BALA TOWN 2

CREWE ALEX 5

THE Lakesiders welcomed a strong Crewe side to a roasting Maes Tegid on Tuesday night.

With players such as Perry Ng and Billy Sass-Davies in the Crewe line-up, it was going to be a difficult evening for Bala.

That was proven after two minutes of play when the Railwaymen took the lead, with Charlie Kirk scoring via a far post tap-in.

Crewe, who were managed on the evening by former Lakesider Kenny Lunt, were playing impressive quick counter-attacking football and soon it was 2-0.

The visitors took advantage of Kieran Smith being down injured in the opposite box and they broke forward to deliver a ball into Callum Ainley, who added their second of the night.

Bala Town were finding it hard to break down the Crewe backline, but they went close to scoring then Trialist D applied pressure and forced the visitors into a mistake, but Henry Jones wasn’t able to pounce on the loose ball.

On the half-hour mark, Ryan Wintle made it 3-0 with a lovely finish into the far side of the net from inside the area.

Henry Jones found Trialist D after a move down the left, but Jaaskelainen made a comfortable save for Alex.

Prior to the interval, Crewe added a fourth when a quick passage of play arrived to Reilly and he finished with a class strike.

The second half was better from Bala's perspective and they grew into the game, starting to cause some problems for the visitors.

A moment of controversy saw Trialist F seemingly get the ball over the line for Town.

A Crewe centre half cleared and it was adjudged not to have crossed the line.

However, Bala grabbed a deserved goal a minute later.

After a fantastic move, Trialist D's strike from 10 yards pushed into the path of Chris Venables, who hammered the ball into the net.

Bala were having a solid spell of pressure and they came more and more into the game.

Despite this, they were dealt a setback as Crewe scored a fifth with a rocket of a strike from around 12 yards out by Ainley.

Town’s trialist shotstopper made a series of superb reaction saves to keep Crewe from scoring a sixth.

At the other other end, Mike Hayes went one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but he saw his tame effort being cleared by Ng.

Bala did end the night on a high with their second goal.

A header from Trialist C arrived to Hayes, who coolly lobbed the goalkeeper from 16 yards to make the scoreline 5-2 with five minutes left to play.

While it was a tough night for Town, it was still a very useful run out against resilient opposition.