Bala 'not happy at all' with neutral venue call

Bala Town's 12-game unbeaten run against Caernarfon Town came to an end in Llandudno

Colin Caton says Bala Town are "not happy at all" at having to play their home Cymru Premier fixture with Caernarfon Town at a neutral venue due to poor weather conditions.

The Lakesiders originally hosted the Canaries at Maes Tegid on 31 December, but the game was abandoned at half time.

The encounter was twice rescheduled and subsequently postponed due to Bala's home turf being frozen, with a fourth date of 11 January being confirmed at Llandudno's Maesdu Park.

And long-time Bala boss Caton claims the Lakesiders would have been docked three points by the Football Association of Wales (FAW) if they refused to play the match on neutral territory.

"We're not happy at all about the venue," he told Sgorio ahead of the game in north Wales, which Bala went on to lose 2-0.

"We're going to play 12 away games this season and Caernarfon are going to play 11 and everyone else is going to play 11.

"I don't think it's fair for us to come here. Everybody obviously wants the game to be played, but the forecast from this weekend on for the next 10 days is plus 10 (degrees Celsius).

"And then there's no fixtures next Saturday which I don't understand either. We could have taken the season a bit longer. I thought the Nathaniel MG Cup was coming into it, but that's later on in the day as well.

"Totally wrong for us to be here, but we were threatened with a three point deduction so we've just got to carry on."

Goals from Morgan Owen and Adam Davies earned Caernarfon the win as the Lakesiders' nine-game unbeaten league run ended.

It was a pivotal victory for Richard Davies' side who rose above Caton's outfit into fifth with just one match remaining before the leagues splits.

Caton stated several members of Bala's board opted against travelling to the game in Llandudno.

"As a club, there's a lot of officials and board members who won't travel today because they felt that we should have stood up to the Welsh FA and not played this game away from home - which it should have been played at home," added Caton.

"We can't afford a three-point deduction.

"If it happened to anybody else, I'm not so sure if everybody would have played the fixture today. I think they might have stood strong and not played it."

Jack Sharp, FAW head of domestic leagues, commented: "Following one abandonment and two postponements of the fixture between Bala Town and Caernarfon Town, it became impossible to conclude matchday 22 in the JD Cymru Premier with all fixtures kicking off simultaneously on the original scheduled date of Saturday 11 January.

"To ensure that all clubs impacted in the race for the Championship Conference kicked off their matchday 22 fixture simultaneously – imperative for sporting integrity - the FAW identified three possible ways to conclude phase one and worked with the league's broadcast partners to identify the most suitable in line with television scheduling commitments.

"After Maes Tegid failed a pitch inspection on Friday, 10 January, it was deemed unfair to further disrupt eight other clubs – who had already seen their Matchday 22 fixtures rearranged to Tuesday, 14 January – by making a fifth attempt to play Bala Town v Caernarfon Town at the original venue at a later date. A blank weekend is also necessary between phase one and two, to allow the phase two fixture schedule to be created and allow clubs a reasonable timeframe to prepare for their matchday 23 fixtures.

"Therefore, the FAW used its right, in extreme circumstances under the rules, to ensure that the fixture could be played and had already communicated to both clubs on Thursday, 9 January that it would be moved to Llandudno should Maes Tegid fail a pitch inspection on Friday.

"The FAW covered the costs of the hosting of the fixture at Llandudno due to the extreme circumstances and will be compensating Bala Town on the basis of average attendance and average income of home games as a result.

"It would be incorrect to say that Bala Town were 'threatened' with a points deduction. The club secretary verbally queried what the repercussions would be for failing to play the fixture. The FAW confirmed that the league rules state that a failure to fulfil a fixture could leave the club liable to a three-point deduction."

Bala travel to Connah's Quay on Tuesday night (19:45 GMT) while Caernarfon host Flint Town United at The Oval.

Both sides will guarantee a place in the top six if they win on what is the final matchday of phase one.