COLWYN Bay moved quickly to strengthen their ranks after their 2-1 pre-season defeat to Bangor City.

The Seagulls signed ex-Rochdale star Josh Brizell following a successful trial at Llanelian Road, and he also lists Marine, Hyde United, Telford United and Glossop North End amongst his former clubs.

Despite missing a host of key figures Bay produced another encouraging display against the Welsh Premier League side, who went ahead after just 45 seconds when Braydon Shaw, signed from Accrington Stanley for an undisclosed fee, found the net after fine approach play from George Harry.

The home side responded well and found themselves level on two minutes through Astley Mulholland’s sharp finish from Kyle Jacobs’ exceptional through ball.

Jaimie Rainford and Astley Mulholland went close for the Seagulls after the break, and they were made to pay for their lack of conviction in-front of goal when the impressive Shaw fed Sam Henry to fire home on 77 minutes after his initial effort came back off the crossbar.

One positive for Bay was the participation in the warm-up of defender Gaz Grant, who is expected to return to action in the coming weeks after being ruled out for three months with a knee injury. Manager Phill Hadland, said: “The opening pre-season games have been more about experimenting with formations and giving as many lads a possible some game time.

“The last three games is when we will start fine tuning the side in readiness for the first league game. We will be fine for that and overall I think the squad is in better shape than this time last year.”

Bay took on Connah’s Quay on Tuesday night before hosting Huws Gray Alliance outfit Airbus Broughton on Tuesday, August 1 (7.45pm).