Dem-olished
Bangor new boy pounces to see off rivals Bala
DEBUTANT James Demetriou became an instant hit with the Bangor City fans as his winning goal at Bala Town sent the Citizens back to the top of the Welsh Premier League.
The 22-year-old former Swansea City striker came on as a secondhalf substitute at Maes Tegid and grabbed the 75th-minute decider which secured Kevin Nicholson’s men a 1-0 verdict.
Australian-born Demetriou played for Sydney Olympic before signing a two-year professional contract with Championship club Nottingham Forest in August 2013 and has represented Cyprus in the UEFA U21 European Qualifiers.
Demetriou joined Swansea on a two-year contract in June 2014 and was loaned to Wealdstone FC, moving to Cypriot First Division side Karmiotissa for the last season. Saturday’s result surprisingly sent perennial high achievers Bala tumbling into the bottom three, but it was Colin Caton’s side which made the better start, Jordan Evans forcing Connor Roberts to push away his low strike in the opening minute.
City had a decent penalty call in the 10th minute when Brayden Shaw went down in the area, but the referee waved away the shouts.
Defences were on top before, in the 29th minute, Bangor’s Dean Rittenberg showed fantastic control before unleashing a powerful strike which Ashley Morris brilliantly saved.
The visitors’ Steven Hewitt let fly with a rocket that flew wide minutes later.
Bala ended the half well, Stuart J Jones flicking a header just off target from a free kick.
Evans curled a 25-yard free kick narrowly over before a spectacular long-range shot from Andrai Jones fizzled wide. Demetriou appeared at the start of the second half and he was soon through one-on-one but missed by a narrow margin.
Town remained dangerous going forward, Evans seeing a strike blocked, Andrai Jones and Stuart Jones both going close.
As the half wore on, City upped their attacking effort and 15 minutes from time Demetriou’s shot from 25 yards swerved around Morris and into the net.
Late pressure from the Lakesiders brought no reward and it was Bangor who ended up with maximum points.
Proud City boss Nicholson said: “A big three points and our fourth clean sheet. A purposeful team performance – we defended well and kept persevering in attack.”
Bangor will be out for revenge next Saturday when they host a Cardiff Met side they lost to 3-1 in the capital in August. City have released former Football League striker Daniel Nardiello, who has scored 13 goals from 28 Welsh Premier appearances since arriving at Nantporth in August 2016.
The 34-year-old Coventry-born striker progressed through the Wolves’ academy ranks before becoming a trainee at Manchester United. He appeared in a League Cup and Champions League tie for the Reds before going on to make more than 300 Football League appearances for Swansea City, Barnsley, Queens Park Rangers, Blackpool, Hartlepool United, Bury, Oldham Athletic, Exeter City, Rotherham United and Plymouth Argyle.