Haverfordwest County manager Tony Pennock was pleased with the way his players ended a positive week with a 2-0 win over Bala Town at the Ogi Bridge Meadow on Friday night.

Second-half goals from Greg Walters and Ben Ahmun were enough to secure the points for the Bluebirds, who produced an impressive display against a Lakesiders team that have made a strong start to the season.

The Town have picked up six points from their three games in the last six days, with an impressive performance in the defeat to Penybont on Tuesday meaning spirits are high heading into the second half of Phase One.

Here’s what the manager had to say in full after the game:

On the result

It’s a great clean sheet. We created chances first half but, in fairness, Bala had two or three good chances themselves, and it was nice to see, especially for one of the chances they had, how many people were getting in front of the ball to block the shot. I think they had two or three shots in and around our penalty spot, and I think Luc might have made a save and then bounced back out. That’s what we did last year and did it week in, week out, people putting their body on the line to stop the ball going in the net. And that was really pleasing to go in at half time 0-0, and then I’ve just said to Fish [Steve Fisher, Bala Town manager] now, I said to our boys at half time whoever gets the first goal tonight is going to win the game, and that’s the way it proved. The big thing for us tonight was we got the second goal, which we didn’t get on Tuesday night, and then once you get that second goal, you can just settle down a bit then and control the game as best we can, and we did.

On taking avantage

It’s tough. We did it last year, we went to Bala on a Friday night last year, and we’ll be going there on a Friday night again later on in Phase One. Do I agree with it? No, I don’t. Totally not. We want Friday night football, of course we do, but against our local teams. I’d be interested to see how many hours some of the Bala players have driven today to get to the game, how long it’s taken them to get here, because we know how tough it is to get to Bala. But listen, they’re decisions out of our hands. So it was important tonight, because Bala had a tough week as well. They were away Saturday then home Tuesday. Luckily we were home Saturday and Penybont away which isn’t too bad for us on a Tuesday night. So we knew that it would be hard for them and we needed to make that count, and I thought we started the game brightly but didn’t get the goal that we probably needed. And then as the half went on, Bala got stronger and stronger in fairness to them. They’ve still got a lot of good players in that squad. They had one or two injuries tonight, but it was pleasing to keep a clean sheet and, more importantly, get the three points.

On the goals

First goal I think there was a tackle on the touchline that’s broken play up and it’s found its way to Sheps, Sheps’ pass into Greg was, Greg’s made a great run, Sheps has seen it and Greg’s first touch was good and he’s hit the target. And then the second goal is, when Ben [Ahmun] gets between the posts he’s a handful, and I think he gets frustrated sometimes that he makes those runs and the ball doesn’t come in. So then he starts doing things that, he’s outside the box and then the ball comes in and he’s not in the six-yard box or around that spot. And tonight, we asked him to play against the two centr halves and if we’re going to cross the ball, the people we want, especially half-time, we said we needed to be in the box when the ball was out wide because Abu put a couple of fantastic balls in the box, he had one first half that we didn’t get in the end of. He’s there and Ben’s in a great position. It’s a proper centre forwards header and the keeper’s got no chance. He’s won it above the centre half and it’s made the night a lot easier for us.

On a positive week

It’s been a very good week. I was disappointed for the boys on Tuesday because I thought they were fantastic, especially first half. We’ve pushed Penybont twice this year all the way and lost by the odd goal in both games. Anybody who’s seen both games would probably say we deserved at least two draws, but you don’t always get what you deserve. And especially against the top teams in the league, you need that second goal and we didn’t get it. But the performance levels these last three weeks have been very good. Flint are an excellent team, really good football side, so to score three goals there was good. The pleasing thing is we scored goals in every game this week. Six goals in three games, which keeps that momentum going because we haven’t scored enough goals this season, people keep reminding me of that. So it was important this week that we’ve got some goals to our tally and it’s pleasing, six goals for, three against, so our goal difference has got a little bit better, but more importantly, our forward play looked really good today and we’ve kept a clean sheet so that keeps me happy as well.

On next week’s Welsh Cup tie

Our club hasn’t got a great history in the Welsh Cup, so it’s something that’s important. It’s certainly important to me and the boys know that as well, and as everybody knows the Welsh Cup is a route into Europe if you can’t do it through the league or through the play-offs. So it’s an opportunity, but it’s a tough one. We’re playing another Cymru Premier team who’ve beaten us this season already. So we have to have the same performance levels and the same attitude and quality that we’ve shown this week in our three games. If we do that, then it gives ourselves a chance. If we drop below those standards, then it’ll be a tough night, but I know how keen all the boys are to get through.

So they can have a rest this weekend. Look forward to training Tuesday, and then we’ll see who’s ready for Friday night, hopefully, if not this week, hopefully the week after Kyle Kenniford and Kyle McCarthy are going to be available as well. So that’s important tha I’ve got another two top players to choose from, which makes my job tough, but it makes my job easier than not having the players to choose.

On a tightly-packed table

The table will change tomorrow because obviously people are playing each other in and around us. We’ll see how the results go tomorrow, and then we have a week off the league. Then it;s Connah’s Quay away, TNS home and Caernarfon away. So we’ve got three really tough ones coming up, but if we perform the way we have this week, we have to believe that we’ll pick up points. But Friday comes first and then we’ll look at the league after that. But it’s important the boys recover now and get ready for a tough game on Friday night.