A solitary first half goal gave Northern Irish outfit Larne FC the win against Bala in the first leg of the qualifying round of the Europa Conference League.

It leaves Colin Caton’s men with a lot to do in next Wednesday’s second leg but they will feel that they are still in with a shout when they teams face up once again at Inver Park.

The visitors surged ahead after just two minutes at The New Saints’ Park Hall ground, David McDaid put clear through on goal to lob the ball over keeper Alex Ramsay from the edge of the area.

Bala didn’t panic and almost drew level when Kieran Smith forced the keeper into a sixth minute save.

They threatened a breakthrough again on the half hour when former Wales international Dave Edwards rattled the bar after latching on to a cross by Smith only for the linesman to raise his flag for offside.

Chris Venables tried his luck with a couple of early second half efforts only to be thwarted by keeper Rohan Ferguson and was foiled again by Ferguson on 52 minutes, the keeper getting back to his line to gather the striker’s audacious chip.

Bala were offering much more of an attacking threat in the early stages of the second half but Larne always looked capable of adding to their tally, and Ronan Hale should have done better on 80 minutes when he fired into the sidenetting from a promising position.