BALA Town earned a valuable point in the JD Cymru Premier after playing the final half hour with 10 men, holding Cardiff Met to a 2–2 draw at Maes Tegid.

Olamide Ibrahim’s dismissal for a second caution left the Lakesiders facing an uphill battle, but they showed resilience to stay in the contest and even created chances to win it, while the visitors also threatened to snatch victory late on.

Manager Steve Fisher reflected on the result after a difficult run for his side: “We’ll take it. It’s disappointing to go down to 10 men.

“We’ve got ourselves in front, gave two poor goals away again and then we’ve got back into it second half and I thought we’d go on to win it. Obviously, we have a man sent off, it makes the task a lot more difficult.”

The Archers carved out the first opportunity when Joel Edwards latched onto Jake Morris’ long throw, but his back header was comfortably gathered by Bala keeper Joel Torrance.

Ibrahim was booked early for halting a quick counter, and Bala soon struck at the other end.

Jacob Tarasenko’s free kick forced Samuel Seager into a parry, and from the resulting corner Louis Hall’s delivery was spilled by the keeper into his own net.

Met responded swiftly. CJ Craven headed forward to Jasper Payne, who was afforded too much space to square across goal for Lewis Rees to finish from close range.

On the half hour, Bala were punished again when Ibrahim lost possession cheaply and Payne released Matt Chubb down the right. Chubb unleashed a superb strike into the top corner to put the visitors ahead.

The students almost added a third early in the second half.

Liam Walsh’s long ball found Rees in acres of space, and he picked out Yande Mwandwe at the far post, but Harry Dean produced a crucial block to deny a certain goal

Bala capitalised moments later, Nathan Burke’s corner met at the near post by John Owen, who headed in to level the scores.

Rees continued to pose problems, working himself into a promising position only to fire tamely at Torrance.

Bala’s hopes of pushing for a winner were dented when Ibrahim received his second yellow card for a clumsy challenge, but the hosts refused to sit back and maintained an attacking approach.

In the closing stages, Cardiff Met looked the more likely to snatch victory, with Ryan Reynolds and Payne both going close, but Bala held firm to secure a point that could prove important in their bid for a top-six finish.

Goalscorer John Owen said afterwards: “It was a good point. We’ve been on a bit of a poor run recently. Losing a man made it hard for us but to finish the game 2–2 was quite positive.”

On Bala’s ambitions, he added: “We’ve got some home games now and we have to make them count. We’re disappointed that we didn’t win the game with the chances we had at the end, but it’s down to us now.”

Fixtures, Friday, 5 December: Bala Town v Haverfordwest County; Caernarfon Town v Flint Town; Cardiff Met v Llanelli Town; Connah’s Quay Nomads v Colwyn Bay. 9 December: Briton Ferry Llansawel v TNS; Penybont v Barry Town.