were looking to get into the game, with Henry Jones seeing his free kick being saved from 25 yards out and then Ian Sheridan glanced a header wide from a corner.

As they continued to press, the Lakesiders had a big penalty shout before half-time.

Mike Hayes’ shot looked to be blocked by a Newtown hand, but the appeals were waved away.

Improvement was required in the second half, but sadly it didn’t come for the Lakesiders.

They were unable to keep hold of possession or win the second ball, which meant it was a comfortable half for the home side.

A powerful strike from Nathan Burke was pushed away by Jones in the Newtown net, but it was the home side who added to their tally as soon as play restarted.

Leslie won the ball for the Robins and his through ball picked out Rushton once again, who fired in a carbon copy of his first half goal.

It was Newtown's Jones who was the busier of the two keepers, with Danny Gosset seeing his low drive from 25 yards being saved, prior to Evan Horwood’s delivery finding Nathan Burke, whose shot was pushed away.

Anthony Miley volleyed over from the rebound.

Town were just not able to find the crucial break needed to get back into the game, with Newtown’s physicality and tactics stopping them from playing the way they wanted.

Newtown almost added another goal when Kenton’s effort was crucially blocked.

Minutes later, Fletcher fired into the side netting from Mitchell’s cross.

Ian Sheridan had a superb opportunity to pull a goal back when he was released by Steven Tames, but Jones made a cracking save to keep him at bay.