.png)
Bala Humbled at The Rock
Huw Griffiths' boys headed into Thursday nights fixture on the back of a hard fought point against Prestatyn the previous week. Bala a side who secured European football last season would be searching for 3 points following their bloodied nose delivered by a resurgent Carmarthen Town.
Bala often prove tough opponents but always provide entertaining games, the 4-4 draw at the Rock last season will be in the minds of all the fans heading into this fixture.
Bala started strong, with a number of chances in the first 20 minutes, these were soon silenced when Ilan Ap Gareth hammered one home for The Ancients in the 23rd minute. (We're sure Bala born Ap Gareth won't hear the last of this one!)
The determined Bala attack will continually stunted by a strong and well organised druids back line, something which will have pleased the faithful at The Rock. A penalty was awarded to the home team before the half time, this was slotted home by Ruane.
Druids returned to the field 2-0, continuing to hammer on the Bala defence - The side looked composed and determined as they controlled most of the play in the second half rarely leaving the bala half of the pitch. The final goal came from a header by Nathan Peate who has been a stand out player since the druids league campaign got underway this season.
Druids will have throughly enjoyed this comprehensive victory Bala, with lots of positives to take out of the game ahead of their next fixture. Huw's men will need to regain focus as they travel to Maesdu Park next Saturday to take on Llandudno.
WPL OFFICIAL MATCH REPORT:-
"It was a strong start to the game by The Lakesiders at The Rock who looked to respond to last weekend’s disappointing result against Carmarthen Town at a venue where they certainly didn’t struggle to find the back of the net last season, taking part in that incredible 4-4 draw with Huw Griffiths’ Ancients.
By the admission of Druids’ own social media team, Bala were fairly relentless in their attacking efforts in the first half, with Jordan Evans, Evan Horwood and Andrai Jones heavily involved in the good spells of play Colin Caton’s team were able to put together on a regular basis.
Just as The Lakesiders were starting to take more control of the game, however, it was the home side who broke the deadlock with Ilan ap Gareth capitalising on the visitors failing to clear the ball before rifling into the back of the net to give Druids a 1-0 lead.
Bala continued to control the tempo and look to create goal-scoring chances, but in Druids’ defensive third the home side were very strong and did well to resist persistent spells of pressure, and as The Lakesiders looked to close out the half strongly, either keeping the deficit to just the one goal or wiping it out completely, Druids won a penalty, which Ashley Ruane duly converted to make it 2-0 after 41 minutes.
In terms of controlling the play, the tides turned in the second half as most of the action could be seen in Bala’s half, with Druids taking a lot of confidence from their first half performance, and it was indeed the home side who found the back of the net for the third time on the night with Nathan Peate heading home after an hour.
With two changes made at halftime, The Lakesiders had only one left after going three down to try and make a difference, and with 20 minutes to go Caton brought Sheridan on in place of Jordan Evans, but still it was at the back where Bala were doing most of their work in the second half as Will Bell had to pull out another strong clearance with some ten minutes left to play to stop Druids from having another great chance."
