THREE first half goals extinguished Bala Town’s hopes of overturning a 2-1 deficit in Liechtenstein as Colin Caton’s men exited the Europa League at the hands of FC Vaduz at the Rheinpark Stadium.

The Welsh Cup winners had given themselves a lifeline in the first leg, after finding themselves two goals down at the break - but this time the contest was well and truly over at the half-time interval.

After keeping things tight for the opening 20 minutes, home striker Aldin Turkes capitalised on some generous defending to score twice to end Bala’s challenge.

Then, two minutes before the break, Bala were left stunned as they failed to regroup after making a substitution and Marco Mathays netted in bizarre fashion.

The first 20 minutes had been heartening enough for the visitors, who looked bright in the early stages, with Lee Davies, Keiran Smith and Ian Sheridan all linking up well, but their efforts led to nothing.

Vaduz increasingly stepped things up as the half progressed and after initially testing keeper Ashley Morris with a long range effort that dipped over the bar, they eventually took the lead on 22 minutes.

After a patient build up, Maurice Brunner got in behind the defence to latch onto a ball over the top and square for Turkas to fire low into the net from 16 yards.

The Swiss League side almost doubled their lead two minutes later when an 18 yard strike was pulled narrowly wide, but on 39 minutes is was game over for Bala.

Another neat move saw Vaduz prise open the Lakesiders a second time and Robin Kamber squared from the right for the unmarked Turkes to comfortably tuck the ball home from inside the penalty box.

Keeper Ashley Morris, who had earlier needed treatment, made a good stop at his near post from another home raid, before Vaduz added salt to Bala’s wounds with a bizarre goal two minutes before the break.

Substitute Will Bell came on for the injured Stuart Jones, but the Lakesiders were caught completely off guard as Vaduz took a quick throw-in into the Bala box, which ended with the unchallenged Mathys slotting into an empty net.

There was effectively no way back after that, but Bala showed plenty of effort in the second half, looking lively as they pushed forward - yet they were unable to seriously test their hosts throughout.

Kieran Smith saw one curling shot from the edge of the box turned around the post by keeper Peter Jehle, but Vaduz also spurned a couple of chances themselves.

The damage, however, had been done in the first half, as their hopes of reaching the second qualifying round for the first time ended with a 5-1 aggregate defeat, in front of a disappointing crowd of just 621.

FC VADUZ: Jehle, Ciccone, Puljic, Mathys, Konrad, Kamber, Borgmann, Turkes (Burgmeierat 46), Niederhäusern, Brunner (Felfelat 60), Muntwiler (Goppelat 67). Subs: Ospelt, Bühler.

BALA TOWN: Morris, Jones, Burke, Sheridan (Hayes 76), Stephens, Owens, Smith, Davies (Wade 60), Jones (Bell 43), Thompson, Venables, Subs: Valentine, Connolly, Toner, Vernon.

Referee: Jari Jarvinen. Attendance: 621.