Haverfordwest County comfortably beat visitors Bala Town 3-0 on Friday (Feb 13) at a cold, but dry Bridge Meadow writes Jonathan Twigg, with a man of the match performance from Dan Hawkins supplemented by a brace of goals from fellow midfielder Corey Shephard.

The opening exchanges saw both sides guilty of basic errors which prevented the game embedding a flow, Shepherd with a 20 yard free kick the first opportunity to test visiting custodian Joel Torrance after 12 minutes.

Bala lost Sam Billington through injury on 20 minutes, replacement Taner Dogan unable to prevent Kyle McCarthy's left foot volley halfway through the half, but again not troubling the Lakesiders goal.

The break through came two minutes later when Kyle Kenniford was the first to react after goalkeeper Ifan Knotts long ball pressurised a retreating defence, Shephard's shot well saved by Torrance before Kenniford had the crowd of 379 on their feet in acclamation of his first goal for the club.

Torrance again saved his side twice in quick succession as Hawkins direct running and skilful touches caused mayhem, the resultant corner falling to Shephard at the edge of the box and the central midfielder crashed a pile driver beyond the despairing Torrance to double the Bluebirds lead.

Hawkins was central in the offensive play, his speed and running off the ball also on show, constantly finding space behind the Bala defenders , skipper Dylan Rees and Greg Walters firing the ammunition allowing the home side to dominate possession and territory, the final play of the half seeing Shephard's strike from a Rees through ball collected with aplomb by Torrance, the midfielder having been carded by referee Ben Williams on the stroke of half time for a late challenge.

The Lakesiders brought on Harry Dean at half time for Josh Samuels, the home sides attacking intent set early as Rhys Abbruzzese shot was headed off his own line by Olamide Ibrahim and striker Ben Ahumn's header collected by Torrance.

As the game developed Walters became the pivot in the offensive patterns, where again Hawkins was the willing runner, Ahmun leading the line as a target, something the watching former Everton centre forward Duncan Ferguson would have applauded if his feet were not firmly ensconced in the red shirted Bala camp, in support of his son, Cameron.

Haverfordwest lost Iori Humphries to a shoulder injury on the hour, Owain Jones entering the amphitheatre adding even more pace and direction to the Bluebirds attacking options, substitute Dogan carded for a robust challenge in the hinterland of the Castle, assistant manager Ryan Valentine also cautioned for his verbal berating of Williams, the Llanelli-based referee on more than one occasion applying the advantage law which benefited the flying Bluebirds play.

Tony Pennock switched Kenniford for Panashe Mikwiramiti two minutes later, the Zimbabwean-eligible midfielder fitting seamlessly into the system, father-to-be Greg Walters drawing another fine save from Torrance as the game moved into its final quarter, Liam Higgins the third Bala substitution for John Owen.

Walters threaded a superb reverse ball to the overlapping Abbruzzese whose left foot drive skimmed agonisingly beyond the far post five minutes later, Pennock’s Blue 'n' White army were purring, Ahmun drawing a point blank save from the impressive Torrance, before Shephard scrambled his second of the game after Abbruzzese was again the outlet, to drive in a shot.

Pennock’s side have taken maximum points in the conference play off fixtures which sets them well for the end of season European play-off places, man of the match Hawkins faultless in his distribution as a tiring and despondent Gwynedd based side struggled to make any inroads, McCarthy collecting a yellow card for a clumsy challenge with ten minutes of the game remaining, Knott then having to make a straight forward save to ensure he is yet to concede since the mid season break, from Conner Evans the only threat from a disappointing visiting performance.

A triple home substitution saw Hari Thomas replace Ahumn, McCarthy making way for Tom Shepherd and teenager Ashley Watkins coming on for Walters as the visitors also used their final substitution options as Cameron Ferguson was replaced by Hussein Mehasseb and Charlie Fisher entered the fray for Evans.

The final stages were controlled by the home side, content with their 3-0 score line, although Abbruzzese tried his luck from a short corner routine which warmed the hands of the Blue army faithful ahead of the final whistle from Williams.

Haverfordwest County

Ifan Knott; Dylan Rees (c); Rhys Abbruzzese; Jacob Bacon; Corey Shephard; Dan Hawkins; Kyle McCarthy (Tom Shepherd; 86); Greg Walters (Ashley Watkins; 86); Kyle Kenniford (Panashe Mikwiramiti; 66); Iori Humphries (Owain Jones; 64); Ben Ahmun (Harri Thomas;86)

Substitute not used
Luc Rees

Bala Town

Joel Torrance; Louis Hall; Nelson Digbeu; Nathan Burke (c); John Owen (Liam Higgins; 74); Joshua Samuels (Harry Dean; 46); Connor Evans (Charlie Fisher; 86); Olamide Ibrahim; Cameron Ferguson (Hussein Mehasseb; 86); Ross White; Sam Billington (Tanar Dogan; 22)

Substitute not used
Tom Kelly;

Match Officials

Referee: Ben Williams (Llanelli)
Assistant Referees: Lewis Edwards & Johnathan Bebee-Bryant
4th Official: Tom Bevan

Match photos from Ethan Ellis

Photo Gallery (click to view in full)