The Lakesiders kicked-off the championship conference with a comfortable 2-0 victory against Newtown to extend our unbeaten streak to nine.
Nathan Peate made it three goals in two games at Latham Park for himself with his first-half bullet header while Chris Venables secured the three points with a header of his own.
An energised performance to obtain the victory that takes us second in the Cymru Premier behind the league leaders who we take on, on Tuesday night.
Venables goes close on his return
With Venables,Dean Ebbe, Will Evans and Dave Edwards startingall together for the first time it was clear the approach was to attack the Robins from the off. A 4-3-3 set-up looked successful in controlling the game and allowing for some free-flowing football to be on display by the
Lakesiders who looked ready to take on the business end of the season.
In his return to the starting eleven Venables lead the line upfront and he went close to giving us the lead early on when he saw his header cleared off the line by Brett Taylor. The captain’s header had beaten the keeper, but the defender was there to clear the danger as Ebbe agonisingly came close to scoring from the rebound.
Peate powers us into the lead
The lead was eventually ours however as it was the man who scored a brace on our last visit to Latham Park who got it. Peate towering through a crowd of defenders to meet Lassana Mendes’ cross from a corner to give us a deserved lead. The defender looking composed in his celebrations, almost as if he was expecting to score yet another goal at our opposition’s ground.
Ramsay to the rescue
Zeli Ismail went close to scoring a solo goal of real quality just after the break as he cut in past two Bala players and got a shot away which was saved superbly by Alex Ramsay to ensure our lead remained intact.
Captain Fantastic returns with a goal
Venables looked as eager anyone to get his name on the scoresheet and having come inches away in the first-half he finally got his goal with a second-half effort. It was Evans who created the moment with some brilliant individual play down the left flank to beat his man and deliver a pinpoint cross for the captain who beat the goalkeeper with a powerful header.
A professional performance ensured we closed out the remaining few minutes to start our championship conference campaign with a huge three points.
Lakesiders extend unbeaten run
With that, we now go nine games unbeaten in all competitions, the kind of momentum that may well be of huge worth to the Lakesiders who will be looking to secure European status for a third season in a row. We also rise to second in the table with results going our way to put extra worth on a priceless three points obtained at Latham Park.
Up next for the Lakesiders is a return to Park Hall as we take on the league leaders TNS on Tuesday night.
Match Stats:
Bala Town - Alex Ramsay, Calum Woods, Antony Kay, Nathan Peate, Sean Smith, Lassana Mendes, Kieran Smith, Will Evans, Dave Edwards, Chris Venables, Dean Ebbe
Newtown – Dave Jones, Brett Taylor, Fumpa Mwandwe, Nick Rushton, James Davies, Henry Cowans, Craig Williams, Zeli Ismail, George Hughes, Naim Arsan, Aaron Williams
Substitutions:
Bala Town – Paul Rutherford > Lassana Mendes (85)
Newtown – Dylan Downs > James Davies (81)
