Spot on result for The Nomads

Saturday afternoon saw a dramatic cup tie at Deeside Stadium as The Nomads toppled Bala Town to progress to the quarter finals of the FAW Welsh Cup.

The game saw The Nomads start the game without three of the January transfers, as Rob Jones, Alan Bull and David Forbes were cup tied.  The game started fairly evenly with both sides passing well, but neither side creating clear cut chances.  Within the first 10 minutes, the game saw an extended pause in play s Kevin McIntyre went down injured following a tough tackle, and left the field on a stretcher, to be replaced by Kieran Gaul.  Gaul slotted in to the centre of midfield admirably against an experienced Bala side.

Shortly after play resumed, Bala took the lead as McCormick did will to save a shot from Kieran Smith, only to see his parry fall to Stephen Brown who slotted home to put the visitors 1-0 up.

The Nomads soon came back in to the game however, creating a couple of chances, and on 30 minutes, a mis-hit Apai Ukuno shot fell to Marcus Giglio who was unmarked inside the six-yard box to tap the ball under Bala 'keeper Ashley Morris to level the scores.

Half time fell as both sides were looking to get the advantage, but The Nomads came out quickly in the second half and took the lead in the 53rd minute.  Ryan Fraughan floated in a left footed free kick towards the back post, which saw Steve Evans stoop to get a vital touch and carry the ball into the Bala net, putting The Nomads 2-1 up.  Shortly after, The Nomads had the chance to go 3-1 up as Apai Ukuno, making his Nomads debut, was fed the ball inside the box, only to see his shot hit the side-netting.

From this point onwards, Bala Town created the majority of the opportunities, but were consistently met with a resolute defence from The Nomads, however Bala made a crucial chance matter when Mark Connolly scored from inside the box in the 92nd minute to force extra time.

Extra time did not see the tempo of the game alter as both sides continued to press for the win, with Jack Chambers seeing his effort loop on to the roof of the net for The Nomads, before a combination of Steve Evans, Rusell Courtney and Terry McCormick made an heroic block to deny Bala a sure fire winner.

The game went to penalties, and they were taken at the school end of the ground with second half substiture Ian Sheridan stepping up first for Bala, only to be denied by McCormick who dived low to his right to make the block.  Ryan Fraughan scored The Nomads first penalty and shortly after Mark Connolly hit the back of the net for the second time levelling the score at 1-1.  Danny Harrison stepped up next for The Nomads and simply made the score 2-1, and this was soon followed by Lee Hunt's miss.  Hunt slammed his strike high and McCormick was able to get a finger to the ball to deflect the ball onto the crossbar and out.

All of the remaining penalties were scored by both sides, but Bala's earlier misses, meant that Steve Evans just had to follow his central defensive partner George Horan in converting to send The Nomads through.  Evans confidently stepped up and slammed his spot kick beyond Ashley Morris to see The Nomads progress thorugh to the next round of hte cup.

The Nomads had now beaten Bala twice in ten days, this time, seeing the side finish the game with three academy players on the field as Jack Chambers, Kieran Gaul and Jack Riley all played well thorughout.

The draw was made shortly after the game and The Nomads were drawn at home to Cup holder, The New Saints in the Quarter Finals.

Match Photos