HAVERFORDWEST County bounced back in style with a 2-0 JD Cymru Premier win at Bala Town on Friday night.

In driving rain, the Bluebirds dominated from the first whistle. Corey Shephard lit up the game with a stunning strike from the halfway line, a goal-of-the-season contender that gave County the lead at the break. Just two minutes into the second half, Ben Ahmun converted from the spot to seal the points.

The result lifts the Blues to ninth, and with four games left in Phase One, Pennock’s men are aiming for a strong finish.

Boss Tony Pennock hailed the response: “Really big. After last week’s performance, we wanted the boys to give us a reaction and I thought they were fantastic tonight from the start of the game all the way to the end. I thought we thoroughly deserved the win.”

He reserved special praise for Shephard: “We missed Sheps last week. He’s been outstanding since I’ve been at the club for four years, and he’s a big part of what we do. He gives us some momentum to get forward up the pitch, and he’s seen the keeper off his line and it’s a hell of a strike.

“He’s just a bit tight to be fair. The way he plays, he gives us everything and fortunately now we’ve got a break next week, so he should be fine, but we can’t afford to lose people for any length of time. So it’s important that we look after him as well.”

Looking ahead, Pennock added: “Three points is massive. It puts us one point behind Bala now. I don’t know how the other results have gone this evening, but all we can do is look after ourselves. If we perform like that then we’ll compete with most teams, and it was a really pleasing performance.”