BALA Town U-9s were thrilled to be able to travel to Liverpool Academy last weekend.

It was an opportunity for many of the players to play against the club they adore.

It was with great pleasure they were able to play at the same facility that has developed many famous Liverpool legends such as Michael Owen and Raheem Sterling.

With the five-a-side set-up, it gave the Lakesiders the opportunity to see players utilising different roles outside of the usual seven-a-side system.

The difficulty of the morning’s matches for Bala Academy U-9s was how well the Liverpool Academy players were with attacking with the ball at their feet and their sublime set of skills.

Their team mates were committed to moving forward to anticipate a pass to attack the opposition goal, and this caused Bala trouble on many occasions.

However, the Bala players showed their intelligence to adapt the defensive style from their usual high press to cater for their opponents' style.

They realised that if they were able to slow down the pace of the Liverpool attack and sit deep whilst remaining compact, they could transition into attack on the counter, thereby catching Liverpool's players out of position.

Bala were successful in scoring goals as a result, with beautiful link-up play from defence to attack seen on many occasions.

The great composure from the attacking players in front of goal made Bala successful.

The coaches are proud to have such a talented squad, with big credit to how the players are developing as individuals and as a team.