BALA Town slipped to their first defeat of the season in the JD Cymru Premier as Connah’s Quay Nomads held firm to edge a 1-0 win at Maes Tegid on Friday.

A Michael Wilde header in the 69th minute was enough to earn Nomads their first win in a close-fought game, but the honours could have gone either way.

Chances were few and far between in the first 45 minutes, with Bala’s first opportunity coming from Lassana Mendes, whose spectacular 35-yard effort was saved by Lewis Brass in the Quay goal.

Home keeper Ashley Morris denied Wilde down the other end, with Lee Molyneux releasing Louis Robles for the Lakesiders, but he was deemed offside.

Molyneux’s edge of the box free kick went unchallenged, prior to Sean Smith making an astonishing last ditch block on the line to keep out Wilde’s header.

Before the break, Bala were applying some good pressure and they almost went ahead when they broke quickly on the right, which saw Robles win a corner. The ball was swung into the danger zone, but somehow Quay’s melee of bodies in the box managed to clear.

Morris made a great save at the start of the half to stop Nathan Woolfe’s effort, while Chris Venables did some excellent work to set up Molyneux, but Daniel Harrison was able to clear the danger.

It looked like a single would be enough to seal the victory, and when a free kick was delivered into the area by the visitors, Wilde out-jumped everyone and headed home to give his side the lead.

In response, Bala raised their pressure and they finished the game strongly.

A suspected hand ball in the box from Stuart Jones’ shot was waved away, before Bala brought Kieran Smith, Evan Horwood and Henry Jones off the bench.

Jones immediately put a stunning defence-splitting ball through to Robles, but the flag went up, while Jones’ 25-yard free kick soared over the crossbar.

The Lakesiders felt that Robles was floored in the penalty area by Priestley Farquharson as time ticked on, but once again, their appeals were waved away.

Bala threw everything at their visitors in stoppage time, but they were denied their equaliser when keeper Brass came to collect a teasing corner kick in the final minute to make sure of the points.

BALA TOWN: 15 Ashley Morris, 2 Andrew Burns, 3 Sean Smith, 4 Stuart Jones, 5 Anthony Stephens, 7 Lee Molyneux (10 Henry Jones 75’), 8 Nathan Burke (12 Evan Horwood 88’), 14 Steven Leslie, 18 Louis Robles, 20 Lassana Mendes (11 Kieran Smith 75’), 25 Chris Venables Subs not used: 9 Michael Hayes, 19 Shaun Kelly, 22 Sion Sullivan.

CONNAHS QUAY: 1 Lewis Brass, 2 John Disney, 3 Callum Roberts, 4 Priestley Farquharson, 6 Daniel Harrison, 8 Callum Morris, 9 Michael Wilde, 11 Nathan Woolfe (7 Michael Bakare 66’), 12 Declan Poole (17 Kris Owens 90’+1), 15 Daniel Holmes, 16 James Owen. Subs not used: 23 Eric Merner (gk), 10 Jamie Insall, 22 Jacob Barratt.

Attendance: 304. Referee: Iwan Griffiths.