Bala Town 1 Caernarfon Town 3

JD Cymru Premier Championship Conference

CAERNARFON Town picked up a big three points in the chase for European football with a 3-1 win against Gwynedd rivals Bala Town at Maes Tegid on Friday.

It leaves the Lakesiders in sixth spot with the Cofis chasing down third placed Haverfordwest County with a game in hand.

The visitors started brightly with an opening goal after six minutes when Matty Hill powered down the right and squared the ball to loanee Josh Lock to plant a low finish into the corner.

Lock has made a real impression since his move to the Oval and is relishing having more playing time, his goal setting the tone for the first half.

They went close again through Ryan Seers’ half volley from an angle on the left.

Bala were on the back foot and conceded another on 14 minutes when Louis Lloyd’s low cross was spilt by Joel Torrance gifting Adam Davies an easy close range finish.

Lloyd missed a glorious opportunity to make it 3-0 and they threatened again when Hill’s initial effort was parried by Torrance, the ball eventually falling back to Hill centrally but he blazed his second attempt over the bar.

Lloyd forced Torrance into a fine save before the break and the keeper was called into action again to deal with another effort by Morgan Owen early in the second half.

Bala were still in it and were creating chances, George Newell wasteful with his effort after breaking clear.

Louis Robles reduced the deficit with 10 minutes left with a stooping header at the near post after good work by Osebi Abadaki but Lock sealed the win with a long range effort which Torrance should have dealt with.

Bala manager Colin Caton said: “I thought we were good. We pressurised them throughout the second half. Then Lock’s hit one and Joel’s gone too far one side and then it’s gone in the right hand side of the goal. We just can’t give mistakes away like that

“But on the whole in terms of chances, that’s as good as we’ve played going forward in terms of chances like good chances. And then George has got to score when he goes through.

“Goals change games and they’ve capitalised on the chances that they’ve had an we haven’t”

Caernarfon boss Richard Davies said: “We controlled the game. We could have been four, five or maybe six goals up and no-one could have said anything.

“Second half we’ve started Ok but then let them back into it a little bit but then with them pushing for the equaliser we’ve hit them on the break and fully deserved the win after 90 minutes.”