BALA Town certainly enjoyed their festive contests with Gwynedd rivals Caernarfon Town.

Following on from their thumping 5-1 success at The Oval on Boxing Day, the Lakesiders eased to a 3-0 success versus their Gwynedd rivals on Friday evening.

Crucially, the success made sure that third-place Bala secured their top-six spot come the mid-season split.

It was Colin Caton's side who had the majority of the early possession and they claimed the lead on 27 minutes.

George Newell took full advantage of some hesitancy in dealing with a direct ball from midfield and he struck an effort beyond former Lakesider Josh Tibbetts.

Caernarfon had a fair bit of the ball after this, but they could find no way past Bala's disciplined backline.

Then when Joe Faux's slack pass in midfield was picked up by Dave Edwards, he threaded the ball to Adam Roscrow.

He saw his effort deflected past the diving Tibbetts to give Bala a two-goal lead just four minutes from the break.

The visitors began the second half well and they dominated possession without creating any clearcut opportunities.

Two efforts by Rob Hughes and Sion Bradley were deflected out for corners in quick succession early on.

Hughes tested keeper Harri Lloyd with a long-range effort that he spilled, but the ball ended up narrowly wide of the goal.

Lloyd was called into action again when he did well to save from Noah Edwards.

Laurie Bell failed to connect from close range as the away side continued to press, but a late penalty sealed the success for the hosts.

Skipper Chris Venables scored from the spot to make it 3-0.