Bala Town 2, Carmarthen Tn 0

Bala welcomed the Sgorio cameras for their first home game of the season as they hosted Carmarthen Town, who were hoping to bounce back from a disappointing 1-0 defeat at home to Newtown in their opening game of the season, while Bala were hoping to build on a 1-1 draw at former champions TNS.

It was the visitors that came close to breaking the deadlock early on after were awarded a free kick as a result of a late Stef Edwards challenge on Tom Hicks. The free kick was whipped in, but headed narrowly wide.

Mark Jones was the first to pull a save out of Mike Lewis, as he made space for himself in the penalty area, and hit a ferocious left foot shot on goal, but Lewis reacted quickly to make the save.

Jack Christopher was the next to come close to breaking the deadlock, as he got on to the end of a long Nicky Palmer ball, before going past Stef Edwards, and spotting Terry McCormick off his line, but his attempted chip went over the crossbar.

Christopher came to close to scoring again from a corner, as Cledan Davies took the corner, McCormick came out to collect the ball, only to see it go through his hands, and land at Christopher’s feet, who shot at goal, only to see the ball cleared off the line by John Irving.

The Lakesiders could easily have been ahead just before the interval, as Liam Loughlin crossed the ball towards Chris Mason in the penalty area, who had an unchallenged header, which went over the crossbar.

Four minutes into the second half Bala were awarded a controversial penalty, as Nicky Palmer challenged Mark Jones for the ball with his studs showing, but Jones kept possession of the ball and continued his run, however referee Bryn Markham-Jones pointed at the penalty spot, much to the dismay of the Carmarthen players and manager Tomi Morgan. Mark Connolly stepped up to take the spot kick, and put the ball into the bottom corner of the net, leaving Lewis with no chance of making a save.

The Old Gold did their best to find an equaliser shortly afterwards, as a cross in to the Bala box found Cledan Davies in space, but his shot forced a good save out of McCormick.

Just after the hour mark Bala were awarded a free kick 20 yards from goal and near the touchline. Connolly sent a curling shot in to the danger area, which took a deflection off the head of a defender, before hitting the post.

A real poacher’s goal with 20 minutes remaining secured the win, as Mason showed a real strikers instinct to tap the ball in from close range after a Stephen Brown shot rebounded off Lewis.

The visitors tried in vain to find a way back in to the game, but the closest they came was when sub Steffan Williams collected a long hit across the pitch, but he sent his shot high and wide of the target.

Attendance: 256

Match Photos courtesy of Evan L. Dobson

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