Bala Town 2

Newtown 2

THE race for fourth place is well and truly on after Newtown claimed a battling point at Bala Town on Friday night.

The Lakesiders went into the game having not played for a month and facing a mounting fixture backlog while the Robins arrived on the back of victory over Caernarfon Town the previous week.

Newtown threatened early on with Nick Rushton meeting Craig Williams' free-kick only to be denied by home goalkeeper Ashley Morris.

Steve Tames fired wide for Bala before setting up Kieran Smith to slot past goalkeeper Jack Perry to break the deadlock on 16 minutes.

Newtown looked to respond and just four minutes later Williams' free-kick was cleared off the line with Kieran Mills-Evans heading wide and Rio Ahmadi testing Morris.

The pressure told and on 30 minutes another Williams free-kick drifted beyond the reach of Morris to level.

The Robins completed their comeback to lead five minutes later with Callum Roberts lashed home from close range with Newtown defending their lead to the interval.

Home manager Colin Caton shuffled his pack at the break and almost paid immediate dividends with Henry Jones blasting just over the bar.

Newtown looked to put the game to bed and threatened through Ahmadi who narrowly failed to add to his impressive goal tally since his arrival last month, firing over after good work by Alex Fletcher.

Perry tipped over a Tames effort on the hour as Bala ramped up the pressure and 10 minutes later Harri HHorwood crossed for Jones to nod home an equaliser.

Bala dominated the remainder of the contest but the Robins defence stood firm to ensure a deserved point.

NEWTOWN: Perry, Williams, Barnes, Mills-Evans, Roberts, Fletcher, Hughes, Rushton (Kenton 90), Mitchell, Leslie (Denny 72), Ahmadi (Boundford 84). Subs: Phillips, Evans, Dave Rose.

Att - 259