Bangor eye big step to Europe in Robins clash
BANGOR City will look to take a big step towards a return to Europe when they host Newtown in a Europa League play-off semifinal at Nantporth this Saturday (2.30pm).
The Citizens, who finished fourth in the Welsh Premier League regular season, take on a Robins outfit which topped the Play-Off Conference (bottom half ) table in phase two.
Bangor have fared well against Newtown this term, beating them 2-1 at home last August and recording a 2-1 triumph at Latham Park three months later.
However, the Powys men had a fantastic second part of the season, going unbeaten in all 10 matches, winning eight and racking up 33 goals.
All this from a team which was bottom for a spell earlier in the campaign and looking destined for relegation.
Bangor’s season has been a mixture of fine results and some bewildering defeats.
They recently ended a run of 17 straight league losses against The New Saints by beating the champions 3-0 at the Bangor University Stadium.
However, admittedly with a weakened line-up containing none of their three top scorers, they followed up with a 2-0 home reverse to Carmarthen Town.
City’s interim manager Gary Taylor-Fletcher suffered a blow this week with the news injured front man Rodrigo Branco will be out for the rest of the season.
Otherwise, the blues boss hopes to have a full squad available for the visit of Newtown, who will be missing their leading marksman Jason Oswell.
Bangor City Under-19s failed in their bid to be crowned National Welsh Premier Development League champions for a second successive season when they lost 3-1 in the final to Cambrian & Clydach at Latham Park on Monday.
City – the back-to-back WPL Development North title winners – beat Cambrian in last year’s national final but were unable to repeat the dose, despite Harry Galeotti pulling them level in the first half, Cameron Keetch with a double for the victors.