Henry Jones’ stoppage time equaliser ensured the spoils were shared at Cyncoed Campus as Bala Town drew 1-1 with Cardiff Met.
Ollie Hulbert scored a late goal for the Met, but Jones’ profited from a late mix-up to secure a draw for Colin Caton’s side.
Despite Jones’ equaliser, Bala are now six games without a victory against the Archers and miss out on the chance to close the gap on the Nomads and TNS, they do however remain nine games unbeaten.
The match was also Will Evans’ first match back at the home of the Archer’s after his summer move to Maes Tegid. Evans was a popular figure in the Cardiff Met midfield for five years before his move up north.
The match was played in bitterly cold conditions and the match itself did little to warm anyone in attendance up. The first half was one of few chances and an intense midfield battle. Bala Town had the better of the possession, but Met’s defence proved itself difficult to break down yet again.
Indeed the most interesting exchanges during the opening twenty minutes were the break in plays to replace the assistant referee’s broken flag and to swap out a broken ball for another with no real on-pitch action worth noting.
Liam Black almost scored his second own goal of the season as he headed a cross in from the right behind for a corner that was undoubtedly closer to scoring than had been intended, and moments later for Archer Will Evans’ dangerous cross skimmed the crossbar on it’s way through for a throw-in.
Bala Town lost Raul Correia midway through the first period after coming off worse in a 50-50 challenge with Ollie Hulbert, and was replaced by Henry Jones. Jones was straight into the action by taking the free-kick, which was brilliantly palmed away by Alex Lang, sporting an impressive ‘shiner’ following an injury picked up against Newtown on Tuesday.
The closest chance of note in the first half came from a right-wing cross that was beautifuly delivered and the league’s top goalscorer, Chris Venables, rose highest to meet it. Venables’ header, however, was powered low but fell just wide of Lang’s far post as the match was goalless at full time.
The second half did have a few chances of note, but followed the same lacklustre theme of the first. Henry Jones had a great chance from close range but his effort went over, and Jones then went on to have the best chance of the match with fifteen minutes to go.
A ball over the top saw Jones one-on-one with Lang, and his lobbed effort comfortably beat the on-rushing goalkeeper, but the ball dropped just wide of the post, and a huge chance went begging.
It looked like a costly miss too, when with five minutes remaining, a well-worked Met move fell to Ollie Hulbert. The attacker had to slide to meet the ball but his shot beat Bala Town’s goalkeeper and nestled in the corner.
The celebrations were wild as Met thought they’d won the match but the visitors were able to equalise as the clock ticked into injury time. A cross in from the left appeared to be going wide but Liam Black headed the ball back into the mix and eventually landed on Henry Jones’ head.
The header was enough to beat a diving Lang and hit the top corner, scraping a point for his side. The draw doesn’t alter the league standings for both sides with Met remaining seventh and Bala Town stay third.
Cardiff Metropolitan: Alex Lang, Dylan Rees, Kyle McCarthy, Bradley Woolridge, Emlyn Lewis, Eliot Evans, Ollie Hulbert, Rhydian Morgan, Liam Warman (Harry Warrick, 77), Matt Chubb, Liam Black.
Goals: Ollie Hulbert 85′
Subs not used: Will Fuller, Joe Evans, Craig Davies, Tom Price, Matthew Jones.
Bala Town: Alex Ramsay, Sean Smith, Nathan Peate, Anthony Stephens, Will Evans, Raul Correia (Henry Jones, 28), Anthony Kay, Gary Roberts, Ryan Pryce (Jonny Spittle, 86), Chris Venables, Oliver Shannon (Steven Leslie, 81)
Goals: Henry Jones 90’
Yellow Cards: Nathan Peate 76, Chris Venables 78, Sean Smith 79, Jonny Spittle 90+2’
Subs not used: Liam Davies, Lassana Mendes
See how Bala earned a point with Cardiff Met by recapping with our live blog from Cyncoed Campus:
(Featured Image: Carl Robertson)
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