Bala Town 0, Neath 0

There was no such mix up on this occasion though, as Neath had brought their yellow and navy blue kit with them.

​The first chance of the match came in the fifth minute, and it fell to Bala’s Stephen Brown, who shot from just inside his box, but saw his shot saved by Chris Doran, who then spilt the ball, but recovered before a Bala player could get to the loose ball.

​Neath came close to taking the lead shortly afterwards, as Stuart Jones missed the ball with his attempted clearance, allowing Lee Trundle to run on to the ball in the box, he then played in Craig Hughes, whose shot smashed against the crossbar.

​A few minutes later Trundle was involved in the action again, as he hit a low shot into the box; which was flicked goal words by Paul Fowler, but cleared by the Bala defence.

​Bala’s cross bar was rattling for a second time after twenty minutes, as Chris Jones took a free kick from the edge of the D, but his shot hit the cross bar, and went out for a goal kick.

​Neath keeper Doran nearly had egg on his face in the closing stages of the first half, as he instructed his defence to leave him to collect the ball, but he was beaten to the ball by the head of Mark Connolly, but fortunately for Doran, Connolly’s header went wide, and out for a goal kick.

It was Bala’s turn to rattle the crossbar in the final minute of the first half, as Rees Darlington saw his cross hit the top of the crossbar.

​Bala were forced into making a change at half time, as left winger Peter Doran had to be carried off the pitch after picking up an injury at the end of the first half.

Doran had a straight swap with Stef Edwards, who got in the thick of the action straight away, as he chased down a back pass, forcing Doran to sprint to clear the ball before Stef could get a shot away.

​Neath’s Chris Jones looked dangerous as he ran past tow Bala defenders; however he made a real mess of his cross; which ended up going out for a throw in.

​The Lakesiders looked certain to be taking the lead shortly afterwards, as they hit Neath on the counter attack; which ended with Mark Connolly playing in Edwards, whose shot had Doran beaten, but it must have hit a bobble on the heavy pitch; which resulted in the ball hitting the post, and Doran pounced on to the rebound.

​Bala captain Mark Jones showed some real skill just before the hour mark, as he beat two defenders, before crossing the ball to Stephen Brown in the box, who completely missed the ball with his attempted shot, and could only look on in horror as the ball went past him, and out of the penalty area.

​Free kick specialist Mark Connolly stepped up to take a free kick 25 yards from goal 5 minutes later, and his shot was on target, but forced a good save out of Doran, who tipped the ball out for a corner. Michael Byron headed the ball over the cross bar from the resulting corner.

​Stuart Jones nearly equalled Connolly’s achievement of scoring from the half way line (which Mark Connolly did in a 1-0 win at Prestatyn earlier in the season), as he hit a first time clearance; which ended up going on target, and forced Doran into catching the ball.

​A minute later Mark Connolly collected a corner and then crossed the ball in front of the keeper, and into the path of Brown, who chose to blast his shot; which went wide, when he may have been better off attempting to place the ball into practically an open goal.

​Terry McCormick pulled off a great finger tip save with just over 20 minutes to play, as Paul Fowler shot from the edge of the box; which deflected off a Bala defender, and looked to be heading in near the post, but the Bala keeper showed lighting reactions to tip the shot wide.

​Stephen Brown came agonisingly close to scoring yet again in the 70th minute, as he was played in by Connolly, and then went past two Neath defender’s, before getting one-on-one with Doran, but he sent shot wide from a tight angle.

​With quarter of an hour to play, Neath sub Luke Bowen had a great opportunity to give his side the lead, as he collected a long ball, and he hit the ball round the oncoming McCormick, but saw it go narrowly wide of the goal.

Bowen must have thought that it really wasn’t his day a minute later, as he got in the way of a Stuart Jones clearance, and saw the ball hit him in a delicate area!

​In the final ten minutes Ross Jefferies had an opportunity to give his side a late lead, as Connolly crossed the ball towards him, only to see it hit his standing leg.

The final chance of the match fell to Connolly, as he shot at goal from a 35 yard free kick, but his effort went high and wide of the goal.

Photo - Evan L. Dobson

Match photos by Garry Griffiths

• Tags:
• Neath