Young Nomads see off the Wellmen to advance to Semi Finals

Tuesday night saw Connah's Quay Nomads defeat Holywell Town to reach the Semi Finals of the Nathaniel MG Cup.

• The Nomads faced Holywell Town in the quarter finals of the Nathaniel MG Cup as Nomads look to advance to the 1st of a possible 2 semi-finals this season
• Byron Harrison put The Nomads 1-0 up in the 5th minute from a Craig Curran cross
• A Jordan Davies penalty gave The Nomads an extra step towards the semi-finals
• Goals from Jamie Insall and Aron Williams saw off Holywell to give The Nomads their place in the semi-finals

The Nomads came into this game on the back of a frustrating result against Cardiff Met last saturday where they conceded another late equaliser, so a win against Holywell Town in the Cup could hopefully boost their hopes for the league.

However, Holywell Town came into this fixture on the back of an outstanding 5-1 win against Llangefni Town but also having suffered a 6-1 throbbing from Airbus who The Nomads beat to reach the Quarter Final.

The game saw Craig Harrison rotate his usual starting 11 as there were first starts for Harry Owen, Harrison Webster and Josh Williams whilst U19 scholar Dan Parry-Jones was named on the bench for the first time. With fixtures coming in the space of three days, Craig Harrison was always going to provide new opportunities to the youngsters and we all hoped they would perform against Holywell on the night.

As the game got underway, there was pressure being shown from The Nomads straight away as Aron Williams showed some trickery and skill to escape his man and deliver a cross towards the back post but Craig Curran's effort was blocked by the Holywell defence.

In the fifth minute, The Nomads took the lead from a well worked move. Craig Curran did well down the left and eventually delivered a hard, powerful cross which was headed in by number 9 Byron Harrison who scored his first goal since scoring against Airbus in the previous round of the Nathaniel MG Cup.

Straight after The Nomads took the lead, Holywell had a corner which was played into a danger zone and found Hayes who fired over the top from close range. The Nomads saw the potential danger and eventually regained possession to control the game.

The 18th minute saw Byron Harrison put pressure on Holywell goalkeeper Keighan Jones but Jones did enough to clear from a possible threat which could have seen The Nomads already have this game in the bag.

The Nomads youngsters certainly provided talent including Josh Williams who, in the 26th minute found space and fired a fierce 20-yard drive and Keighan Jones in the Holywell Town goal could only parry it out for a corner.

Five minutes later, Josh Williams was over another corner and his cross turned shot as it looked to be going directly in past Jones but he did enough to push it away.

Holywell looked to counter towards the end of the first half but Tom Moore was deemed to have fouled Hayes and was booked for it by referee Mark Petch, who was also referee against Airbus in the last round of this Cup.

There was a red card in the 45th minute for Holywell official Mark Connolly who was deemed to have used foul language towards officials on the sidelines and the bench and was forced to watch the remainder of the game from the stands.

This was the final action for the first half and it was The Nomads who were in the lead thanks to a Byron Harrison bullet header. This is the third game where The Nomads have been in the lead at half time.

Two minutes into the second half, The Nomads received a penalty after Josh Williams played in Paulo Mendes who crossed the ball into the box but appeals for handball from Mendes and Williams led to the referee pointing to the spot. Jordan Davies stepped up and calmly slotted the ball into the bottom right hand corner to give The Nomads a two goal lead and one foot into the semi-finals.

Jordan Davies then sparked into the game even more as he was on the end of a cross and almost set one up. Aron Williams put one on a plate for Davies but his header was a whisker wide. Davies then crossed towards goal but Holywell cleared the danger under insane pressure.

The first substitution of the night for The Nomads came as Craig Curran who bagged himself an assist was replaced by Nomads frontman, Jamie Insall.

Holywell had their biggest chance of the night in the 67th minute as Zebb Edwards delivered a low cross but the ball bizarrely did not end up in the back of the net and The Nomads still had their clean sheet in safe hands.

The second substitution for The Nomads saw goalscorer Byron Harrison replaced by Tom Bibby as Craig Harrison looked to see off the game by using fresh legs to do so.

Not long after coming on, in the 69th minute, the main man for The Nomads at the moment, Jamie Insall bagged another goal to add to his tally for the season. This came as a drop ball from the right was sent into the Holywell box and not cleared well by Alex Williams and it fell to Insall who emphatically volleyed in a strike from close range to give The Nomads a three goal lead.

In the 75th minute, we almost saw a Williams goal from a Williams cross as Josh delivered a superb cross but Aron did not get the contact he would have wanted and Holywell took back possession.

The 81st minute saw The Nomads get their fourth as Jordan Davies proved to trouble the Holywell defence yet again as his cross towards the back post was easily tapped in past Jones by Aron Williams who put in a class performance tonight as he captained the side for the first time.

Holywell then had their biggest chance of the game as Luke Edwards was put through and took his time, fired low but was saved fantastically by Nomads keeper Ollie Byrne.

The Nomads final substitute of the night was a big one for U19 scholar Dan Parry-Jones who came on for Tom Moore who was kept safe due to his yellow card in the first half. Parry-Jones did have his moments towards full time as his long balls and accurate passing were giving The Nomads an extra urge to go and get a fifth goal to round off a brilliant cup performance.

The Nomads then saw out the game by controlling possession and trying to ensure they kept their first clean sheet since their win at Flint Town a few weeks ago.

This was the final action of the match and The Nomads now has their deserved place in the Semi Finals of the Nathaniel MG Cup where they will play either Bala Town, Barry Town or Cardiff Met. The Nomads have not managed to defeat any of these sides this season but will give it their all no matter who it is against.

The Nomads' next game is another home game on Friday night in the JD Cymru Premier against Cefn Druids who sit bottom of the league with The Nomads sat in tenth, so both sides here will certainly look for an important three points.

Match Photos

Match Report by Adam Angerer