Nothing To Separate The New Saints And Bala Town In An End-To-End Match At Maes Tegid

Match Report

Goals: Clark (71)
Yellow cards: Cieslewicz (39), Holland (63)
Substitutions: Clark for Holland (71), Harrington for Spender (77), Ebbe for Mullan (81)

Match report by Sam Wood
Lead image: Colin Ewart

There was nothing to separate The New Saints and Bala Town for the second time this season, as tonight’s JD Cymru Premier fixture ended in a 1-1 draw.

After Ben Clark had opened the scoring with his first touch within seconds of being introduced, Chris Venables brought the game level with a header not long after.

Despite chances for both sides in the closing stages, neither could capitalise, meaning they were both forced to settle for a point.

It was the home side in control in the opening 10 minutes and Will Evans went close on a couple of occasions – he sent a shot into the side netting with his first effort, before flashing the ball across the face of goal with his head.

Scott Ruscoe’s side grew into the game themselves though, with Louis Robles coming close to converting a scramble in the box with 12 minutes gone.

Down the other end, the match continued in its end-to-end fashion, as Oliver Shannon struck the post for the Lakesiders, before Jon Routledge and Sean Smith both had chances.

With 37 minutes played, there were strong appeals for a penalty from both The Saints players and bench, when Louis Robles went down inside the box under challenge from Anthony Stephans. Referee, Iwan Griffiths, took a good look at it, but wasn’t convinced so the play continued.

The sides went in level at the break, but Scott Ruscoe’s team could’ve taken the lead just two minutes after the restart. Adrian Cieslewicz cut back onto his right foot and hit the crossbar from the edge of the box – the closest either side had come to breaking the deadlock so far.

Almost instantly though, Bala hit the crossbar themselves. It was a cross from Will Evans which deceived Paul Harrison, but fortunately the rebounded dropped at the feet of a blue shirt.

With just 20 minutes to play and his side needing a goal, Ruscoe turned to his bench, bringing Ben Clark on to replace Tom Holland.

And what an inspired substitution it proved to be, as just 12 seconds after taking to the field, Clark had broken the deadlock.

Collecting a long ball forward from Ryan Astles on the edge of the box, the number 19 worked space to send a delicate lob over Alex Ramsay and into the back of the net to give The Saints a lead.

But it didn’t last long, as six minutes later, Bala Town had equalised. A well placed cross by Lassana Mendes found Chris Venables in space on the far side of the box, where the striker cushioned a header past Harrison to get his side back on terms.

Chances continued to fall the way of both sides in the final 15 minutes, with both Evans and Cieslewicz coming close to scoring a winner.

Neither side managed to grab that all important second go-ahead goal though, meaning both clubs were forced to settle for a point at Maes Tegid.