CAERNARFON Town finished their first JD Welsh Premier League campaign in fourth spot despite a 1-0 final fixture defeat at Bala Town.

The Canaries have enjoyed a phenomenal campaign at the top of the Welsh pyramid under manager Sean Eardley, and the best could still be yet to come ahead of their Europa League playoff clash against Cardiff Met on May 11 at The Oval.

The winner of this will take on either Newtown or Bala Town for a place on the European stage next term.

The home side made an imposing start to the game and almost went ahead in the opening 20 seconds when Mike Hayes fired wide, but they did go in front with three on the clock when he headed past Alex Ramsay after good work from Hayes and Kieran Smith.

Smith almost doubled their advantage soon after when his effort was well-saved by Ramsay, with Jones flashing a strike wide during an impressive spell of dominance from Colin Caton’s men.

After the interval saw the Cofis’ up their tempo considerably and enjoyed large spells of possession, but they were finding it difficult to penetrate the Town rearguard thanks in no small part to the overall performance of former Bangor City standout Anthony Stevens.

Forward Cai Jones spurned a good opportunity for the away side when he steered over after some impressive build-up play, with Keighan Jones at his nest to deny in-form Caernarfon talisman Darren Thomas from adding to his exceptional recent run of form in front of goal.

The outstanding Hayes, who was making his 100th top fight appearance, brought the best out of Ramsay once again after he latched on to a Sean Smith delivery, with playmaker Noah Edwards’ powerful drive coming back off the post at the other end in what was their final chance of not in front of a huge away following.