Carmarthen Town 0 Bala Town 1

Carmarthen Town 0 Bala Town 1
The headmaster’s report on this latest Welsh Premier League defeat for Carmarthen Town will read – ‘showing good improvement, but must do better’.
Followers of the Welsh Premier League will appreciate that there isn’t a great deal between the teams at the top and the bottom of a 12-team championship.
Certainly, there wasn’t much difference between success and failure between Carmarthen, anchored to the bottom of the table, and Bala Town, currently in fifth spot.
At Richmond Park, on Saturday, the difference was a goal in the 66th minute from Bala central defender Mike Byron.
There were plenty of signs of encouragement for Carmarthen Town.
“I thought we were competitive throughout,” said manager Tomi Morgan.
“We battled right to the very end. We had a few chances, but we failed to take our opportunities. I saw enough today to suggest that we can climb off the bottom of the table.”
Tim Hicks was slotted into central defence and once again demonstrated his class as Carmarthen’s star ‘play anywhere’ player.
There were good battling performances from Nicky Palmer (even if he does run the risk of collecting a few cards along the way), Geraint Passmore and Nick Harrhy.
Of concern to manager Morgan, however, will be the form up front of striker Jack Christopher.
Christopher has yet to repay the faith shown in him by manager Morgan, who signed him from Haverfordwest in the summer.
Christopher needs to find that extra yard of pace, be more powerful in holding the ball up and more accurate in off-loading to his team-mates.
Carmarthen’s best chance in the first half came when Steffan Williams made a break down the right and crossed to Nicky Palmer, who saw his shot saved by the Bala goalkeeper.
Early in the second-half Carmarthen goalkeeper Mike Lewis kept Town in the game by saving with his feet when Lee Hunt appeared to have the goal at his mercy.
The only goal of the game came shortly after when Carmarthen failed to deal with a corner and the ball fell to Mike Byron, who hammered the ball home with some style.
To their credit, Carmarthen continued to battle on. Jack Christopher had a shot on target and Hicks put a controversial free kick over the bar.
Carmarthen: Mike Lewis, Lewis Jones, Cledan Davies, Corey Thomas, Lee Bevan, Geraint Passmore, Steffan Williams, Tim Hicks ©, Nick Harrhy, Jack Christopher, Nicky Palmer, replaced by Rhys Dalling, 70. Subs not used: Ashley Williams, Ben Morris. Yellow card, Nicky Palmer, 4 mins, Bevan 90+1.
Bala: Terry McCormick, Danny Williams, Steff Edwards, Stuart Jones, Mike Byron, Connall Murtagh, Mark Connolly, Mark Jones ©, Lee Hunt, Stephen Brown, replaced by Chris Mason,70, Peter Doran. Yellow card, Stephen Brown, 31mins. Subs not used: Ross Jefferies, Steven Morrison, Mark Pullman ©.
Attendance: 242