CEFN DRUIDS 3

BALA TOWN 1

AS they say, football is one funny old game at times.

Three chances and three goals saw Cefn Druids seal all three JD Welsh Premier League points against Bala Town at a rainy Rock on Friday evening.

Chris Venables, Lewis Short and Stuart Jones were all missing for the Lakesiders through various injuries, meaning team boss Colin Caton had a bit of a reshuffle to make to his Town side.

It was a high tempo throughout, with Bala playing some excellent football in the first half.

In the opening quarter-of-an-hour, a free kick by Jordan Evans was fired into the area, but the chance went begging when no Town shirt could reach it.

In addition, an early free kick was curled over the Druids' crossbar by Nathan Burke.

Bala were having plenty of possession, with Kieran Smith heading over from a Glenn Rule cross, prior to Smith being picked out by Evan Horwood, but he laid the ball off rather than taking the opportunity instinctively.

Down the other end, Matty Owen tested Bala number one Ashley Morris, while Rob Pearson shot wide from a Town corner kick.

It was the home side who took the lead against the run of play in the 23rd minute.

Arek Piskorski fired home from 12 yards out after beating the offside trap.

Despite this setback, Bala kept their chances coming.

Jordan Evans’ strike went high and wide off target, but the visitors' perseverance did eventually pay off 11 minutes before the interval.

Nathan Burke unleashed an attempt from all of 25 yards out and his pinpoint effort arrowed into the top right hand corner of the net, leaving Michael Jones a spectator in the Druids' goal.

On the back of this, Town finished the half strongly and they should have gone ahead when Burke was clear on goal, but he sliced his opportunity wide.

In a further glimpse of goal, Stuart J Jones headed wide of the target from a corner.

Turning to the second half and Bala had the ball in the net only four minutes after the restart when Hayes lobbed over a defender and tidily slotted home, but it was ruled out for an alleged foul.

Good work between Horwood and Evans set up Smith, but he was unable to capitalise on the chance.

These missed chances proved costly when Druids added a second goal to reclaim the lead.

An initial chance was blocked, but the rebound came out to Matty Owen and he slid the ball into the net at the back post.

Even though they were trailing, Bala were the better side and they kept attacking with their waves of pressure and crosses into the area, but they weren’t being clinical enough in front of goal.

A chance from Hayes was pulled back towards Jones, but he headed inches over.

Midway through the half and the newly introduced Les Davies and Andrai Jones accidently collided into each other/

Jones was taken to hospital only 30 seconds after entering the field of play and a lengthy stoppage.

Once back underway, Davies brilliantly flicked the ball on to Smith, but keeper Jones was able to get a crucial touch to push the ball away.

Sheridan pounced on an error at the back by Druids, but his strike was tame and it was collected by the keeper.

Kieran Smith was the next to test the hosts when he brilliantly beat the offside trap, but his header landed on top of the net.

With nine minutes of injury time shown, Town were pushing up as they looked to get back on level terms.

They were handed a boost when Alec Mudimu was shown a red card, meaning Druids finished with 10 men.

However, with Town playing with such a high-line, they were punished in the 99th minute when Druids went on the counter attack, allowing for an unmarked Mike Pritchard to fire into the net and seal the win.