Last gasp winner for Nomads grabs victory over Bangor

News and Info from Deeside, Flintshire, North Wales

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Sep 28th, 2013

CONNAHS QUAY: gap Connahs Quay 2 – Bangor City 1

For the first time in 13 consecutive meetings, The Nomads claimed their first victory over Bangor City on Friday Night at Deeside Stadium with second half goals from Gary O’Toole and a late winner from Mike Hayes.

The Nomads’ Paul Mooney evades Bangor’s Joe Culshaw

As an all north Wales fixture, the game kicked off in a lively manner with both teams creating chances but neither keeper being tested early on. The Nomads challenged the Bangor end with a number of corners but Welsh U21 International Lee Idzi and his defence had no problem in dealing with them.

As the half continued Bangor began to flourish with chances being built up from ex-Nomads’ Rob Jones and Jamie Petrie who performed well on their return to the Deeside.

Bangor felt they should have gone ahead when Les Davies broke through into the The Nomads area, before Terry McCormick and Jack Rowlands together made a quadruple clearance off the line before the ball was cleared to safety following a goal mouth scramble.

Shortly after, The Nomads were forced into an early change as Mike Robinson was struggling with a foot injury and was replaced by Danny Dobbins who quickly settled in at left back.

Michael Johnston fouls Danny Forde to hand The Nomads a penalty

The Citizens’ hard work in the first half eventually paid dividends as their pressure meant a ball sent across by Bangor’s Ryan Edwards ended up in the net as Jack Rowlands attempted to slide the ball off the line, sending Bangor 1-0 up just before half time.

The Nomads had a lot of work to do in the second half but with only one goal separating the two sides the game was far from over for the home side. Player-Manager Mark McGregor brought out his side back on to the field early, eager for The Nomads to get back into the game.

The second half did indeed bring more chances for The Nomads, but for long periods none of them paid off.

Chances fell to Paul Mooney and an open goal shot for Michael Hayes following a parried save from Lee Idzi who sprung to his right to deny a Gary O’Toole volley, but Hayes was unable to connect properly with the rebound, skewing the ball wide of the target.

The Nomads were contuing to threaten with a lot of good play coming down the right wing through the combination of Hayes, Mooney, Craig Jones and Danny Forde, and it was Forde who was brought down inside the box by Bangor captain Michael Johnston which left referee Lee Evans no option but to point to the spot.

Gary O’Toole stepped up and thundered the ball in off the crossbar before emphatically celebrating his third goal in just two games upon his re-signing.

Lee Idzi is left helpless as Gary O’Toole’s penalty thunders in off the crossbar

With the scores level The Nomads could now attack in the hope of a win but were blocked by a staunch Bangor defence, with chances falling to Ryan Edwards, Paul Mooney and Danny Forde but all of their efforts failed to test Idzi.

That was until the 90th minute when Michael Hayes pounced on a loose ball after Bangor keeper Lee Idzi failed to deal with a Paul Mooney free kick when challenged by Mark McGregor and sent Deeside Stadium delirious.

Mike Hayes bundles in The Nomads’ dramatic last minute winner

The Nomads had to then endure four minutes of added time before the referee blew for full time securing The Nomads second league victory of the season.

The Nomads will be ecstatic over a win against Bangor City that has taken nine years to come since the last. Hard work and dedication from all the players brought the victory and The Nomads can now take this confidence down to Carmarthen for next week’s Welsh Premier League fixture at Richmond Park.