Newtown 0 Bala Town 0

JD Cymru Premier

BALA Town had to settle for a point once again after being held to a goalless draw against Newtown at Latham Park.

The match had no goals but there was plenty of action with a draw probably the fair result on the balance of play.

But the Lakesiders will be concerned about the worrying run which has seen them draw five and lose once since their last Cymru Premier victory which came against champions The New Saints way back in September.

Bala manager Colin Caton said: “I expected more, I think we’ve deserved more. They’ve hit the post from an angle which was really difficult to score from in the first half and they didn’t cause us any problems in the second half.

“But we’ve got to be better creatively going forward, a lot better.

“But I thought we were good, territorially we were in there a lot but just lacked a bit of quality and a few incidents have killed us a little bit. It’s just one of them.”

The first chance at Latham Park fell to Nathan Peate but his trademark headed effort was comfortably saved by Newtown keeper Samuel Ussher.

At the other end moments later, the Robins’ Josh Lock dribbled through the Town midfield and almost found the back of the net with the resulting effort on goal, but Bala shotstopper Joel Torrance did his duty.

Shane Sutton was booked for a foul on Bala forward George Newell before the visitors’ Osebi Abadaki dashed towards the Newtown goal and played the ball into Kieran Lloyd’s path, whose shot was blocked for Lassana Mendes to collect and send his effort wide of the goal.

Bala continued to push forward after the break and went close in the opening exchanges when Aeron Edwards saw the ball drop to him after the goalkeeper pushed out a cross but his effort was well stopped by Ussher.

The referee had plenty to deal with just after the hour when the hosts’ Robbie Evans and Bala’s George Newell and Nathan Peate were all cautioned, with Evans booked for a foul and Peate/Newell booked for dissent over an earlier decision.

Newell thought he had broken the deadlock on 73 minutes when he headed the ball into the net but the referee blew for a free kick in the build up.

The Bala players’ frustration increased when he was given his marching orders 10 minutes later after picking up a second yellow for a foul on Shane Sutton.

Newtown’s George Hughes was then cautioned for taking down Liam Higgins with no attempt to take the ball as the match petered out to a goalless draw with both sides still in the hunt for a top six finish.