THREE first half goals were enough to earn Bala Town a solid 3-0 win over Cefn Druids at the Rock on Friday evening, as the Lakesiders moved fifth in the table.

Lassana Mendes fired the Lakesiders in front after 10 minutes, and a deflected Henry Jones effort doubled the lead for Colin Caton’s side five minutes later.

Chris Venables added the killer third goal, to take his tally for the season to nine, and Town were able to see the game out comfortably to move up to the table.

Now level on points with fourth-placed The New Saints, the Lakesiders will be looking to maintain their momentum when they welcome Carmarthen Town to Maes Tegid on Saturday afternoon.

Bala looked lively from the outset against Cefn Druids, with Henry Jones, Louis Robles and Chris Venables all looking a threat for the visitors early on.

They were rewarded after just 10 minutes when Louis Robles picked the ball up in midfield, drove towards the box and picked out Lassana Mendes, who hit the ball first time from the edge of the box into the bottom left corner of the net.

From the restart, Bala went close again when a short corner by Henry Jones came back to him and he squared across the face of goal towards Robles, whose back-heel flick went just past the far upright.

The Lakesiders extended their lead after a quarter of an hour as Sean Smith crossed from the byline into the path of Henry Jones, whose first time effort found its way into the net, with his strike taking a slight deflection off Nathan Peate.

The chances continued to flow as Venables set up Mendes, who fired into the side-netting from five yards out, prior to Venables also heading over the crossbar.

Robles put the ball into the back of the net, but he saw it cancelled out through offside, before Bala then made it 3-0.

A looping cross from the right by Robles saw Venables jump higher than anyone to head downwards, and the ball rebounded into Venables’ path, for him to volley into the top left hand corner on 37 minutes for a solid 3-0 half-time lead.

Druids came out with plenty of fight in the second half, and a free kick on the edge of the penalty box saw Neil Ashton rattle the base of the Ashley Morris’ post.

The Lakesiders weathered the storm and they took back a hold of the match with the midfield of trio Mendes, Nathan Burke and Smith pulling the strings.

Burke blazed an effort over the crossbar from 30 yards out, before Henry Jones tried a shot from distance and saw his effort palmed away by Jones in the goal.

Substitutes Mike Hayes, Steven Leslie and Lee Molyneux were introduced as Bala looked to extend their advantage.

In the closing stages, Burns put a teasing ball into the penalty area, but neither Hayes or Venables were able to capitalise on the chance and Druids cleared.

CEFN DRUIDS: M Jones, N Arsan, N Peate, M Owen (T Ofori 46 minutes), A Mudimu (Pape Diakhite 46 minutes), J Davies, R Kershaw, I Cartwright, R Howarth (C Edge 86’), M Pritchard, N Ashton. Substitutes not used: A Simpson, T Reilly, M Daykin, H Killick.

BALA TOWN: A Morris, A Burns, S Smith, A Stephens, N Burke, H Jones (M Hayes 84’), K Smith (S Leslie 80’), L Robles (L Molyneux 84’), S Kelly, L Mendes, C Venables. Subs: J Spittle, E Horwood. Ref: R Jenkins. Att: 247.