BALA Town may have beaten The New Saints in last season’s Welsh Cup final, but they have failed to beat the champions in 29 league meetings after going down to a comprehensive 3-0 defeat at Park Hall.

It took the Saints until the 57th minute to break through the Lakesiders’ resistance as Blaine Hudson headed his first Welsh Premier goal from a left-wing corner.

Jon Routledge and Aeron Edwards combined on the edge of the box to set-up Wes Fletcher for the second goal, and Fletcher completed the victory when he latched-on to a cross ball into the box from Edwards and lobbed his shot over Bala goalkeeper Ashley Morris.

It wasn’t to be the Lakesiders’ day in front of the live television cameras, despite having arrived in Oswestry in good heart after a solid victory over Newtown.

Andrai Jones, Anthony Stephens and Ian Sheridan came into the side instead of Les Davies, Mike Hayes and Stuart Jones, but the Saints were bright out of the blocks, eager to hit back from a 5-2 loss at Bangor.

Wes Fletcher had the best chance in the first quarter of an hour when he flicked wide of the upright, and Bala were forced into a goal line block from Lee Owens as the Saints cranked up their pressure.

The Lakesiders, however, could have opened the scoring when good work in midfield allowed Chris Venables to put in a fantastic delivery towards the back post, but Bala couldn’t capitalise on the chance.

Evan Horwood drove an effort from range over the crossbar before the interval, and at the start of the second half Nathan Burke saw an effort go wide of the post, followed by Jordan Evans’ low strike fizzing past the upright from 25 yards.

It was all to play for, but it was the home side who broke the deadlock after 57 minutes of play when Robbie Parry’s corner kick arrived to an unmarked Blaine Hudson, who headed into the left hand corner.

The Saints quickly doubled their lead on 63 minutes when Fletcher burst into the area and smashed home from close range.

A triple substitution saw Davies, Hayes and Will Bell take the places of Jones, Evans and Stephens, but on 72 minutes, the Saints added their third of the evening.

Fletcher superbly looped the ball from the edge of the box into the far corner of the net, after seeing Morris off his line.

Bala created a few half chances and a free kick from Chris Venables was deflected for a corner, and when Hayes and Burke combined Paul Harrison saved.

A fine pass then found Hayes unmarked, but he wasn’t able to side-foot the ball goalwards, and the chance went begging.

Colin Caton will be looking for a good response in a tricky match at home against Cardiff Met on Saturday (ko 2.30pm).

THE NEW SAINTS: P Harrison, S Spender, S Saunders (B Hudson 35), C Rawlinson, J Routledge, W Fletcher (G Draper 79), R Parry, J Mullan, C Roberts, T Holland, A Edwards (C Seargeant 85). Subs not used: A Jones (gk), B Clark, A Cieslewicz, R Pryce.

BALA TOWN: A Morris, A Stephens (W Bell 68), S J Jones, L Owens, E Horwood, C Venables, D Thompson, N Burke, J Evans (M Hayes 66), I Sheridan, A Jones (L Davies 66). Subs not used: C Vernon (gk), G Rule.

Attendance: 425. Referee: Kevin Parry.