Haverfordwest County 3 Bala Town 2

JD Cymru Premier Championship

HAVERFORDWEST picked up a rare win against Bala Town as the JD Cymru Premier Championship got underway over the weekend.

The Bridge Meadow Stadium hosts squandered a glorious chance to open the scoring when Corey Shephard beat a couple of markers but his shot was deflected past the post for a corner.

The Lakesiders took the lead just after the half hour mark when Louis Robles dinked the ball to the back post for Osebi Abadaki to head past keeper Zac Jones.

The hosta nearly equalised moments later when Ben Ahmun placed a pinpoint ball towards Ben Fawcett, but Torrance was there to collect the resulting effort.

But the Bluebirds did manage to draw level before the break from Rhys Abbruzzese’s corner.

Greg Walters headed the flag kick across the face of the six-yard box where Dan Hawkins was lurking to finish from close range.

The Bluebirds came out with real purpose in the second half and nudged ahead after the hour when Abbruzzese beat Uniss Kargbo for pace down the left flank and his cross found Hawkins in space on the edge of the area to unleash a low driven effort into the corner.

It went from bad to worse for Bala moments later when they failed to clear a long range free kick by Zac Jones, Ahmun pouncing on the loose ball to make it 3-1.

bala boss Caton rang the changes with Joe Malkin, Dan Malone and Callum Edwards coming on to replace George Newell, Lassana Mendes and Abadaki and it was game on when Aeron Edwards reduced the deficit with 10 minutes to go.

But Bala’s hopes of a comeback were dented when Nathan Peate was red carded for a rash challenge and the hosts held on for the win.