BALA’s preparations for their Uefa Europa League tie against Tre Fiori of San Marino started on Monday when they travelled to The Rock and beat fellow Euro qualifiers Cefn Druids 3-2 in a friendly.

The Lakesiders handed debuts to new signings Andy Burns, Anthony Miley, Steven Tames and Sean Smith and Bala played at a high tempo from the outset.

Arek Piskorski fired over for the home side and Tames headed over down the other end from Burns’ teasing delivery.

The Lakesiders were seeing plenty of the ball and looked a threat down both wings, with Nathan Burke linking with Mike Hayes, who went down in the penalty box, but the referee waved play on.

Bala maintained their pressure, and defender Stuart Jones headed back across goal towards Tames from a corner, but the new centre forward was deemed offside.

A minute before half-time, however, the Lakesiders got their deserved opener. Ian Sheridan was brought down in the box and stepped up to convert the resulting penalty into the bottom right corner.

Five minutes into the second period, Bala deservedly doubled their advantage as Burke’s powerful low strike found the home net, to confirm the Lakesiders' authority.

Four minutes later, Steven Tames opened his Bala account with an absolute thunderbolt into the top left hand corner of the net from the edge of the box.

The Lakesiders looked sharp across the park, but midway through the half Miley’s challenge in the box resulted in a penalty, which Matty Owen converted.

Cefn had a decent spell of pressure, and they were rewarded with a second goal two minutes from time when Matty Owen’s initial strike was saved, but James Davies tapped in the follow-up.

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