Bala Town and The New Saints share the spoils at Maes Tegid

Match Report

Yellow cards: Marriott (56), Young (86)
Red cards: Cieslewicz (54), Craig Harrison (54)
Substitutions: Young for Clark (66), Canavan for Smith (85)

Match report by Sam Wood

Despite a game full of chances, The New Saints had to settle for a point in tonight’s JD Cymru Premier fixture against Bala Town.

Craig Harrison’s side dominated the majority of proceedings at Maes Tegid, but failed to find a way through the resolute Lakesiders defence. 

Despite the setback, the champions still extended their lead at the top of the table, albeit by a single point rather than three.

It was a good start by The New Saints, and the first chance of the game went their way with six minutes on the clock.

From a corner, Ryan Astles got his head to Chris Marriott’s cross, but the number five failed to get a clean connection on the ball, making it easy for the goalkeeper to gather.

Another header, this time from Josh Daniels caused problems for the Lakesiders’ defence in the 18th minute, but on that occasion, it was narrowly wide of the right-hand post.

With his side continuing to dominate the ball, Jordan Williams was the next player to go close, but his 25th-minute snapshot from the edge of the box didn’t trouble Kelland Absalom in goal.

The former Stockport man was involved again five minutes later, flashing a left-footed effort across the face of the Bala goal as his side tried to drive home their advantage.

Fresh off the back of his goalscoring exploits in Edinburgh, Ben Clark had a go with 40 minutes gone, but after finding space on the edge of the penalty area, couldn’t work the home goalkeeper.

Following the restart though, it was the Lakesiders who almost scored the game’s go-ahead goal against the run of play, when Connor Roberts’ clearance ricocheted off of Bala’s Joe Malkin.

The ball fell fortuitously to George Newell on the edge of the six-yard box, but Wales C international, Roberts, recovered well to deny the hosts’ number nine from close-range.

Not long after that opportunity, the game briefly descended into chaos following a coming together between Ollie Shannon and Adrian Cieslewicz.

Players from both sides were involved in a melee in front of the dugouts, and both Cieslewicz and Shannon were both shown their marching orders once order was restored.

In and amongst the drama, it was easy to forget that the game still remained goalless, but Williams went close to changing that with a curling effort in the 62nd minute. 

Ten minutes later, Absalom tipped a powerful Ryan Brobbel strike onto the crossbar, before diving to his left to deny Astles from the resulting corner.

Again introduced as a second-half substitute, Brad Young had a couple of openings in the game’s latter stages, the best of which came in stoppage time.

Spinning with the ball inside the box, the former Aston Villa man got his shot away, but the impressive Absalom got down to deny him.

As a result, The Saints were left to settle for a point on the road at Maes Tegid, but extended their lead at the top of the JD Cymru Premier to two points in the process.

It’s a quick return to action for the JD Cymru Premier champions, as they welcome Haverfordwest County to Park Hall on Saturday.