Connah’s Quay Nomads 2 Bala Town 0

FULL TIME

Two late goals condemned Bala to defeat at second-placed Connah’s Quay Nomads in the championship conference tonight.

With The New Saints winning at Caernarfon the pressure was on the Nomads to seal the three points to keep apace at the top and they eventually did that.

George Horan and Declan Poole grabbed the headlines with goals in the last five minutes to leave the Lakesiders empty handed.

Poole broke the deadlock on 85 minutes with an edge of the area effort into the bottom left corner before Horan secured the points four minutes later, heading home a corner.

It was a hard fought game which looked to be ending goalless, especially as Nomads were denied by the keeper twice into the last 10 minutes, but their tenacity paid off in the end.

It had been a rather quiet first half in Deeside, with a limited number of chances, despite the hosts coming close once or twice.

With striker Chris Venables searching for his 200th JD Cymru Premier goal, chances were few and far between early on, the first real opening falling to the hosts on 23 minutes when Neil Danns’ header hit the floor and bounced over the bar.

Colin Caton had made five changes to the side that beat Caernarfon at the weekend with Liam Davies, Jack Mackreth, Kieran Smith, Henry Jones and Nathan Peate all back in the squad and Will Evans and Antony Kay are serving their match bans following an accumulation of yellow cards.

Both teams were locked in an even game and giving little away at the back with Venables pulling off a brilliant goal line clearance.

Bala’s Jack Mackreth then delivered a dangerous cross to the back post but the Nomads keeper gathered.

Bala: Alex Ramsay, Sean Smith, Nathan Peate, Jonny Spittle, Anthony Stephens, Kieran Smith, Liam Davies, Jack Mackreth, Henry Jones, Raul Correia, Chris Venables. Subs: Andrew Burns, Danny Gossett, Ryan Pryce, Shaun Kelly