Nomads into fourth round after 9 goal thriller

Tuesday night saw Connah's Quay Nomads progress to the fourth round of the Nathaniel MG Cup thanks to a 6-3 victory over Airbus.

• Nomads faced Airbus UK Broughton in the 3rd round of the Nathaniel MG Cup
• The match brought an entertaining first half with 6 goals being scored
• A second half surge from the Nomads secured victory
• Jamie Insall bagged 3 great goals making him the star player

The Nomads came back to Deeside stadium to face Airbus UK Broughton on the back of two 1-0 losses to Barry Town and Bala Town.

Andy Morrison played a starting lineup with no new injury concerns and a familiar team was recognised as striker Jamie Insall, Callum Morris and new signing Paulo Mendes all started this cup tie.

This derby saw the two sides meet for the first time since December 2019 and it certainly entertained as The Nomads got off to a flying start with Jamie Insall bulleting in a header from a cracking cross delivered by Declan Poole.

Shortly after, Insall bagged another in the 12th minute as a cross was met by Paolo Mendes and he directed the header across the six yard box with Insall the quickest to react and tapped home to make it 2-0 to The Nomads inside the first 10 mins.

Nomads then made it 3-0 in the 15th minute as Declan Poole played a lovely one-two with Jordan Davies and as he was played through down the byline he fired a powerful strike into the bottom left to give Nomads a fantastic three goal lead.

Airbus' comeback started with a cool finish from George Peers to make it 3-1 and to give them hope. This sparked them into life as within the next three minutes, they had made it 3-2 as Oliver Lanceley got played through on goal and fired in off the crossbar and this was already becoming a tight game.

The key moment for Airbus came in the 32nd minute as from an outswinging corner, Callum Humphries found space and his dipping header was too strong for The Nomads' defence to clear off the line and so it nestled into the top corner.

So, 3-3 was the scoreline at half time and with end-to-end action happening throughout the match, the second half was sure to be even more eye-catching.

The substitution of George Horan coming on for Paulo Mendes in the 60th minute paid dividends as in the 69th minute, Kris Owens delivered an inswinging corner where George Horan left his marker and sweetly struck a controlled volley off the crossbar and into the back of the net to make the game 4-3 to The Nomads.

In the 75th minute, a free kick deep in The Nomads' half was sent upfield by Nomads keeper Kai Calderbank-Park and the ball went over everybody and Jamie Insall turned into a poacher yet again as he got there before Airbus 'keeper Lewis Dutton to nod the ball into the net to give the Nomads a comfortable 5-3 lead with only 15 minutes to go.

The game was sealed in the 79th minute as a long ball over the top saw Byron Harrison put through on goal and with ball bouncing highly, Airbus 'keeper Lewis Dutton decided to come out but in a calm and collected manner, Harrison lobbed the ball over the keeper and restored the 3 goal advantage The Nomads let slip in the first half.

The Nomads now look ahead to an early kick off at Trefelin BGC in the JD Welsh Cup on Saturday afternoon for a 12:45pm kick off.

Match Photos

Match Report by Adam Angerer