CAERNARFON Town began their JD Cymru Premier Championship Conference campaign with a 2-1 home loss to Bala Town.

New manager Huw Griffiths was unable to mark his first game at the helm of the Canaries’ with three points in front of the S4C Sgorio cameras despite holding a slender advantage heading into the break.

The Cofis’ will look to turn around a disappointing run of form that has seen them lose five of their last seven at title contending Connah’s Quay Nomads next Friday.

An even start to the contest in blustery conditions saw the home side carve open the first chance on ten minutes when Sion Bradley saw his effort saved, but the Lakesiders’ were presented with a perfect opportunity to break the deadlock soon after when Chris Venables was felled in the box by Leo Smith with 12 on the clock.

Venables dusted himself off to take the penalty, but the prolific marksman fired the spot kick over and the chance was gone.

They were made to pay for this miss on 32 minutes when a quick break involving Smith and Darren Thomas presented found Noah Edwards in space, and the former Prestatyn Town standout made no mistake with the finish to break the deadlock.

After the break saw Venables spurn another good opening on 47 minutes when he failed to find the target with a header from inside the six-yard box that somehow ended up over the bar.

The Canaries were enjoying some good spells of their own despite the wind not being in their favour for the second period, with Bradley and skipper Nathan Craig both coming close to extending their cushion midway through the half.

The visitors managed to weather the storm and finish the contest on the front foot, with their equaliser coming thanks to the tireless Venables, who picked up a loose ball before drilling past Alex Ramsay to level proceedings.

Bradley, Edwards and Craig all missed chances to put the Cofis’ back in front immediately following the restart, but they were undone again on 81 minutes when ex-Colwyn Bay midfielder Lassana Mendes picked out Venables at the far post, who headed into the net to condemn the hosts to defeat.