BALA TOWN 0

THE NEW SAINTS 3

IT wasn't just the leading lights in the Welsh Premier League that Bala Town were tackling last week.

It was a difficult evening for the Lakesiders on Tuesday night as it wasn’t just The New Saints that Town were battling against, but also the awful weather conditions that came from Storm Eleanor.

Bala began brightly enough, but clearcut chances were few and far between in the opening stages, due to the crossfield wind and driving rain that made it almost impossible to string any passes together.

A half-chance went to Lee Owens, whose cross turned into a shot and it was caught by Saints' goalkeeper Paul Harrison.

Down the other end, a shot from distance soared over the crossbar.

Prior to the interval, both sides had opportunities to break the deadlock.

For the visiting side, Greg Draper’s effort hit the bar from around 10 yards out, before a long range Town chance was tipped over the bar by Harrison in the opposite net.

Into the second half and the rain had eased somewhat.

The New Saints had the wind behind them and they opened the scoring on 54 minutes.

A Ryan Brobble ball was found by Chris Marriott, whose shot took a massive deflection to find the back of the net.

A second goal came only two minutes later when a Stuart Jones tackle on the edge of the box led to a free kick being awarded.

Brobble drove the set piece low into the bottom corner to double the visitors' advantage.

The two goals seemed to take the wind out of Town’s sails, but they did keep battling away, with Ian Sheridan curling an effort wide, while goalkeeper Ashley Morris made a cracking save to deny the Saints from close range after a counter attack.

Into injury time and Town suffered a harsh suckerpunch when Fletcher tapped home after a defensive lapse from the Lakesiders.