BALA TOWN 1, THE NEW SAINTS 1

AN excellent team effort saw Bala Town pick up a point against The New Saints.

The Lakesiders will be extremely happy with their performance against the defending Welsh Premier League champions on Friday evening, but they will also come away thinking that they maybe should have gathered all three points.

Things didn’t start as planned for the hosts, however, as the Saints took the lead with only 11 minutes on the clock.

A corner from Chris Seargeant was swung towards an unmarked Blaine Hudson, who headed the ball into the net.

The visitors had plenty of the play in the early stages, with Ryan Brobbel curling an effort over the crossbar from outside the area, prior to another Brobbel effort going wide.

The New Saints were dealt a huge blow when they were reduced to 10 men after half-an-hour.

Chris Marriott hacked Henry Jones when he was racing down the wing into the box and he was sent for an early shower.

The resulting free kick arrived to Anthony Miley at the back post, but his effort went wide.

Bala were growing in confidence and they almost equalised before the interval when Chris Venables got on the end of a cross, but his chance soared over the bar.

Town started the second half well.

A golden opportunity fell to Steven Tames on the edge of the six-yard box after a scramble in the area, with his shot flying over the crossbar.

Soon after, Venables ended up in the net, but his effort was hacked off the line.

The spell of pressure from Bala paid off in the 66th minute.

Tames connected brilliantly with Henry Jones’ stunning delivery to power home an equalising header.

From the restart, The New Saints had a massive opportunity to go back ahead when Mullan was brought down in the area and the referee pointing to the spot.

However, on the occasion of his 200th WPL appearance, Ashley Morris superbly saved Dean Ebbe's spot kick.

Bala finished strongly and they had numerous chance to nick a winner in the closing stages.

Danny Gosset rattled the crossbar from outside the area and in added time, a huge Bala chance went begging as a cross trickled inches wide.