Chirk AAA 1 Bala Town 6

Nathaniel MG Cup

The Lakesiders eased into the next round of the Nathaniel MG Cup after a blistering start and six goals as they brushed past Chirk AAA FC with a 6-1 win at Holyhead Road.

This was the first competitive match for Town since their devastating penalty shootout defeat to Sligo Rovers, as they crashed out of the Europa Conference League at the first hurdle.

The pre-season cobwebs were dusted off pretty quickly at Holyhead Road, as a goal from Dave Edwards in the first minute set the tone for Colin Caton’s men.

Edwards got on the end of a Paul Rutherford cross to head home from close and it was soon 2-0 when Rutherford set up Lassana Mendes for a simple tap in.

The visitors continued to press and were rewarded with a third goal on the stroke of half time, Edwards with a sweetly-struck free kick into the top left hand corner.

George Newell netted his first competitive goal for Bala with a simple enough tap-in moments after the break with Luke Wall also getting his first for the club with a low effort from the edge of the six-yard box.

Steffan Rogers pulled one back for the hosts before Bala rounded off the scoring after captain Chris Venables came off the bench with another close range finish from a corner.

Up next for the Lakesiders will be Penybont to kick off their JD Cymru Premier campaign, as they travel to the SDM Glass Stadium on Sunday, 14 August, with kick off at 2.30pm.