PRESTATYN Town face a massive trial by television this Saturday when their main rivals for the sixth-place Europa League play-off berth - Port Talbot Town - visit Bastion Gardens.
The match is being shown live on S4C’s Sgorio programme (3.45pm kick off) and the Seasiders will go into the fray buoyed by their deserved 1-1 draw at Bala Town on Friday.
At a rain-lashed Maes Tegid, Town could have gone one up after three minutes when player-boss Neil Gibson skirted both the defence and Bala keeper Terry McCormack but his shot came back off the inside of the post.
There were plenty of chances at both ends but Town edged the bulk of them and it was Gibson who atoned for that early miss two minutes before half time when Michael Parker’s shot came back off the woodwork and the former Tranmere man drilled the ball past McCormack.
Bala came back strongly in the second half but Town held out until the hour mark when a high ball into the box found Chris Mason who steered a powerful header past Dave Roberts at the far post.
Town kept plugging away and never looked like coming home empty-handed despite a hairy last five minutes which saw Roberts pull off a string of fine saves including a superb double reaction stop at close range and a full length dive to palm Mark Connolly’s stinging drive to safety.
While Neil Gibson’s men were full value for the point, Port Talbot didn’t fare so well going down 4-0 at home to struggling Aberystwyth.
Town are unbeaten in their last seven meetings with the Steelmen but will be wary of a Talbot backlash on Saturday as Mark Jones’ side bid for a win that will keep their Euro hopes alive.
If Prestatyn triumph they will be six points clear of their rivals but Talbot have arguably the slightly easier run-in:
Prestatyn’s last six games: Port Talbot (H), Aberystwyth (H), Llanelli (A), Neath (H), Bangor City (H), Bangor City (A).
Port Talbot’s last six games: Prestatyn (A), Llanelli (H), Neath (A), Bangor City (H), Afan Lido (H), Afan Lido (A).