Manager Dawes believes special times are ahead
BANGOR City manager Ian Dawes believes the club is on the verge of achieving something special and next season could see the Citizens emerge as a major force in the Welsh Premier League.
City are assured of a fourth-place finish in the Championship Conference after last weekend’s 1-1 draw at gap Connah’s Quay.
Dawes’ men are eight points behind the Quay with three matches apiece left to play so Bangor could yet snatch third, but realistically they will have to settle for fourth and pole position in the Europa League play-offs.
The Citizens boss, who has a league record of six wins, six defeats and a draw since taking over last November, stressed it is vital his team enter the play-offs on a high with matches still to come against Cardiff Met (away), The New Saints (home) and Carmarthen (home) before the end of phase two.
Following last Saturday’s draw at Deeside Stadium, where an 87thminute Rodrigo Branco levelled rescued a point, Dawes said: “What we’ve got to realise is that when we go into the play-offs, whoever we play is going to be in a good run of form, so we’ve got to be the same.
“We’ve got to go into final three games and win them and go into the play-offs full of confidence.”
Despite looking certain to miss out on an automatic European place, Dawes is adamant the club is heading towards big success.
He added: “Results are the ultimate, but anyone who comes and watches us play knows how very, very close we are to be something special. I think the strides the club has taken over the past seven months have been massive. If we can continue in this vein I think we can become a force, but it’s up to us to keep on improving.”
The Nomads dominated the early stages of last Saturday’s tussle, having their first major chance in the seventh minute when Matty Williams hit the crossbar.
The home side’s early pressure paid off in the 16th minute, as former Citizen Les Davies rose high in a packed box to flick a looping header into the goal.
Bangor hit back, putting Quay under pressure for a sustained period. Brad Jackson and Gary Tay- lor-Fletcher caused problems for the Nomads in the final third, but John Danby did not have a serious save to make.
Both sides made changes during the interval. Lewis Short replaced Matty Williams for Nomads, whilst Bangor switched top-scorer Dan Nardiello and Dan Gosset with skipper Gary Roberts, back from a six-game suspension, and Branco.
The second half became a scrappy affair but Nomads held their lead well, and would have gone 2-0 up if not for a off-the-line header which denied Jay Owen.
In the 76th minute, Davies went on a run as Quay launched a counter attack, but was hacked down by Anthony Miley, who was shown a straight red card, leaving Bangor to play the remainder of the game with 10 men.
After that Nomads missed another chance to double their lead, when Davies broke through but shot wide on 79 minutes.
City found their equaliser just three minutes from time, when a ball up in the air near the home goal was controlled and passed into the six-yard area by Sion Edwards, who found Branco to slot home from close range.