NEWTOWN 2

BALA TOWN 3

IT was certainly a Good Friday for the Lakesiders!

Bala Town secured a much needed three points in the wonderful spring sunshine at Newtown.

Former Denbigh Town custodian Keighan Jones made his debut in goal instead of Ashley Morris, while Anthony Stephens missed out due to suspension.

Bala started really well, with Chris Seargeant’s strike from the edge of the box strike being saved by the Newtown goalkeeper.

There was only five minutes on the clock when Bala took the lead.

A free kick was swung in by Henry Jones and it was headed in by an unmarked Chris Venables.

It was almost level immediately from the restart as Nick Rushton rattled the crossbar for the Robins.

At the other end, Henry Jones headed wide of the far post for the Lakesiders, before Newtown had a solid spell of pressure that saw them have a goal disallowed and then bring the game level.

A cheap free kick was conceded by the Town defence, which Steve Leslie nestled into the bottom left hand corner on 23 minutes.

Five minutes later and Newtown had the lead.

The hosts broke on the counter following a hand ball shout in their box and Rushton fired in to make it 2-1.

Bala refused to let their heads drop and they made it 2-2 with five minutes of the first half left to play.

Henry Jones once again set up Chris Venables, who pinged an effort into the net to make it level at the interval.

The second half saw Newtown have a good spell of play from the restart.

A free header sailed past the post and another shot from range flew over the crossbar.

Town replied with some decent opportunities of their own, with Henry Jones seeing the keeper off his line, but his lob was deemed offside.

Anthony Miley saw his near post header being saved after a corner and Jones’ low 25-yard goalbound shot ended up being turned around the post by Dave Jones.

After 75 minutes, Bala got a deserved third goal.

Kieran Smith’s ball found Mike Hayes, who drove into the area, skipped around Jones and placed an effort into the net to make it 3-2 and edge Town closer to a vital three points.

Newtown applied late pressure, with Luke Boundford going extremely close to salvaging a point when he got on the end of a cross, but he pulled his shot wide across the face of goal.

This was a massive and important win for the Lakesiders to raise their confidence going into the final game of the season against Caernarfon at Maes Tegid this weekend.