There is an unwritten rule in football that former players can come back and haunt you. And that was certainly the case at the Essity Stadium, as Cameron Ferguson, with the ink barely dry on his signing on form for Bala, scored twice and claimed an assist for the Lakesiders on his debut for them. For Flint it was a case of this game epitomising all of the worst aspects of their season, with defensive frailties on display once more and an inability to capitalise on chances in the final third, with over elaboration on the ball often meaning possession was lost at the crucial time.
The cause of the home side was hardly helped when they meekly conceded a goal within the first 12 seconds. From the kick off, the ball was played to Alec Mudimu, and his misdirected pass went straight to a Bala player, who punted it forward to Ferguson, who glanced the ball into the path of Lassana Mendes for him to cooly finish as the Flint defence were still trying to come to terms with the urgency of the situation. An absolutely disastrous start.
From there it was pretty much one way traffic for the next 40 minutes as Flint sought to get back into the match, but a lack of cutting edge, and some quality defending meant they were unable to make the breakthrough. On 10 minutes, Elliott Reeves received the ball from a quick throw in, and made inroads to the bye-line before firing over a cross that Jake Canavan was unable to turn in from close range. A long throw found Ben Woollam who headed straight into Bala keeper Joel Torrence’s hands. Then Josh Jones looked as though he had broken clear, only for Bala defender Will Bell, to get back and force him wide of the goal. Keeping possession, Jones crossed towards the far post, where the ball just eluded the incoming Reeves.
The chances kept coming for Flint, as Reeves drove a shot just wide from 18 yards out, before Ben Wynne hit a pearler from 25 yards that came back off the bar.
But almost from nowhere, Bala doubled their lead on 40 minutes. A failure to properly clear the ball from a free kick resulted in Ross White crossing it back in from wide on the right. The cross was hung up underneath the crossbar and Jack Flint under challenge from Ferguson was unable to deal with it, with Ferguson touching the ball across the line.
Just as the home side thought things couldn’t get any worse, Bala went three up on 45 minutes, their strike rate being three chances converted from three created up to that point. From a long goal kick, they swept straight down the middle of the pitch, shrugging off several half hearted, insipid challenges, before the ball fell to Ferguson on the edge of the area, and he swept it home with a shot that went in off the inside of the post.
Any hope of an unlikely comeback were well and truly quashed on the hour mark, when Bala scored their fourth, and once more didn’t have to work too hard for the opportunity they were presented with. A free kick was floated into the box, and Flint came to claim, completely misjudged it and spilled the ball, before it fell kindly to the feet of Hussein Mehasseb who slotted it in from 7 yards.
There was still time for Reeves and Jake Canavan to be denied several times by a combination of the woodwork and good saves by Torrance, whilst at the other end Jack Thorn produced a goal-line clearance to prevent a fifth Bala goal, but there is no hiding the fact that this display, especially coming on the back of the excellent away win at Colwyn Bay, was simply nowhere near good enough.
And to compound our general misery, we also lost Alec Mudimu and Mikey Burke to injury as both hobbled out of the action.
Phase 2 is going to be a battle, and we have to be prepared to roll our sleeves up and do the ugly things, in order to get the required results. Teams will not just roll over and let us play our pretty football, we have to earn the right to play our way, and bring a lot more steel to our general play if we are going to be successful in remaining in the league.
Report by Nigel Sheen. Photos by Damon Mead
Line Ups :
Flint Town United – J. Flint, B. Woollam, M. Burke (O. Abadaki 43), A. Mudimu (I. Lee 20), H. Owen (c), J. Thorn, J. Phillips, J. Canavan, E. Reeves, B. Wynne, J. Jones. Unused Subs – D. Szczepaniak (GK), S. Fofana, M. Purvis, Cal Ferguson, L. Morrison
Bala Town – J. Torrance, R. White (c), L. Hall, N. Digbeu, W. Bell, H. Dean, L. Mendes, O. Ibrahim (J. Tarasenko 90), C. Ferguson (L. Higgins 80), S. Billington (D. McGiveron 68), H. Mehasseb (C. Fisher 90). Unused Subs – A. Connolly, E. Smith, L. Beck
