STEVE HALLIWELL insists that Gresford Athletic aren’t “frightened” of Bala Town as the duo lock horns in round two tonight.

Gresford booked a trip to Maes Tegid courtesy of a 1-0 success against Cymru North title favourites Colwyn Bay last weekend, Jordan MacCarter with the decisive goal.

On the back of that win Gresford will head to Bala full of confidence and looking to dump their top-flight hosts out of the competition.

“It’s nice to be in round two, and in cup competitions you just never know,” said Halliwell on his side’s chances of progressing this evening. “We are looking forward to the game, even though we know it will be really tough and we will have to be at our very best to get anything out of a game.

“But I’ve spoken to various managers in the league about Bala, who are direct, and we aren’t frightened about facing them.

“We have drawn with Airbus and Newtown in pre-season, so we’ve shown we can compete.”

Victory over Colwyn Bay also made people sit up and take note, Gresford’s three-man defence keeping their visitors at bay, before MacCarter headed the winner having stepped off the bench.

“It was a very good performance,” said Halliwell, who must decide whether to hand MacCarter a start this evening.

“I thought they would come and cause us problems, and they were a good team, but we’ve managed to beat them.The clean sheet was very pleasing. We’ve been working on three at the back during pre-season and the team played really well.”

And Gresford’s 3-5-2 formation could be key to getting the better of Bala, according to boss Colin Caton, who watched the Wrexham side beat Colwyn Bay.

“I went to watch them on Sunday and they were very impressive,” Caton told Bala’s website. “Their shape and their formation has caused us problems, but we will cause them problems as well.

“If we go about things properly we should be alright, but if we don’t then Gresford will beat us.”

Andrew Thomas is looking forward to seeing new-look Airbus in action as Llanfair United visit the Airfield tomorrow.

The likes of Andy Owens, Alex Darlington and Jordan Evans have signed for the Wingmen as they prepare to re-establish themselves in the top-flight.

“We are pleased with the new signings and looking forward to seeing them in competitive action,” said assistant manager Thomas, who confirmed the club are looking to add a couple of new faces to their squad, which has been boosted by the arrival of French defender Walid Gharbaoui.

“The league is our focus, but we want to do well in the cup.”

Owens is suspended for Airbus, who are without back-up goalkeeper Brendan Hazlett, who has suffered a broken leg.