BALA TOWN 4

PENYBONT 0

A DOMINANT Tuesday night display has rocketed the Lakesiders up to second in the JD Cymru Premier standings.

There was midweek action for Bala Town on Tuesday evening as they welcomed Penybont in the re-arranged league fixture.

Making the long journey up from South Wales, it was great to see the return of their shotstopper Rhys Wilson, who was back in the Penybont squad following his head injury against Porthmadog in the JD Welsh Cup.

Bala started well at a bitterly cold Maes Tegid, with Andy Burns putting a fantastic ball into the area, but he saw it flash across the face of goal with no Town shirt able to capitalise on it.

The visitors hadn’t come to make up the numbers as they began brightly and they were looking to cause problems for the Bala backline.

With 10 minutes played, Bala took the lead.

Mike Hayes got on to the end of a pass played from the right, which he duly dispatched with a header into the net for his first goal of the season.

Seeing plenty of the ball, Bala were building some momentum with Hayes seeing an effort saved by Wilson, before a cross by Hayes went begging after a brilliant passage of play.

The visitors did have an excellent opportunity to draw level, but as they broke into the area, the flag was up for offside against Georgievsky.

Bala were hitting their stride, with a superb move down the left through Smith resulting in Venables heading inches wide of the post, before Henry Jones went one-on-one with Wilson, but the keeper managed to get a crucial touch on the ball.

The second half saw Bala take full control of proceedings and it only took 10 minutes before they were further ahead.

Venables’ effort was pounced upon by Jones, who tapped the ball into the net to double Bala’s advantage.

Keeper Josh Tibbetts and the Bala back four were standing strong to deal with what Penybont were asking of them, with Mendes and Burke running the show in midfield.

The pressure was mounting with Bala looking as if they were going to score from every attack.

An incredible 60-yard run by Venables saw him glide past four opponents, but the opportunity was cleared away by the visitors.

Three minutes from time and Town were awarded a penalty after a clumsy tackle in the box.

The league's top scorer Chris Venables powerfully struck the ball into the bottom left hand corner to make it 3-0 to the Lakesiders.

Town saved the best until last.

In the final minute, Tibbetts' long throw was collected by Steve Leslie who delivered a ball on a plate into the path of Venables.

He rocketed the ball into the roof of the net to round off a superb night for the Lakesiders.

It was a fantastic response by the Bala lads following the previous week’s disappointing cup exit with a promising team effort ahead of Friday’s high-flying clash with Connah’s Quay.