IT did not go according to plan for Colin Caton’s Bala Town in the away leg of their Uefa Europa League preliminary round tie with Tre Fiori, but manager Colin Caton is refusing to give up on the tie.

The Lakesiders have never advanced through a qualifying round in European competition in four attempts, and the disappointing 3-0 defeat last Thursday has left them with a mountain to climb.

They take on the team from San Marino in the return leg at Rhyl's Belle Vue ground on Thursday, and the Welsh Premier League side has a point to prove.

“There are plenty of reasons for optimism going into the second leg this week, because there were big plus points for us within the game, especially in terms of the chances we created," said Caton.

"We had so much possession of the ball, but we just have to cut out those errors, because that is all that has cost us.

“We trained on Monday night and there is still a real optimism that we can progress, and turn this situation around, but we’ve got to stay tight at the back.

“We’ll change our shape a little bit and just go out there to win the game, because we’ve got nothing to lose.

"We’re confident, we know as a group if we can get a goal or two in the first half then we think they’ll crumble, but we just want to get out there now and play.”

First half defensive errors proved costly in the away leg as an own goal from Bala’s Anthony Miley, was followed by a gifted effort for Giacomo Pracucci and a deflected Mirco Vassallo strike.

“It is hard to stomach defensive mistakes like the ones we made last week, but we’re perfectly capable of turning this around," said Caton.

"We’ll do everything we can to get the goals we need to go through.

“We’ve always been up against the odds as a football club, we’ve never had things easy, but we’ve always done things the hard way. If we can turn this around then it would be incredible, obviously.

"Everyone is optimistic, full of belief, we’ve trained well and we’ve got a great chance and a great desire to put things right.”

The 3-0 scoreline in the away leg indeed flattered the home side, who failed to force a single corner to Bala’s seven, and had created six attempts at goal, to Bala’s total of eight.

The Lakesiders came closest to forcing a crucial away goal when skipper Chris Venables hit the bar in injury time, but despite several chances they were left to rue the first half mistakes.

“I’m very disappointed because the mistakes we made were massive," said Caton. "They were uncharacteristic errors really, which we could never have envisaged or planned for.

“I think in many respects we were the much better team on the night, but you can’t go out and make the mistakes we made and expect to come away from the game with a win.

“We had plenty of opportunities on the night, as well as around 80 per cent of the possession, and overall I felt that we were miles the better team.

"They celebrated after winning the game as if they’d won the tie, but we can definitely turn this around.”Bala are at full strength going into Thursday’s game, but their opponents will be without Giacomo Pracucci after he was sent off last week in Italy. Kick-off is at 6.30p.m.Click on the link below for the full match report of the away leg.