Nomads stay unbeaten in Bangor draw

The Nomads were held to a 2-2 draw by Bangor City on Sunday afternoon in the Dafabet Welsh Premier League.

An own goal from River Humphreys gave The Nomads the lead with Brazilian striker Rodrigo Branco equalising for Bangor in the first half, before Michael Wilde sent The Nomads ahead in the second half with Brayden Shaw making sure the scores were even come full time.

The game was much anticipated as a second versus third encounter, with both The Nomads and Bangor looking to consolidate their positions in the top half of the table well before the league split in January.

The Nomads were again hampered with injuries, with Wes Baynes out along with Michael Wilde who was only fit enough to start on the bench while Chris Rimmer made his first inclusion into the squad after an injury last season.

Bangor City meanwhile started a strong side including ex-Nomad Gary Roberts and the highly rated Jordan Davies along with Brayden Shaw.

The game began and it took only eight minutes for a goal to be scored.
During a Nomads attack, a John Danby free kick was headed into his own net by River Humphreys, accidentally sending it past Bangor goalkeeper Connor Roberts to score an own goal, giving The Nomads the lead in unconventional fashion.

Despite The Nomads being ahead, the game was very even, with Bangor looking dangerous on the attack.  Jordan Davies made a good run into The Nomads' area before Branco scored only for the offside flag to disallow the goal in the 23rd minute.

Five minutes later however, Branco was successful in scoring when, after Jordan Davies broke free and had a low effort saved by Danby in a one-on-one situation, Branco followed up to score from around six yards out from the right of The Nomads' goal.

This goal meant Deeside had seen a small piece of Welsh Premier League history as it was the first ever goal scored by a Brazilian national in the league.

With the scores level, both teams went looking to get ahead, with Nick Rushton having a bouncing shot well saved by Connor Roberts, who also stopped a good effort from Les Davies from 15 yards out.

The Nomads had a late scare at the very end of the first half, when John Danby was caught off his line trying to head the ball back to one of his defenders - The Nomads acted quickly to get back and defend, with an eventual shot from Gary Roberts going over.

In the second half, The Nomads chose to fight fire with fire, going on the offensive against Bangor early on.  Matty Williams glanced a header wide of goal on 50 minutes, with Branco nearly getting his brace by breaking free on The Nomads' goal, before John Disney got back to make a last-second challenge before Branco unleashed a shot.

John Disney was again in action, tackling Gary Roberts inside The Nomads' area, prompting penalty appeals from Bangor which were waved away by referee Mark Petch.

Michael Wilde was then introduced in place of Matty Williams, and went onto send The Nomads 2-1 up in the 68th minute when he connected with a Lewis Short cross right in front of the Bangor goal to nod The Nomads in front.

The Nomads looked to defend their lead but knew it would be an almighty task against a Bangor side who were for some parts of the second half the better of the sides.  Bangor indeed equalised and in fashion, when Brayden Shaw sent a curling 25 yard effort past John Danby who could do little to stop the outstanding effort going in on 75 minutes.

A tense closing period of the game followed, with Bangor looking the more likely side to get the winner forcing The Nomads to dig deep.  The Nomads again went through a late scare in the second minute of the four added onto the end of the game, when Bangor were awarded a free kick just outside their area.

Henry Jones took the kick which hit the wall, before the ball fell to substitute Jamie Reed inside the area only for the Bangor man to be found offside.  This was the final action of the game, meaning the spoils were shared between Nomads and Bangor.

The game was a difficult yet successful one for The Nomads who battled hard for the draw despite missing a number of influential players.

The result means that The Nomads are still unbeaten in their eleven games played this season so far, a run they will look to extend next Sunday when they host Cardiff Met at Deeside for a 3pm kick off.

Match Photos

Match Report by Will Catterall