BALA Town U-8s were invited to Liverpool Academy’s Kirkby facilities to face their opponents on a cool breezy day in February.

The order of the games were five versus five and that there would be five games, with each being 12 minutes long.

Bala started the first game defensively, with Jac Watkin as goalkeeper, Leo Burgoyne and Ioan Morris in defence, while Jac Jones and Robin Williams were in midfield.

For the first game, the squad was asked to hold back and read the game, to gradually build up the attacks from deep and look to distribute to the midfield as quickly as possible.

This worked for a while as the Lakesiders were able to break up the attacking play at the earliest opportunity and they countered with speed to score a few well-taken goals.

As the half wore on, Bala began to sit too deep and Liverpool had some good opportunities.

Jac Watkins was effective once again as a goalkeeper in clearing the danger and starting counter attacks.

The Lakesiders altered their shape for the second game to a diamond formation to become more attacking minded.

Llion Roberts, Caio Jones and Elliot Jones were all introduced and the difference was immediate.

Elliot Jones was effective yet again with the high press and allowed the midfield to sweep up any loose balls in the centre of the park and counter.

Caio Jones and Elliott Jones were rewarded for their perseverance and energetic work rate.

In game three, Bala stayed with the same diamond formation as it had been effective in the previous game.

The intensity carried on from the second game and Bala's attacks were hard to contain.

Yet again, goalkeeper Jac Watkins was commanding and he mopped up any threats on goal.

Turning to the fourth game and Liverpool were finding pockets where they were able to attack down the channels and force a few excellent saves from the keeper.

The Bala players were asked to play possession-based football and they put together some excellent two-touch football, using the whole width of the pitch effectively and recycling the ball at times to the keeper, who switched play to the opposite wing at every opportunity.

Halfway through, Robin Williams came on for Jac Watkins to finish the game.

The last contest saw Bala remain in their diamond formation.

Leo Burgoyne was the centre back, with Ioan Morris on the right wing, Jac Jones on the left wing and Elliot Jones up front.

Bala's control of the flow of the game carried on from the fourth match.

The team was instructed to carry on playing possession-based football.

Robin Williams came on for Jac Watkins, while Caio Jones and Llion Roberts replaced Ioan Morris and Elliot Jones respectively.

The half finished with a couple of well taken goals from Caio and Llion.

The man of the match was Caio Jones, who was energetic and positive with his attacks all afternoon.