Bala Town 3 Newtown 1

NEWTOWN paid the price for two defensive lapses as Will Evans fired Bala Town to glory at Maes Tegid tonight.

Bala unveiled new signing Gary Roberts prior to kick-off with the 36 year old former Welshpool Town star joining from English League side Wigan Athletic.

The match started with both sides enjoying spells of possession with a frantic pace.

Ryan Edwards pulled the strings for the Robins while James Davies worked tirelessly in seeking a chink in Bala's armour during the early stages.

However Newtown had an early warning when James O'Neil was tackled by Henry Jones on the edge of the area with goalkeeper Dave Jones coming to the rescue.

However the Robins were on top when the home side snatched the lead.

Once again O'Neil was shrugged off the ball near the corner flag by Lassana Mendes who sharply squared for Evans to place a low shot beyond Jones to break the deadlock on 30 minutes.

The goal gave the the Lakesiders a boost in confidence and dominated the remainder of the half.

Anthony Kay drilled wide from the edge of the area while a Henry Jones free-kick tested the visiting defence before Chris Venables fired wide.

However on the stroke of half-time a loose pass from Craig Williams was seized upon by Mendes who fed Evans to fire into the top corner from 20 yards.

Newtown faced an almost impossible battle in the second-half but to their credit more than held their own without testing home goalkeeper Alex Ramsay.

Newtown introduced Matthew Williams and Tyrone Ofori in a last ditch effort to get back into the game and with two minutes remaining Williams reduced the arrears, coolly slotting home after good work by Edwards.

With Newtown pressing for an equaliser they were caught at the other end deep into stoppage time with Venables surging through a retreating Robins defence before squaring for Steve Leslie to slot a low shot past the despairing Jones.

Bala: Ramsay, Smith, Peate, Stephens, Evans, Jones, Kay, Mendes, Pryce, Venables, Shannon. Subs: Roberts, Spittle, Correia, Leslie, Davies.

Newtown: Jones, McAllister, Mills-Evans, O'Neil, Mitchell, Rushton, Evans, J Davies, T Davies, C Williams, Edwards. Subs: Steventon, Kelly, Breese, M Williams, Ofori