Market Drayton 0, Bala Town 5

If Bala Town supporters, like most other supporters in the land, had been under the impression that their team has been inactive and having a well earned holiday since the last match of the 2010-11 season against Haverfordwest the same cannot be said of manager Colin Caton. Since the last kick of that match Colin has been extremely busy building a virtually new squad for the 2011-12 season and after five intense training sessions the first young shoots of that rebuilding process were on display last Saturday in our first pre-season friendly against Evostick South Division 1 side Market Drayton Town.

We were keen to see this new look Bala side and watch Lee Hunt, Stuart Jones, Mike Byron, Conall Murtagh and Peter Doran in action in a Lakesiders shirt for the first time. With 4 trialists also making an appearance it was soon apparent from this early run-out that shirts will be keenly fought for and with a mixture of youth and experience the squad is shaping up well. As mentioned from the pre-season training sessions the players are bonding well as an unit and this was immediately proven by the way they conducted themselves against Market Drayton.

And so to the match itself, having said all the above, it was out hosts, playing in their third pre-season match of this season, began the brighter of the two sides with Colin starting with 5 new signings and 3 trialists in the first half.

The first chance fell to Market Drayton after only a couple of minutes when a snap shot by their striker was struck across our goal and again Bala keeper McCormick gathered a shot from the right after 5 minutes.

Bala gradually began to impose themselves on the match and were beginning to get into their stride after the first nervy ten minutes. Mark Jones ghosted past two defenders on 11 minutes and narrowly put the ball past the post. Peter Doren then shot straight at the keeper and also put an effort over the bar. Bala put all their pressure to bear on 28 minutes when they took the lead – Lee Hunt side-stepping a defender before tapping the ball in from 8 yards. The same player doubled Bala’s lead on 39 minutes with a shot from the corner of the area that went in off the far post. 2-0 at half-time.

Second half saw once again the Bala trialists making an excellent impression on the manager, and with Mark Jones running the midfield, and it came as no surprise when one of them created a chance for Chris Mason to tap in Bala’s third goal at the far post before another trialist scored another within a couple of minutes to make the score 4-0 to the visitors after an hours play. With the rest of the match being played out with the majority of the possession being enjoyed by ourselves and the best chance falling to Ross Jefferies who rifled a screamer just beyond the post on 80 minutes - the best goal of the game was kept till last – Chris Mason’s belter from 25 yards completing the scoring on 87 minutes.

An useful run-out against excellent pre-season opponents, the match played in a good spirit and many thanks to our Market Drayton hosts for making us all feel so welcome. We wish them all the best for the forthcoming season.

1st half: McCormick, Jones, Roberts, Trialist 1, Byron, Murtagh, Trialist 2, Jones, Hunt, Trialist 3, Doran.

2nd half: McCormick, Irving, Roberts, Williams, Byron, Jefferies, Trialist 2, Jones, Trialist 3 (Trialist 4), Mason, Doran.

Attendance - approx 92 with 25 from Bala

• Tags:
• Market Drayton